Running Time: 1 hour, 53 minutes
Rating: PG
Director: Charles Martin Smith
Quick Impressions:
Dolphin Tale was a better movie than I expected it to be. I went with relatively low expectations, just glad to be able to take my two-year-old to a movie after a long stretch of very limited choices for her. I expected a syrupy, contrived tale, along the lines of some of the weaker Hollywood concoctions about troubled children and adorable dogs. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for adorable dogs, but a movie doesn’t have to do much to succeed in the kid-meets-dog genre.)
To my surprise, Dolphin Tale managed to be inspiring and heart-warming without veering into Hallmark Hall of Fame territory. At moments, it seemed headed toward “great movie” territory instead, though it never quite made it that far. But it had some beautiful moments as a “wonder of childhood” film and was genuinely touching as an “overcoming adversity” movie also, though I think the former aspect was ultimately the stronger of the two.
A large part of the marketing push for the movie involves stressing that Dolphin Tale is a true story, but just how true is a bit of a mystery. Winter the dolphin plays herself (a huge draw), but while trying to learn more about Dr. Cameron McCarthy, I found out from a Morgan Freeman interview that he doesn’t even exist. Freeman is playing a fictionalized version of the prosthetics specialist who helped make a tail for Winter. And surely all the hijinks involving the children and the animals didn’t really happen exactly as it’s presented.
Still, Winter’s story is an inspiring one, and strong performances by the entire cast (especially by Freeman, the young actors, and the dolphin) make the story moving and enjoyable to watch for viewers of all ages.
The Good:
The story here is fantastic, especially because it’s true, though again, I’m not sure how true. Screenwriters Karen Janszen and Noam Dromi have done excellent work, organizing compelling true elements in a highly effective way. The movie begins by focusing on young Sawyer Nelson’s close relationship with his older cousin Kyle, a champion swimmer in high school who is about to leave for a tour of duty in Iraq. Kyle dreams of swimming in the Olympics and has joined the military in order to get the money to train. Sawyer, meanwhile, does not want his cousin to leave because his father left and never came back when Sawyer was young.
The similarities between Winter the dolphin and Kyle the veteran are absolutely uncanny, and it’s easy to see why Sawyer becomes so attached to the injured dolphin he helps to free on the beach and why the dolphin’s struggle means so much to the boy on an emotional level.
Another draw that delivers—Winter the dolphin plays herself, and she’s wonderful to watch, especially if, like me, you grew up in awe of those beautiful marine mammals and dreamed of owning one as a pet/best friend/partner in crime fighting. Winter has a lot of personality, and of course, she looks beautiful in the water.
Of the humans in the cast, the strongest performance belongs, not surprisingly, to Morgan Freeman, who—again, no big surprise—also has the best part with the best lines. When I saw Morgan Freeman in the previews, I thought, Does he just show up in every feel good family movie now? But the part allows Freeman to contribute far more than his pleasant voice and grandfatherly presence. Some of the stuff he has to say is genuinely thoughtful and inspiring, and when good lines are given to a great actor, the result is a commanding performance.
The movie could not succeed, though, without the compelling performances of the two children, both engaging and easy to empathize with. Nathan Gamble has a great face, and the difficult-to-spell but impossible-to-forget Cozi Zuehlsdorff gives a charming and unaffected performance.
Best Scene:
My favorite moment was Morgan Freeman’s brief but important chat with Austin Stowell’s wounded Private Kyle Connellan. Freeman’s character uses a drinking glass to make his point visibly. He goes on to give an eloquent explanation of his emphatic gesture, a technique that works well within a film that succeeds because of equally resonant metaphors that stand without explanation.
Apart from this, all of the best moments in the movie come when Hazel and Sawyer get a chance to interact together onscreen. They have wonderful chemistry and both show a lot of promise as up and coming child actors. I particularly liked the way they interact as Connick’s Clay Haskett recounts the Chumash origin story of the dolphin, a charming moment in the film.
Best Action Sequence:
I’m torn about this. The scene when Sawyer lets Hazel fly his helicopter with zany results definitely held my kids’ attention. It’s a wonderful way to showcase all the delightful animals in the aquarium and to add some comic relief. Moments like this made the movie highly watchable for a young and easily bored audience. But I think such moments also detracted from the overall quality of the movie because they seemed discordantly silly.
The Performances:
Harry Connick Jr. was at his best portraying Dr. Clay Haskett, the marine biologist in charge of the Clearwater Aquarium and Winter’s care. Seriously, I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen him give a better performance. Ordinarily, I find Connick a distracting actor with limited range, but he was quite good in this role.
Not surprisingly, many of the strongest moments in the movie belonged to Morgan Freeman, playing Dr. Cameron McCarthy, the military physician who helps Sawyer’s cousin learn to cope with his new limitations and uses vacation time to build a prosthetic tail for Winter. Cozi Zuehlsdorff was magnificent as Hazel Haskett. I’ve never seen Zuehlsdorff before, but she’s an amazingly talented young actress. Her infectious enthusiasm seems natural. As the aquarium-focused daughter of Dr. Clay, she brings tremendous energy to each scene she’s in without seeming over-the-top or forced.
Nathan Gamble is also very good as Sawyer Nelson, the boy who helps to find and free Winter and soon forms a special bond with her. Gamble reminds me a little of a young Josh Hutcherson. (I’m aware that at not-quite-twenty, Josh Hutcherson is still a young Josh Hutcherson, but let’s say Gamble is like a younger Josh Hutcherson.) He also reminded me a bit of Henry Thomas as Elliott in E.T., though I think Gamble gasps a little too often. He almost always seems to be aspirating when speaking. It’s good to be excited, but if Darth Vader breathes less while delivering his lines, then maybe you need to calm down just a little bit.
Austin Stowell is very good as Kyle Connellan, a character essential to setting the story in motion. In many ways, Dolphin Tale has more to do with Kyle and people like him than with Winter, a very lucky dolphin to be injured and vulnerable at a time when so many others were broken and looking for a symbol of hope.
Sawyer’s mom, Dr. Lorraine Nelson seems like an unusual character for Ashley Judd to play, but she does a lovely job. (I’m not sure why she feels justified in treating the summer school teacher with such contempt, but I guess if I had an attack pelican, I might let it go to my head, too.) Kris Kristofferson is incredibly likeable as Reed Haskett, Clay’s father and Hazel’s grandpa. He has very little to say or do, and given Kristofferson’s limited range, that’s probably for the best. But he does have a couple of very nice moments. And even though the part was small, I really liked Frances Sternhagen as Gloria Forest. Her performance was completely convincing without being at all showy.
The Negatives:
Picking apart a child’s performance seems a bit mean-spirited, but I do think Nathan Gamble sometimes gets a little too excited and ruins a moment that might come off better underplayed. (Possibly, that’s the director’s fault, not the actor’s.) Gamble’s a very cute kid, of course, and too much enthusiasm is definitely preferable to none. It’s possible also that the actual child involved with Winter was a very excitable boy, and I’m wrongly penalizing Gamble for all his character-nailing gasping. (It’s also possible that there was no actual child. Cursory research has suggested that the truest part of this story is that there’s a dolphin named Winter who got a new tail.)
The thing is, there are moments in the movie that make you stop and think, This movie is more than an inspiring, feel-good film about a little dolphin that could. This is also a movie about a boy discovering life by embracing something that excites him. This movie could be great. And then Gamble starts gasping again and the pelican does a stupid trick.
It’s hard not to tear up when characters make noble choices or when the movie presents engaging characters moved by Winter’s struggle because it reminds them of their own. But there are also an awful lot of silly moments in the movie. I know why they’re there. It’s hard to keep children’s attention, and, plus, the animals are cute.
But I think the movie flirts with a greatness that it never quite achieves because it tries to be too many things at once. Is it a story about boyhood wonder and finding a way in life? Is it a film about broken people embracing an animal whose spirit cannot be broken? Is it a movie about cute animals? Of course, it could (and does) succeed as all of those things—but it succeeds unevenly. It is heart-warming, but with less scattered execution, it could have been great.
Overall:
If you are too jaded to find this story moving, then at least shed a few tears for yourself and your inability to feel. Dolphin Tale shows us wounded veterans, disabled children, injured animals, and people unable to pay the bills because of their commitment to doing the right thing. The movie isn’t gimmicky and doesn’t try to manipulate the audience (much). If you cry, you cry at things that are genuinely sad, bittersweet, or inspiring.
Dolphin Tale also contains some great performances, from relatively unknown actors like marvelous new comer, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, from gifted veterans (most notably Morgan Freeman), and from Winter herself, a bottle-nosed dolphin whose true story has inspired people all over the world. If you have children, definitely see it. My stepson really enjoyed it, and he’s more of an action movie fan. Younger children (like my daughter and the kid behind us) might feel some anxiety just before the end when things are looking most dire for Winter and her people. Even without kids along, this movie is definitely worth watching, especially if you like dolphins. And who doesn’t like dolphins?