My suggestion if you're going to watch this is to think of Flipper in real life and fighting against much bigger odds. Really - there are a lot of similarities, especially the bond between Winter (the dolphin whose tail had to be amputated after being caught in a fishing line) and young Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) - a troubled kid involved in her rescue.
As all animal stories tend to be, this one is heartwarming. After being taken to the Clearwater Marine Hospital, it's feared that Winter will die because without a tail she can't swim. But she teaches herself to swim like a fish (moving her backside side to side) only then to have it discovered that the motion itself will kill her by damaging her spine. The trick then is to develop a prosthesis to save her life.
It's a good story, humorous at times, sad at times. Obviously it revolves around Winter's struggle to survive, but there's a lot of human drama going on in this as well, which perhaps gives it a bit of adult "gravitas." There are some fairly well known faces in this - Harry Connick, Jr. as the head of the Marine Hospital, Kris Kristofferson as his father and Morgan Freeman as the doctor who finally develops the prosthesis. It's better than "Flipper" mostly because it's based on a true story. It takes a few liberties but tells the basics pretty well. (6/10)
As all animal stories tend to be, this one is heartwarming. After being taken to the Clearwater Marine Hospital, it's feared that Winter will die because without a tail she can't swim. But she teaches herself to swim like a fish (moving her backside side to side) only then to have it discovered that the motion itself will kill her by damaging her spine. The trick then is to develop a prosthesis to save her life.
It's a good story, humorous at times, sad at times. Obviously it revolves around Winter's struggle to survive, but there's a lot of human drama going on in this as well, which perhaps gives it a bit of adult "gravitas." There are some fairly well known faces in this - Harry Connick, Jr. as the head of the Marine Hospital, Kris Kristofferson as his father and Morgan Freeman as the doctor who finally develops the prosthesis. It's better than "Flipper" mostly because it's based on a true story. It takes a few liberties but tells the basics pretty well. (6/10)