Dolphin Tale

I would describe Dolphin Tale as being nice and pleasant, but not very interesting. This is a sappy and drippy little family film inspired by the true story of a little dolphin who had her tail amputated after getting it stuck in a crab trap off the coast of Florida back in 2005. The movie takes this simple idea, and then adds a lot of unfortunate Hollywood elements, like a pair of plucky kids who befriend the dolphin, a comic relief pelican, and Morgan Freeman and Kris Kristofferson playing wise old men.

One interesting element of the film is that the actual dolphin (who has been given the name "Winter") plays herself in the movie. Sure, it kind of lessens the drama about whether or not the dolphin will survive, but it's still nice to see. The human hero of the story is a sad-faced and isolated 11-year-old kid named Sawyer (Nathan Gamble), who lives alone with his mother (Ashley Judd). It's summer vacation, but all Sawyer has to look forward to is summer school after flunking almost all of his classes. To make matters worse, his best friend and cousin Kyle (Austin Stowell), is a soldier and has been called into duty to fight overseas. One morning, on his way to school, he happens to see a beached dolphin caught in a crab trap. He helps a marine animal rescue crew free it, before it is taken to the local marine hospital. Worried about the dolphin, Sawyer begins skipping his summer classes, so that he can hang around the animal hospital, and help nurse Winter the dolphin back to health.

The marine hospital is run by a loving family that includes head veterinarian and father Clay (Harry Connick, Jr), his plucky young daughter Hazel (played by plucky young newcomer Cozi Zuehlsdorff), and kindly grandfather Reed (Kris Kristofferson), who mainly stays out of sight, except for when the screenplay requires him to dispense words of wisdom to either young Sawyer, or to Clay. The chances for Winter to recover from the injuries she sustained while in the trap look slim, but then Sawyer begins to bond with it, and the dolphin starts regaining its strength little by little. Of course, there are plenty of problems along the way. These include Sawyer getting in trouble at school for missing so many of his classes to be with Winter, cousin Kyle coming home from the war injured after an explosion and being depressed, and the marine hospital facing huge financial debt, and being in danger of being bought out by a millionaire tycoon who wants to tear the place down and put up a luxury resort.

But the biggest problem revolves around Winter, and the fact that she can't swim properly after her tail is forced to be amputated when the wounds become infected. She does learn how to swim by twisting her body side-to-side instead of wagging her tail up and down, but this could have great health risks for the dolphin, as her body is not meant to move that way, and could lead to spinal problems. Fortunately, just when things seem bleak, a kindly old man named Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman) enters the picture with an idea on how to create a prosthetic tail for Winter. That's the kind of movie Dolphin Tail is. It never lets itself get too bleak or sad. Even when things do seem bad, the music is still kind of upbeat, and the characters are constantly smiling, as if they just know there's a ray of sunshine waiting behind the gloom. Every problem brings about a life lesson, as well as a last minute miracle solution that wraps everything up so nicely, the word "contrived" doesn't even begin to describe it.

I don't like giving bad reviews to movies that obviously have no desire other than to be uplifting family entertainment. It makes me sound like a bitter and cynical person. But I can't help it, Dolphin Tale did not interest me in any way. I didn't care about the human characters or their problems, and while Winter the dolphin is definitely cute, she doesn't really get any big scenes all to herself. There are times when the movie almost seems to treat her like a prop for the actors to manipulate. The movie tries so hard to be nice and uplifting that I eventually felt like I was being assaulted by the good feelings it was trying to bestow on me. I like a feel-good movie as much as the next guy, but there's a line this movie crosses when I start to feel overly-manipulated.

The movie ends with some real life documentary footage of Winter's rescue and rehabilitation, and this is when the movie comes the closest to working because it feels real. The movie that comes before it is too cold, calculated, and mechanical. It's been engineered top to bottom to win our hearts, and it just tries too hard. I've been able to put aside my cynicism and enjoy movies like this. I did my best to do so while watching Dolphin Tale, but I'm afraid my efforts were in vain, and my cynicism won out. Or maybe this just isn't that good of a movie to start with.

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