Dolphin Tale – 3 Buckets

The defining factor of the most beloved era of children’s films–the 1980s, when E.T., A Christmas Story, The Karate Kid, The Goonies, and more came out within only a few years of one another–is that the films captured the wonder of what it is to be a kid. Young viewers could relate to the characters and older ones could bask in the nostalgia. By contrast, so many movies designed for those under 12 today are made without any regard for this irreplaceable perspective — they are merely the juvenile products of adults. While Dolphin Tale lacks the original voice that all the above films had, it boasts that sense of wonder. For this alone, it’s worth taking the family to see.

The movie is based on the true story of Winter, a dolphin who washed ashore with a badly injured and infected tail. She was rescued by the team at Tampa Bay’s Clearwater Marine Hospital, but they unfortunately had to amputate her tail. This proved to be a problem, because the makeshift way that Winter then swam was injuring her vertebrae and, in time, would have shattered her spinal column.

Who really came up with the idea of a tail prosthesis for Winter, the audience will never know. In the movie version, which trades the true story in for a tale, the mastermind is Morgan Freeman, who plays a doctor who makes artificial limbs for wounded soldiers. He is commissioned by Sawyer (Nathan Gamble), the 11-year-old who, as the tale would have it, first saved Winter on the beach and then remained committed to spending every waking moment of his summer seeing through her recovery. Harry Connick Jr. plays the marine biologist who knows Winter’s chances are close to nil, but perseveres because he can’t let Sawyer and his daughter Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) down.

The one area where the filmmakers did not embellish, however, was with the dolphin. I hope it isn’t a spoiler to point out that Winter plays herself.

The plot may be largely fabricated and predictable, but you go with it because it conveys such innocence. It’s tough not to invest in Sawyer’s pursuit to save Winter–and then, the entire marine hospital when it falls on hard times–because he exhibits the kind of optimistic entrepreneurship only a kid can have. The way Dolphin Tale vividly evokes this feeling more than compensates for the straightforward nature of its other emotions.

Director Charles Martin Smith (once a young actor in American Graffiti) also does a commendable job of sidestepping the usual temptation to exploit the viewer’s sympathy with images of Winter suffering. There is just enough of this to tell the story properly, ensuring not only that the focus remains on the characters, but that the movie is suitable for younger viewers.

I offer only one word of caution about Dolphin Tale: don’t see it in 3-D. While the movie was natively shot in the format and suffers no dimness–the Florida sunshine and the sparkling aquarium pools help out considerably–there is no reason it needs an ‘extra dimension.’ The effect adds nothing; it was undoubtedly the result of a studio that realized they could rake in an extra $15 for every family if they tacked it on. Take the kids to a 2-D showing and enjoy.

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Dolphin Tale (2011, USA). Produced by Brad Arensman, Yolanda T. Cochran, Robert Engelman, Richard Ingber, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, Keith Melton, Carl Rogers, Steven P. Wegner, and David Yates. Directed by Charles Martin Smith. Written for the screen by Karen Janszen and Noam Dromi. Starring Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Kris Kristofferson, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, and Morgan Freeman. Distributed by Warner Bros. Rated PG, with a running time of 113 minutes.