The Basics
Here’s the officiall synopsis:
"Dolphin Tale" is inspired by the amazing true story of a brave dolphin and the compassionate strangers who banded together to save her life. Swimming free, a young dolphin is caught in a crab trap, severely damaging her tail. She is rescued and transported to the Clearwater Marine Hospital, where she is named Winter. But her fight for survival has just begun. Without a tail, Winter's prognosis is dire. It will take the expertise of a dedicated marine biologist, the ingenuity of a brilliant prosthetics doctor, and the unwavering devotion of a young boy to bring about a groundbreaking miracle--a miracle that might not only save Winter but could also help scores of people around the world. The real Winter, who plays herself in "Dolphin Tale," today serves as a symbol of courage, perseverance and hope to millions of people--both able and disabled--who have been touched by her remarkable story of recovery and rehabilitation.
Directed By: Charles Martin Smith
Written By: Karen Janszen, Noam Dromi
Cast: Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Nathan Gamble
The Delivery
On the surface, and based on all of the trailers for the film, Dolphin Tale seems like your normal cliche filled ‘true story’ that’s sole purpose is to entertain your kiddos or make you cry. So when WB sent this to me to review on blu-ray...I was a little hesitant. However, the marketing deceived me and what I got was a good story that works for both younglings and adults alike.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some cliches and unnecessary melodrama thrown into this film, but the story handles them much better than you would expect and instead of trudging through the ‘same old crap’ as you have with other movies, you feel a different experience.
The story is about a young kid who finds a disabled dolphin and his quest to get the creature able to swim and be normal again. It’s a true story and interesting enough they even used the actual dolphin in the film to portray himself. But despite the authenticity of the movie, it’s understandably filled with more tension and drama in order to ramp things up.
For the most part this works. The main problem I had with Dolphin Tale was that it seemed to try and pack too much conflict into the movie. In all honesty, all of the conflict in the film could have easily spanned 2 or even 3 films. The end result is that some subplots get left behind and some things feel a little too rushed. However, the good part about that, is they were able to subvert a lot of the cliches by cramming in so much other stuff. Just when the film feels like it’s getting stale, Morgan Freeman comes in and saves the day.
By far, though, the best aspect of Dolphin Tale is it’s ability to be kid-friendly without being demeaning to everyone else. It’s not too cutesy or dumbed down in anyway, so adult should feel no shame in watching this and enjoying it.
The blu-ray is gorgeous as well. Considering that most of the film takes place in brightly lit spaces, the colors really pop in HD and the details are impressive (water always looks awesome in HD and there’s plenty of it to see here). The special features aren’t ground-breaking in anyway, but a couple of the mini-docs have some interesting bits on the ‘true story’ and how the film differs.
Overall
This is a heart-warming movie that at first glance, seemed too generic to be worth it. However, it’s a good story that fits a wide range of age groups, and is perfect for families, especially this holiday season.
Dolphin Tale on blu-ray (which is available now) gets a 8 out of 10
-Jordan
