metacritic.com: Eye of the Dolphin

Eye of the Dolphin

Starring Carly Schroeder, Jane Lynch, Christopher Herrod, Adrian Dunbar, and George Harris

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some substance abuse involving a young teen

Monterey Media
Drama
100 minutes | Color
USA
Released In Theaters August 24, 2007

Fourteen-year-old Alyssa has been living with her grandmother Lucy since the death of her mother the year before. It's been a tough year for both of them, but then, Lucy decides it's time for Alyssa to go to the Bahamas to live with Hawk, dedicated dolphin researcher and the father she never knew she had. Alyssa's arrival on the island comes at a decisively inconvenient time for Hawk, who is busy fighting greedy politicians and "experts" determined to turn his research center into a tacky tourist attraction. It's a prickly relationship between Hawk and Alyssa, but Tamika, Hawk's girlfriend, and Daniel, Tamika's father, smooth the way. Alyssa soon adjusts to island life and discovers the gift she shares with her father for communicating with dolphins. It is a skill that leads her into a powerful relationship with a wild dolphin, which her father, for legitimate scientific reasons, cannot condone. But when the powers that be threaten to close down her father's research station, it is Alyssa and her wild friend who hold the key and the power to bring all parties together. (Monterey Media)

WRITTEN BY
Wendell Morris
Michael D. Sellers

DIRECTED BY
Michael D. Sellers

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

54 / 100

Critic Reviews

67	Austin Chronicle Eye of the Dolphin is much better than most films of this sort, and if it helps a generation of young girls want to grow up to swim with live dolphins rather than groom My Little Ponys, that's certainly not a bad thing at all.
63	ReelViews There's real heart to be found in the story but it comes along with borderline saccharine sentimentality, a too facile ending, and clean outcomes that aren't earned.
50	Los Angeles Times Staff (Not credited) Overly earnest and roughly constructed, the film is bearable largely thanks to the performance as the daughter by Carly Schroeder, recently seen in the girls' soccer pic, "Gracie."
50	Variety There's a pleasantly dreamy quality to much of Eye of the Dolphin, and that goes a long way toward enabling audiences to ignore the formulaic plot and enjoy the laid-back charms of this innocuous indie.
50	Chicago Tribune Maureen M. Hart Young audiences will enjoy her journey from surly to empowered, and as countless visitors to Brookfield Zoo can attest, there's nothing like watching dolphins. So a star for Schroeder and a star for the title players.

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