DOLPHIN TALE – The Review

A DOLPHIN TALE is an exhilarating drama of a boy and nature that is highly enjoyable with enormous family appeal. It’s fluff, and predictable fluff at that, that unabashedly pulls at the heart strings but it basically works. Swimming free, a young dolphin is caught in a crab trap off the coast of Florida, severely damaging her tail. She is rescued and transported to the Clearwater Marine Hospital, where she is named Winter. Her tail is amputated and no one expects her to live much longer since she can’t swim properly without it. How will they save poor Winter?

DOLPHIN TALE is just the sort of heart-tugging, uplifting movie promised in the trailer. It’s not based on a true story, but inspired by one. Yes, there is a Dolphin named Winter that was rescued by the good folks at Clearwater Marine Hospital (you can go see Winter live right now at www.seewinter.com). To give this story some dramatic heft, DOLPHIN TALE has t make up some characters and since so many of the most emotional family films have been about the bond between children and animals (FREE WILLY, THE BLACK STALLION, even ET), this story is told through the eyes of a fictional 11 year old boy named Sawyer played Nathan Gamble and the movie really becomes his story. Sawyer was there when Winter was rescued and of course it’s only he who the dolphin responds to. Sawyer, who has some abandonment issues of his own, is given quite a melodramatic back story. His father has disappeared. His favorite cousin, who dreams of being a swimming champ, gets deployed to fight in Iraq and (get this) comes back wounded with a serious leg injury! Talk about a parallel plot line! This gives the film the chance to introduce the grumpy doctor Dr. McCarthy, a specialist in creating prosthetic limbs for soldiers at the local VA hospital. He’s of course played by Morgan Freeman and Sawyer convinces him to help save the dolphin by developing a prosthetic new tail (Dr. McCarthy notes that he has some vacation days stored up so we don’t think he’s distracted from helping war vets). But then there’s a hurricane, the destruction from which puts the Marine hospital in such debt it’ll have to be sold soon to a rich hotel magnate so the clock is ticking on saving Winter!

Thankfully director Charles Martin Smith (who, with NEVER CRY WOLF and AIR BUD has experience directing animals), knows just what to do emotionally and technically to pull off this old-fashioned sentimental yarn. An extremely handsome production, A DOLPHIN TALE effectively manipulates audiences with its rhythms and drama and Mark Isham’s soaring score is perfectly in sync with the narrative. The problem with DOLPHIN TALE is that it goes exactly where you expect it to, has a very simple story to tell (one completely laid out in the trailer), and takes a long time telling it. At almost a full two hours, younger children are going to get restless. Kids ages 8 to about 13 will totally eat it up though but it’s way too square for older teens who’ll probably find the film as saccharine as most adults. The characters, who are unilaterally impossible to dislike, are so darned well-meaning and saintly they may as well be wearing halos around their heads. The dedicated Marine biologist, played by Harry Connick, is a perfect match for Sawyer’s single mom played by Ashley Judd and he just happens to be widowed (though curiously, the script does not follow through on this romance) and has a precocious 11 year-old daughter named Hazel for Sawyer to bond with. The plot is embarrassingly straightforward and obvious and the good will and pat happy endings are laid on awfully thick. Even the billionaire real estate developer turns out to have a heart of gold so there are no villains in this film.

The gooey feel-good sentiments expressed in A DOLPHIN TALE are a bit old-fashioned and the exposition a bit prolonged and overdone, but the movie still succeeds on its own terms. If people leave the theater with a fuzzy glow and wanting to go out and hug a Dolphin, then, honestly, we’re all the better for it. An astute, intelligent family picture, A DOLPHIN TALE is a potent reminder that you can have your heart in the right place and still produce a gripping, satisfying entertainment.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars