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83Director Charles Martin Smith presents the kind of movie that gives squeaky-clean a good name.
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Sep 21, 201180Cozi Zuehlsdorff winningly plays a young girl who works at the hospital. With her big smile and natural warmth, she is a charmer. Even better is Gamble, who gives a smart and sensitive performance without relying on any of the normal mannerisms that often afflict child actors.
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75Even with the conflict overkill, most of the small moments ring true. Dolphin Tale has more in common with "The Swiss Family Robinson" than most modern live-action family movies, where slapstick and cheap laughs feed short attention spans.
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75The story of healing and courage is told with a refreshing lack of cynicism, not surprising since it's from the same producers as the wonderful "My Dog Skip."
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75Even if Dolphin Tale hits every note square on the nose - or maybe because it does - watching it is surprisingly pleasurable.
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75Between the earnest boy, his playful mammal, the film from actor-turned-director Charles Martin Smith is a winning family entertainment.
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75The dolphin is, quite simply, remarkable, and the unstated message of resilience and adaptation ripples easily off the screen to the smallest viewers.
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75Learning of this story, I thought, aw, come on, give me a break. But it turns out the story is not only based on fact, but the actual dolphin involved, named Winter, stars in the movie as herself. Her new tail functions admirably.
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75The movie often seems too good to be true, but by the end I wanted a dolphin just like Winter for my own swimming pool.
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70Pitched awfully young, without a shred of the satire or subtlety that is generally found in films aimed at tweeners and above. That's not a bad thing; it just means accompanying grown-ups or older siblings will have to choke down a sizable dose of schmaltz with their fish milkshakes.
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70It doesn't look particularly special - despite the visual potential of underwater scenes - but kids are going to eat this up.
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Sep 20, 201170By the end of the movie, Winter has become a mascot for human disability, especially for children, and Dolphin Tale has enough depth and sensitivity to tap into emotion without feeling manipulative.
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70This true story of a dolphin with a prosthetic tail has been precision engineered for full inspirational, heart-warming value.
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Sep 19, 201170Though garnished with some heavy dollops of cheese, Dolphin Tale is a surprisingly solid, earnest family picture.
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67Though the film meanders through some chum-heavy patches, this genuine crowd-pleaser from the producers of "The Blind Side" is a worthy new entrant into the boy-and-his-underdog film genre.
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Sep 21, 201167While the plot occasionally feels like "Free Willy" without the drama, it's a cute story if you don't mind temporarily trading in your cynicism for a bag of popcorn.
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63A true story of animal rescue, and it even stars the sea creature to whom it happened. But it's the humans who do the cutesy tricks that make it a mixed blessing.
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63It's not a perfect film, mind you. It's too long by a quarter, and actor-turned-director Charles Martin Smith ("The Untouchables") lets any sense of real structure slip away in the film's crowded third act.
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63A reasonably uplifting kids movie if you don't think about it too much. I get paid to think about things too much, and effective as the movie is, it nevertheless left me slightly put off.
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Sep 22, 201163It's a whale of a tale, made more special by being predominantly true.
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63The best of Dolphin Tale takes it easy. Led by Connick and Judd, plus the crucially empathetic Gamble and Zuehlsdorff, the cast includes Kris Kristofferson as the seafaring old salt of a grandpa. The acting has a nice, low-pressure vibe, in contrast to the film's high-pressure peril.
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63No, this isn't how it really happened. But director Charles Martin Smith ("Air Bud") wrings plenty of heartfelt tears and a few laughs out of this fictionalized account.
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63If its plotting can be slight, the film's restraint and earnestness help prevent it from ever tipping over into outright mawkishness, and its performances similarly avoid over-the-top histrionics.
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Oct 10, 201160A good shout if your kids like this sort of thing, otherwise best head to your local aquarium.
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60Most of the family films churned out today are so junky it's almost a shock to find one in which the animals never spout sassy one-liners, or show off their hilarious hip-hop moves.
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60The parallel between the dolphin and the disabled tourists who flock to see it borders on treacle, but Gamble's rapport with his finned costar is so touching that the movie works anyway.
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Sep 20, 201160The underwater scenes of Sawyer playing with the dolphin are gorgeous, a cinematic daydream of interspecies connection.
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60Call it Prosthetic Flipper, but the truly inspiring Dolphin Tale is perfect family entertainment.
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58Dolphin Tale is as casual as a pleasant afternoon nap and about as substantive.
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50A potentially appealing story about a rescued disabled dolphin gets smothered with inspirational family values guff.
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50Dolphin Tale is inoffensive enough -- little kids will probably dig it -- and I'm not suggesting that family-friendly docudramas should tightly conform to real life. But when they do embellish, they should distill the story into something more compelling, rather than watering it down with pleasant-but-utterly-forgettable inspirational boilerplate.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 17
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Mixed: 4 out of 17
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Negative: 2 out of 17
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5Predictable fun. Fantastic for family audiences. Acting was good, dolphins interesting to see.