September 29, 2011

• Dolphin Tale

  So...I finally got to see the movie that stars one of my favorite creatures of all time.  I knew from the first trailer I saw, (the one I cried my eyes out watching), that I wanted to see it.  Normally I don't desperately seek out to watch an obvious "feel good" movie, but seeing as how this one stars a real dolphin with that very real problem, I was eager to be a part of it.  I wanted to know the story of winter on the big screen, at least for the most part.  But I forgot.  This is Hollywood.  And most of the time, Hollywood likes to take true stories and add things that aren't true.  I can expect that, of course. You have to make it appealing for the audience. I get that.  I even get creating your own story.  But what I don't get is creating a downright boring story that holds no weight on its own while forcing the main star of the movie to be some sort of background character.

  All in all, I was disappointed.  Oh it wasn't dreadful work.  It was ooey and gooey and all soft inside...most definitely designed to cater to children.  I was just expecting a little less fabrication and a little more truth. The story was very unoriginal and weak. Extremely weak.  So weak, that yes, I found too much of the movie boring whenever the dolphin wasn't in the shot, which unfortunately is a good portion of the movie.  I just didn't care about anything else going on in the world outside of Winter's tank.  And I'm not even saying that because I love dolphins so much. I'm saying that because the story is so thin and corny, that unless I see a dolphin in the scene picture, I'm bored out of my skull because the human counterparts are rather pathetic.  The cast, even Morgan Freeman, was just...ugh...so bad.  So bad in getting me to care about them, or getting me to believe they care themselves.  So unbelievable.  And the kids? My gawd the kids. They were more just nuisances than anything.  Horrible acting and just plain...pestersome. I've seen great child actors, both old and new, and these don't fit the bill.  And if Hollywood wants to use the OVERLY used plot device of kids befriending animals and somehow magically transforming them into a better version of themselves, then the least they can do is provide me a kid who can make me believe it.  These two did NOT.  Fire them.

  To put it worse, the movie is just infected with useless scenes that contribute nothing, I mean NOTHING at all to the movie or to Winter's story.  No, they're only there as filler, fluffy and fattening.  Except instead of being sweet, they're just tasteless.  And I can tell all they were trying to do is give the story a sense of drama and tension, but they just felt forced and...without real purpose.  What I wanted was a movie about Winter the dolphin.  I wanted to see her rescue. I wanted to see her progression.  I wanted to see her struggles and her successions.  But most important of all, I wanted to see all the interactions between herself and the numerous amputees who opened their hearts to her.  I wanted to see the real story, or at least most of it.  I wanted to see the deepest part of her story and I barely got a crumb of that. If Hollywood must fabricate their own story into the mix, no matter how lame, then I wanted at least most of Winter's story intricately weaved into it somehow.  But that wasn't there, not to me.  This was yet another "boy and his pet" type of movie that I see all the freaking time (Free Willy, E.T., Black Beauty, The Black Stallion, etc.). It just didn't do anything for me, and that's a shame.  That's why I wish Hollywood would just leave the cutesy kid part out of where it doesn't belong and give me the true, gritty stuff.  

  Needless to say, the only time I felt the urge to cry was at the end, when they were showing real footage of Winter's rescue, rehabilitation, and finally her interaction with various amputees.  It's the real story I loved and craved, not that kiddy nonsense, even though I was expecting that in small measures.  But not THIS bad.  I guess I just wish this movie were a documentary instead of what it was. But I suppose in the end, the most important thing to be revealed and shared here is awareness of Winter and her aquarium home, as well as awareness about the environment.  So all in all, that makes it all worthwhile.  

  • 12:51 am
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