DOLPHIN TALE (2011)
Call me sentimental, call me soppy; I love movies like this. There is just something magical about children and their animals. Maybe it is the sense of innocence we associate therewith that makes us all yearn back to a time in our lives when things were a whole lot less complicated.
One day, on his way to school, eleven year old Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) stumbles upon a young beached bottlenose dolphin. It got itself entangled with a crab catching contraption and sustained serious injuries to its flukes (the tail end flipper). However, despite being rescued by Dr Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr) and his team of volunteers, they cannot prevent Winter (the name they gave the dolphin) from loosing her flukes. This in turn causes her tail to develop in such a way that it may eventually cause her death. And for Sawyer, who meanwhile grew very attached to his foundling, this is simply not an option. Enters Dr Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman) a prosthetist to come up with a solution.
Based on actual events, this, on the one hand, is a tale of man's true responsibility and commitment towards nature and all its creatures (especially one that is most probably just as intelligent as us, if not more). On the other hand it is a story of what real love and dedication actually entails (pun intended). So, to be honest, you don't even have to have a particular sensitive soul in order to be touched by this film. And yes, you guessed it. I rate this movie 5 out of 5 stars.
Trailer link:
Trailer link:
DOLPHIN TALE 2 (2014)
Usually when a movie is made of true events it is a one-off project. Once it is finished it is over and done with. The story is told; time to move on to the next one. It is therefor very rare that you will find a sequel to the original. But in this case there was a follow-up story to tell, almost just as fascinating as the original.
In the first Dolphin Tale, Winter was adopted by an older female dolphin called Panama. Apparently this is what happens in nature when a baby dolphin looses its mother for whatever reason. It is then adopted by another female in the pod in order for it to teach the orphaned youngster to fend for itself. So, when Panama dies (a few years after the first film was shot) Winter is left devastated without her surrogate mother. Even young Sawyer is not able to console her. To make things worse, according to US Department of Agriculture rules, no dolphin is allowed to be kept in captivity without a companion. And so starts the search for a new partner for Winter.
Although the entire cast from the first movie (even Rufus the pelican) is back for this one and the story is every bit as fascinating, this second film just did not have the same lasting impact on me. Make no mistake: if you enjoyed the first one, this sequel is equally recommended as a must-see. But it is for that reason that I rate at a only slightly less 4 out of 5 stars.
Trailer link:
Trailer link:
The cast
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