Dolphin Tale | |
---|---|
Directed by | Charles Martin Smith |
Written by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Karl Walter Lindenlaub |
Edited by | Harvey Rosenstock |
Music by | Mark Isham |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 113 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $37 million [3] |
Box office | $95.9 million [4] |
Dolphin Tale is a 2011 American 3D family drama film directed by Charles Martin Smith and written by Karen Janszen and Noam Dromi. It stars Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Kris Kristofferson, Cozi Zuehlsdorff in her film debut, and Morgan Freeman. The book and film are inspired by the true story of Winter, a bottlenose dolphin that was rescued in December 2005 off the Florida coast and taken in by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. In the film, Winter loses her tail after becoming entangled with a rope attached to a crab trap, and must be fitted with a prosthetic one in order to swim naturally again. [5]
The film was released on September 23, 2011, by Warner Bros. Pictures; Dolphin Tale received positive reviews from critics and earned $95.9 million [4] on a $37 million [3] budget. A sequel, Dolphin Tale 2 , was released on September 12, 2014. [6]
Sawyer Nelson is a lonely 11-year-old who has been falling behind in school since his father's abandonment five years earlier. His only friend is his college-aged cousin Kyle Connellan, a champion swimmer who hopes to compete in the Olympics. Kyle leaves to spend time in the army.
One day, on his way to summer school, Sawyer finds a fisherman attempting to help an injured dolphin tangled in a crab trap. The dolphin is taken for treatment to Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA), run by Dr. Clay Haskett. Clay's daughter Hazel names the dolphin Winter, after two prior dolphins, Summer and Autumn, had been treated successfully and returned to the ocean. Sawyer sneaks in to see Winter, and later starts to visit each day, being harassed by a crazy pelican named Rufus. Sawyer's mother, Lorraine, and Clay are hesitant, due to Sawyer's inexperience with marine animals, and repeatedly skipping summer school, but they realize that the friendship seems to benefit both Winter and Sawyer. Clay allows the visits to continue, and Lorraine withdraws Sawyer from summer school and lets him volunteer at CMA, and gives him a new wetsuit.
However, Winter's tail is wounded and must be amputated. Winter learns to swim without a tail by developing a side-to-side motion like a fish, but after an X-ray, Clay notices the unnatural motion is causing stress on her spine, which, if continued, will handicap and eventually kill her.
The news comes that Kyle has been injured severely in an explosion and is returning home for treatment. Sawyer is excited to see him, but devastated when Kyle skips his own welcoming party and stays at the local Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where Dr. Cameron McCarthy develops prosthetic limbs. Sawyer and his mother visit Kyle there, but Sawyer is insulted when Kyle asks them to leave. Not wanting to upset Sawyer, Kyle takes Sawyer for a walk and explains his situation and that he needs some time. At Sawyer's request, McCarthy agrees to make a prosthetic tail for Winter and convinces his prosthetic supplier Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics to supply the parts at no cost. McCarthy manufactures a "homemade" model tail while waiting for the real one to arrive, but Winter rejects it by banging it against the pool wall. Meanwhile, Kyle gets more depressed when his friend and swimming partner, Donovan Peck, beats his old swimming records. McCarthy persuades Kyle to go home.
Faced with financial trouble, the CMA is heavily damaged by a hurricane. The board of directors agrees to close up and sell the land to a real estate developer. It finds homes for all the animals except Winter, who is not wanted due to her disability and may have to be euthanized. Kyle visits CMA and sees that Winter is like him, with a damaged limb. Inspired by a girl with a prosthetic limb whose mother drives her eight hours from Atlanta to visit Winter, Sawyer imagines holding a "Save Winter Day" to save the facility. Clay is at first unconvinced, but he reconsiders after talking with his father, Reed. Kyle agrees to race Donovan and persuades Bay News 9 to cover the event.
The Hanger-supplied tail finally arrives; however, Winter refuses it as well. Sawyer then realizes what the real problem is: the plastic base for the tail is irritating her skin. McCarthy develops an alternative gel-like sock which he calls "Winter's Gel" (which is the real name of the Hanger product used to attach prosthetic limbs, developed during research with Winter) and Winter accepts this new prosthetic tail.
At Save Winter Day, the work with Winter impresses everyone. Sawyer's teacher gives him school credit, allowing him to pass summer school. The fisherman who found Winter on the beach comes, too. Kyle and Donovan race, but there is no clear winner as it turns into a race for fun after Winter and many children get in the water. The real estate developer decides to keep CMA open and to support it financially.
The ending shows documentary footage from Winter's actual rescue, several of the prosthetic tails that Winter has worn, and scenes of real amputees visiting Winter at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
In the film, Winter is stranded on Honeymoon Island Beach in Dunedin near Clearwater. She is found lying on the shore by a nearby fisherman and rescued with Sawyer's assistance. In real life, Winter was found in Mosquito Lagoon south of New Smyrna Beach―part of the Cape Canaveral National Seashore. The fisherman who discovered her was in the lagoon, as well. Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute Research and stranding team responded to the reported animal, researcher Teresa Mazza-Jablonski stayed with Winter in the water for 7 hours. Winter was first taken to the local Marine Discovery center and then transferred to Clearwater, which is on the opposite side of the state. [7]
In the movie, Winter's tail was amputated due to infection caused from being caught in the rope. In real life, the loss of blood supply to the tail (from being caught in the rope) caused most of the tail to fall off, with only a small piece being amputated. [8]
In the movie, developing Winter's tail takes a few weeks, with a Veteran's Administration doctor working during his vacation. In real life, the process of developing a suitable tail took several months' work by Kevin Carroll and Dan Strzempka and Charles Brown from Hanger Clinic. [7]
Dolphin Tale was filmed in native 3D, beginning in September 2010. It was shot primarily in Pinellas County, Florida, with the principal location being the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Additional locations featured include: Admiral Farragut Academy, The Long Center, Honeymoon Island, Tarpon Springs, and local news station Bay News 9. [9] Justin Sherbert (stage name: Justin Sherman) of Free Willy fame was initially contacted to train the marine mammal extras, but declined. Dolphin Tale remains the only marine mammal motion picture of the modern era that did not employ Sherbert in at least a consulting capacity.[ citation needed ]
Dolphin Tale was released on September 23, 2011, in North America by Warner Bros. Pictures and Alcon Entertainment, in RealD 3D and 2D. It opened at number three with $19.2 million behind the 3D re-release of The Lion King and Moneyball . [10] In its second weekend, the film reached the number-one spot, dropping only 27%, and grossed $13.9 million. [11] As of January 5, 2012, the film has grossed $72,286,779 in the United States and Canada, as well as $23,117,618 internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $95,404,397. [4] The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray at available at iTunes Store and Google Play Store on December 20, 2011.
On Rotten Tomatoes 81% of 111 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Wisely dialing down the schmaltz, Dolphin Tale is earnest, sweet, and well-told, a rare family film that both kids and parents can enjoy." [12] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 64 based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [13] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" on an A+ to F scale. [14]
Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor | Nathan Gamble | Nominated | [15] |
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress | Cozi Zuehlsdorff | Nominated |
A sequel titled Dolphin Tale 2 was released on September 12, 2014.
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the clade Odontoceti. Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae, Platanistidae, Iniidae, Pontoporiidae, and possibly extinct Lipotidae. There are 40 extant species named as dolphins.
Clearwater is a city and the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, United States, west of Tampa and north of St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 117,292. It is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay area.
The bottlenose dolphin is a toothed whale in the genus Tursiops. They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus contains three species: the common bottlenose dolphin, the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, and Tamanend's bottlenose dolphin. Others, like the Burrunan dolphin, may be alternately considered their own species or be subspecies of T. aduncus. Bottlenose dolphins inhabit warm and temperate seas worldwide, being found everywhere except for the Arctic and Antarctic Circle regions. Their name derives from the Latin tursio (dolphin) and truncatus for the truncated teeth.
The National Aquarium – also known as National Aquarium in Baltimore and formerly known as Baltimore Aquarium – is a non-profit public aquarium located at 501 East Pratt Street on Pier 3 in the Inner Harbor area of downtown Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. Constructed during a period of urban renewal in Baltimore, the aquarium opened on August 8, 1981. The aquarium has an annual attendance of 1.5 million visitors and is the largest tourism attraction in the State of Maryland. The aquarium holds more than 2,200,000 US gallons (8,300,000 L) of water, and has more than 17,000 specimens representing over 750 species. The National Aquarium's mission is to inspire conservation of the world's aquatic treasures. The aquarium's stated vision is to confront pressing issues facing global aquatic habitats through pioneering science, conservation, and educational programming.
Flipper is an American television program broadcast on NBC from September 19, 1964, until April 15, 1967. Flipper, a bottlenose dolphin, is the pet of Porter Ricks, chief warden at Coral Key Park and Marine Preserve, and his two young sons, Sandy and Bud. The show has been dubbed an "aquatic Lassie", and a considerable amount of children's merchandise inspired by the show was produced during its first run.
Mosquito Lagoon is a body of water located on the east coast of Florida in Brevard and Volusia counties. It is part of the Indian River Lagoon system and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It extends from the Ponce de Leon Inlet to a point north of Cape Canaveral, and connects to the Indian River via the Haulover Canal. The Mosquito Lagoon Aquatic Preserve includes 4,740 acres (1,920 ha) in the northern end of the lagoon. The preserve originally extended to the southern end of the lagoon, but close to two-thirds of the preserve in the central and southern lagoon were transferred to the Federal government, and is now part of the Canaveral National Seashore. The cities of New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater, the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Kennedy Space Center adjoin the lagoon.
The Minnesota Zoo is an AZA-accredited zoo in Apple Valley, Minnesota. The zoo is one of two state-supported zoos in the United States, with the other being the North Carolina Zoo. When it opened on May 22, 1978, it was fairly revolutionary in its exhibit design. The zoo, built in a suburbanizing rural area, had more space to house exhibits and was one of the first zoos to organize its animals by their living environment as opposed to their species.
Bay News 9 is a cable news television network located in St. Petersburg, Florida. Owned by Charter Communications, it currently serves the Tampa Bay area including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Polk, Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus counties. The station, which is exclusive to Spectrum customers, provides rolling news programming 24 hours a day, with the exception of some special programming, including a weekly political program, Political Connections.
Nathan Lee Gamble is an American actor who made his feature film debut in Babel (2006), for which he was nominated for a 2007 Young Artist Award. He is best known for his role as Sawyer Nelson in Dolphin Tale and the sequel Dolphin Tale 2.
Clearwater Beach includes a resort area and a residential area on a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico in Pinellas County on the west-central coast of Florida, United States. Located just west over the Intracoastal Waterway by way of the Clearwater Memorial Causeway from the rest of the city of Clearwater, Florida, of which it is part, Clearwater Beach is at a geographic latitude of 27.57 N and longitude 82.48 W.
Hanger, Inc. is a leading national provider of products and services that assist in enhancing or restoring the physical capabilities of patients with disabilities or injuries that is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The company provides orthotic and prosthetic (O&P) services, distributes O&P devices and components, manages O&P networks, and provides therapeutic solutions to patients and businesses in acute, post-acute, and clinical settings. Hanger, Inc. operates through two segments: Patient Care and Products & Services.
Winter was a bottlenose dolphin at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater, Florida, United States, and was widely known for having a prosthetic tail. Winter was the subject of the 2009 book Winter's Tale, the 2011 film Dolphin Tale, and its 2014 sequel.
Austin Miles Stowell is an American actor. He is known for his roles in Dolphin Tale, its sequel Dolphin Tale 2, Love and Honor (2013), Whiplash (2014), Francis Gary Powers in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies (2015), Nately in Catch-22 (2019) and The Hating Game (2021).
Clearwater Marine Aquarium is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and aquarium in Clearwater, Florida. It is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of sick and injured marine animals, public education, conservation, and research.
Kevin Carroll is an Irish prosthetist, researcher, educator, and author. He is the Vice-President of Prosthetics for Hanger Clinic, a prosthetics and orthotics provider in the United States.
Cozi Noelle Zuehlsdorff is an American actress and singer, best known for her role as Hazel Haskett in the movie Dolphin Tale (2011) and the sequel, Dolphin Tale 2 (2014). She also appears in Mighty Med as Jordan, and in Liv and Maddie as Ocean. In November 2014, she released her debut EP, Originals. Cozi collaborated with Monstercat house artist Hellberg with his single "The Girl", on which Zuehlsdorff contributed vocals to, which was featured on his EP, "This Is Me" and on "Monstercat 021 – Perspective".
Dolphin Tale 2 is a 2014 American family film written and directed by Charles Martin Smith as the sequel to his 2011 film Dolphin Tale which in-turn was based on the true story about a rescued bottlenose dolphin named Winter who made her final on-screen appearance in this film before her death in November 2021. In addition to Winter, most of the cast from the first film also reprise their roles including Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Kris Kristofferson, Morgan Freeman, Austin Stowell, Tom Nowicki, Austin Highsmith, Betsy Landin and Juliana Harkavy while Hope made her film debut. It was released on September 12, 2014, and tells the story of another dolphin at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium named "Hope". After Winter's elderly companion and surrogate mother, Panama, dies, Winter's future is in jeopardy, unless Sawyer, Clay, Hazel, and the rest of the team can find a new companion for her. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $57.8 million.
Caroline Kole is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who began performing under the stage name Suite Caroline.
A veterinary prosthesis is a medical device that takes the place of an absent body part for an animal. These devices are created with the intention of mimicking the body part to serve the same purpose and functionality. The design of new animal prosthesis is driven by the needs of individual animals in consideration with environmental requirements and attachment sites.
Maja Kazazic is a Bosnian genocide survivor, businesswoman, and motivational speaker. She was critically injured during the Bosnian War in 1993, losing her left leg and suffering severe injuries.