As a
lifelong fan of the 60s Flipper movies and TV show, I certainly have no
automatic hostility towards a family movie set in Florida about a kid’s
friendship with an uber-smart dolphin.
But sheesh; this Dolphin Tale is one of the most sickeningly
cornball and dreadfully acted movies I’ve seen recently in any genre. A few familiar faces, like Ashley Judd and
Morgan Freeman, do fine, of course, but everyone else, especially the lead
child actors, are so badly directed that it’s actually distracting. I missed important parts of the plot because
I was marveling that some of the takes used were really the best. Shy, pouty, sickly young Sawyer, depressed
that his older cousin is off to join the army, finds an injured dolphin on the
beach one day and helps nurse it back to health, eventually using his
mechanical knack to help design an artificial tail for it. And, well, the experience is just what he
needs to get him out of the funk he’s in.
I have nothing against kids’ movies, but why is it that adults insist on
portraying kids as so absurdly innocent and sweet that it destroys any hope of
empathizing with them? And why do they
think that kids either want schmaltz or are stupid enough to not mind it? Kids want sensory and mental stimulation, and
a little danger, just like everybody else.
When I was little, I didn’t want to be babysat by movies. I liked stuff like Star Wars and Raiders
of the Lost Ark; stuff that inflamed the imagination and wasn’t just
mindless drivel designed to not worry my parents. Anyway Dolphin Tale is not good.
No comments:
Post a Comment