Dolphin Tale (review)

Sometimes you can tell a book by its cover, or in this case, a movie by its title. No sir-ree, no transforming robots here, or fast and furious car chases, or vampires versus werewolves. No, it is just a tale about a dolphin that has lost its tail. Oh, did you get it? It is a ‘tale’ about a dolphin, and the dolphin has a ‘tail’ that has been amputated due to an injury, and the kind folks who care for the dolphin create a mechanical ‘tail’ for the dolphin. Well, it must have sounded much better when it was pitched to the Movie Executives.

But until they come out with a movie that is about a magical unicorn that has lost its horn, then this movie will have to do. There are a lot of people who can see the value in story of a poor dolphin that has an injury and gets her tail amputated only to have a group of people gather around and help the dolphin with a new prosthetic tail. Add in some kinda-cute kids, a well-intentioned veterinarian, a cantankerous old coot and you can wind up with a decent movie for kids. Plus it is based on a true story, and the dolphin is ‘played’ by the real life counterpart named Winter.

A young boy named Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) lives with his mother (Ashley Judd) in a small Florida town of Clearwater. He is supposed to be attending summer school, but on the way there, he stops his bike on the beach. He finds a helpless dolphin caught on shore trapped with a crab trap on her tail. He alerts the Clearwater Marina, which is in financial trouble. They rescue the dolphin and the main vet (Dr. Clay Haskett played by Harry Connick Jr.) takes the animal in. His daughter Hazel names the dolphin Winter.

Winter looses the tail in surgery to save her life. She attempts to swim, but without the dolphin tail and the flukes, she has a tough time. When Sawyer spends time with Winter, she seems to have the will to go on. Sawyer also is finding some purpose in his life, and enjoys being at the Marina. However, it has run out of money to operate, and the Board decides to sell the Marina to a developer. If that happens, Winter will have no home.

Sawyer has a cousin names Kyle (Alex Stowall) in the military. Alex is injured overseas and comes back home. In the V.A. hospital, he runs into Dr. McCarthy (Morgan Freeman) who is charge of the prosthetics department. Alex has a severe leg injury, but even more serious attitude adjustment problem. Kyle begins to work with the Marina and with Winter. He sees that Winter has overcome a severe injury. Sawyer talks with Dr. McCarthy about the tail-less dolphin, and he too gets involved.

Soon, there are attempts to fit Winter with a new mechanical tail, but it is not successful (at first). Kyle learns that some wounds are internal and can heal with time. Sawyer learns that a dolphin can teach you as much as the Florida public school system. Dr. Clay learns that the developer has kids that also love dolphins. Dr. McCarthy learns that it is OK to tinker around and build an artificial tail for a dolphin with V.A. money. Hazel learns that all boys don’t have cooties. And Bruce the Shark learns that “Fish are Friends, not Food”. Opps, wrong movie.

Yes is all rather straightforward and to the point. There are no real ‘bad guys’, except maybe the developer, and he turns out OK in the end. Everyone cheers on Winter and the town rallies behind the Marina to save Winter. All is well and the ending comes with smiling rainbows and happy pink ponies. Except for one thing:

No-Reason-To-Be 3D again raises its ugly head and smears a dark cloud of animal waste on this movie. For the sake of a couple of shots of a dolphin making a splash in the water, and the water seems to rise up and form little droplets and head right to you. When many scenes are underwater, and there is no good way to judge visual depth, I mean, why even bother? The bad 3D effects give you a headache more than a good experience. If anything splashes on your shirt, it is not from the movie but rather your drink spilling on you. The 3D affect cannot duplicate that.