Dolphin Tale [ Movie Review ] ★★★★

The Pitch

Dolphin Tale looked like it's going to be another family kiddie show that I thought I was going to be bored with. Then the trailer came along with Morgan Freeman narrating and appearing in it. My interest for this movie was somewhat increased. When the trailer ended indicating that it was based on a true story and it actually features the actual dolphin who lost it's tail in this tale, I became even more interested in this movie.

The Plot

Dolphin Tale is the remarkable tale of Winter, a dolphin who lost her tail when it gotten entangled with a fishing boat's crab trap. A young boy, Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) happened to be at the beach that Winter was washed up on. He tried to remove some of the crab trap ropes on her and stayed with her till the Clearwater Marine Aquarium rescue team arrive.

The boy and the injured dolphin immediately forms a strong bond but their friendship had to labored through a few obstacles. Aquarium vet (Harry Connick Jr) had to amputated Winter's tail to save the dolphin's life and Sawyer's mom (Ashley Judd) was upset that Sawyer been skipping his summer classes to take care of Winter. The aquarium was also having financial difficulties in covering it's operation and was facing a buyout from a business corporation.  But the worst hurdle would be that Winter swimming without a tail was going to damage her spine and would eventually kill her.

To overcome the most difficult issue, Sawyer decided to seek the help of Dr. McCarthy (Morgan Freeman), a specialist who works for the handicapped army veterans. Can they create a prosthetic limb for Winter in time to rescue her life?


The Perspective - Dolphin Tale Review

For most part of the movie, it runs like a predictable kids movie. It's not hard to figure out the ending or every situations that arises in this movie. There were plenty of cutesy moments, courtesy of the two kid actors (Nathan Gamble and Cozi Zuehlsdorf), an annoying pelican and of course, the dolphin Winter. What I didn't expect was the manner they used Winter's problem to heal the wounded souls of mankind.

After going through constant bombardment of how humans are destroying and using wildlife for their personal gain, it was a refreshing change to that the relationship between humans and wildlife could coexist in beneficiary ways. Dolphin Tale has a uplifting and inspiring message that reminds us that sometimes we can't make it on our own. Mankind that could do such horrible stuff to wildlife are also capable of so much beauty and love. There are so much we could learn and be inspired from the wildlife. The level of unexpected warmth in this movie caught me by surprise and even made me go teary up.


What I didn't like about the movie was rather trivial but I am going to list them. There's a romance angle that played out between the young Sawyer and Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorf) which I felt serve no purpose except to introduce the young audience into boy girl relationship. I felt there's no need to push romance into such a young crowd and it wasn't essential to the story. 

I was also worried that the kids who loved this movie would start pestering their parents to bring them see a dolphin show and in Singapore, that would be Resort World Sentosa. But then again, watching dolphins in captivity might not be the best thing for dolphins. Just ask Ric O'Barry, the guy who helped made the movie Flipper and refer to the recent report on RWS treatment to dolphins. Winter's case is rather unique and personally, I still feel that the best way to get close to dolphin would be to visit them in their natural habitat.

Nevertheless, Dolphin Tale is an uplifting tale of how wildlife and human could coexist and benefit from working together. It might be formulaic but there's heart in this movie and a good way to teach the kids to start caring for nature. Dolphin Tale comes Highly Recommended - 4 Stars.

Wasao | わさお [ Movie Review ] ★★

The Pitch

There's enough Japanese movies about dogs to identify it as a genre. From Hachikō to the recent Kinako: Police Dog Dream, it seemed that the Japanese hasn't run out of ideas in making a dog movie and the audience are still lapping it up. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

This time round, the focus is on a white Akita who became famous after a traveler's blog about him. Apparently Wasao (which apparently means furry in Japanese) was abandon as a puppy and he traveled on his own for a while. At the coastal town of Ajigasawa in Aomori Prefecture, he was rescued and  raised by the female owner of a grilled squid cafe. The blog post of this "cute & ugly dog" went viral and soon Wasao became the most famous Akita in Japan.

This Busa - Kawaii (Ugly - Cute) canine eventually became a World Heritage special ambassador and now there's a movie about him. I guess it's true that every dog has his day and now the review for Wasao the feature length movie. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

The Plot

In the peaceful town of Ajigasawa, the locals witness an unidentified animal, which some claim looked like a lion, whilst others describe its look as more like a bear. It was eating Farm crops and many raised concerns for their children’s safety. This led to a plan for a hunter to terminate it. 

Waiting for Something to happen

With much effort, Setsuko finally got the dog to start eating a little of what she offers him. However, the dog’s temperament puzzles her, he hardly lets anyone near him, and comes and goes as he please. But yet he always seems to cheer up the elderly and the junior high school students who are hard at training for a triathlon tournament. The dog also shows concern for the old dog that Setsuko had taken under her wing. Setsuko realizes that the Akita Inu dog that appeared before her, looked like a lion, and that worried her. She was afraid that it might get mistaken as the bear that’s ruining the farm crops and get shot.

Setsuko extends her love and care to every living thing, and Akira who loves dogs, but is unable to open up as a puppy had led to his mother’s hospitalization, as a result of an accident. 

(Plot Outline taken from Wasao Facebook Page)

The Perspective

After watching this movie, my hunch is that Wasao didn't charmed the Japanese with his dog tale. It was likely that he gained popularity simply because of his ugly cute appearance. Likewise for the movie, there's plenty of close up on the adorable furry creature and scenic shot of Ajigasawa but when it comes to crafting a dog movie out of Wasao's journey, there's not much substance there.

This movie is filled with non essential people and subplots that had nothing to do with Wasao's story. A farmer taking part in the triathlon event so that he could get married, a school girl organizing  her classmate to perform at the Nebutsu Festival while having a crush on her teacher and many more of such subplots that had nothing to do with the dog. These supporting characters and subplots just drag on and on till it felt like the movie title should be changed to The Town Folks of Ajigasawa and Wasao. It's hard to understand why don't they trim away the unnecessary characters and focus on Wasao's struggle instead. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

I am going to bite your neck off ... you ungrateful owner!

Even when it comes to the characters and plots that actually mattered to Wasao, it didn't do such a great job in establishing a connection with the audience. Akira the sympathetic boy who "abandon" Wasao was rather annoying.  Even though he is young and understandably worried for his mom, but the picture didn't really gave us a reason that this character deserved Wasao's love and dedication. Likewise for the bonding between Wasao and it's eventual owner, it could have branch out more than what was shown in this movie. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

Last but not least, the predictable finale where the boy, the bear and the dog finally met for the standoff. There's no need to do a research on it to know that it's made up for the movie. It's so far fetch and unbelievable that it became a joke to the heroic finale that the movie had been trying to build up. It just eye rolling bad to see who came out unscratched in this bear versus dog fight. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

What is so special about this Akita dog? I really can't tell from this movie. Beside looking adorable and huggable, there's nothing unique or extraordinary about his exploits. It might appear that the filmmaker knew about that fact and tried to cover it up with focusing on other unimportant characters and subplots. Resulting in a long deary affair seemed to have forgotten about the protagonist.

As a dog movie, it pale to comparison with Hachikō and was actually weaker than Kinako: Police Dog Dream (which is actually quite a weak dog movie).

Not Recommended.

Sanctum [ Movie Review ] ★★1/2

The Pitch

No, James Cameron did not direct this movie. But looking how this movie poster and other form of advertisements are pasting his name in big unmissable fonts, you might just be mislead into thinking that he directed this "base on a true underwater cave exploration survival story" movie. James Cameron is just the executive producer for Sanctum.

It's also well known that James Cameron is a big dive fan and perhaps there something about this underwater caves diving expedition gone wrong story that attracted him to put his name on it. So if James Cameron put his name in this film project, it must be good then? Well not necessary ... read on.

The Plot

Millionaire Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd) and mountain climbing expert girlfriend Victoria are going to visit an underwater cave exploration site that set up by Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh). Together with them, they brought along Fank's son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) which made Frank upset.

While the visitors were settling down at a base camp inside the caves, Frank and Judes (Allison Cratchley) went to explore an unexplored section of the cave. Accident happened and Frank ended up dragging Judes body back. Josh started blaming his father for the death of Judes and wanted to leave the expedition.

But before he could leave, a major storm broke up on the surface and enclosed the survivals in the caves. They could not sit and wait for rescue as the water is rising. They must find a way to escape from the rising water and the only option would be the unexplored section of cave that Judges had died in.

The Perspective

Having James Cameron name on your movie poster could be a double edged sword. While you get the extra attention to draw folks to watch your movie, you would also invite comparison between James Cameron direction and yours. Incidentally Avatar and Sanctum are both stories that been done before. The only difference would be that James Cameron is a good story teller and the director of Sanctum wasn't good enough to make a mediocre plot great.

From the introduction, to the conflicts and bonding between characters, Sanctum didn't do a good job in merging them into a story that would make us feel for the characters. Instead they became characters that you don't want to be stuck in a cave in and you probably wouldn't care less if anyone of them die from this freak storm.

The treatment between the father and son (Frank and Josh) were the most uneven one. One moment, Josh was all upset with his father for "killing" his dive partner and the next, he looking at him with admiration. But when things go wrong again, Josh couldn't wait any second to whine about how terrible his dad is as a human being.

Those are the issues with the story telling aspect of Sanctum. There are some technical aspects of the movie that stood out as a sore thumb Personally, I have done some some diving trips, climb a mountain (and a few hills) and watch a couple more documentaries on this sort of extreme sport expedition. Some of my personal complains were that how people who participate in such sports could behave in such stupid manners.

The first unbelievable issue would be  how Victoria refused Frank's advice to put on a dead woman suit. Although she had never dive before, she was a expert climber who had earlier mention about the dangers of mountain climbing. She of all person should know that when participating in such extreme sports events, it's rather important to listen to the leader's advice at those crucial moments. Her rich boyfriend and expedition bank roller Frank said nothing to try and change her mind. Instead he shone a light in her face at another crucial moment. That is of course the unlikely behavior of people who does outdoor sports. 

There's also another issue of how Judes's air hose snapped and had problems sharing full face diving mask to buddy breathe. I never used a full face diving mask before but won't the protocol for such emergency be swimming up for air? They had just discovered a new caves with lights above. Wouldn't be a survival instinct to swim up for the precious air? Or didn't it even occur to them to off the tank that's containing the leaking hose and use the remaining  air like what Frank's son did at the end of the movie? It's really hard to believe that a hardcore dive expedition leader like Frank would just freeze like an novice diver facing an emergency.

The real life story that Sanctum is based on was not filled with stupid decisions like those that were just mentioned. It's equally scary but people don't make silly novice mistakes here and everyone got rescued. I can't help but wonder why didn't they just make a movie that truer to the incident that had occurred.

It's likely that this movie is made for audience who had not tried scuba diving, mountain climbing and other various extreme adventure sports. This movie thrilled the female audience sitting beside me while I was shaking my head in disbelief. I got a feeling that she is going to enjoy the technical aspect of this movie more than me. There's also the weak characterization and story flow that marred all that's good about the movie. It's a pity because both the actors and the cinematography were good.  I couldn't recommend this movie but neither am I thumbing it down ... too much.

Beyond The Movie

Read Andrew Wright actual account of the real life story that Sanctum is based on here.

Stunt Diver Agnes Milowka who did the stunt double for the two female characters in Sanctum died when she run out of air in one of the caves dives. The incident happened shortly after the film was released. Her life and more on the incident that took her life could be found here.


Worth the 3D price?

Oddly enough, you would think that with producer James Cameron in the project, the 3D effect would at least be a notch better than those movies that jumped onto the 3D bandwagon simply for the extra financial incentive. But there really nothing 3D about Sanctum. Not even a gimmicky throw at the audience. Most of the time, the setting is either in the dark underwater or in the dark caves and there not even much gradient effects to talk off. Seriously, save the extra money if you really do need to watch this (which in the first place would be unnecessary).