Dolphin Tale is about a young bottlenose dolphin named Winter who was rescued in the December of 2005, off the Florida Coast. She was found entangled with a rope attached to a crab trap and eventually lost her tail. Winter was taken in by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and was fitted for a prosthetic tail - a fake tail. The Clearwater staff trained Winter to swim and continue to live life as normal with her new tale. This inspiring story created the plot for the movie The Dolphin Tale, which was released in 2011. The heartbreaking incident turns into a beautiful bond between a boy and a dolphin that is appropriate for all ages.
Dolphin Tale is not only a touching story about a real life event that occurred to an innocent dolphin, it also creates a connection between Winter and a young boy, Sawyer Nelson. Sawyer was the person to spot Winter (in the movie) who then calls the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to get Winter the medical attention she needs. Throughout the movie Sawyer and Winter create a bond. Winter gets the help she needs and has Sawyer supporting him as well as Sawyer making a friend, developing a new passion for animals and overcoming depression. This film not only gets the word out about an unfortunate accident, it also creates an unbreakable bond between a human and a dolphin that both characters rely on as they work through individual struggles.
This was an extremely clever way of getting out a story that all people should hear. Not only does it inform viewers about a serious accident; it adds another level of importance when including Winter and Sawyer’s bond within the plot. Engaging an audience can be hard at times. Especially because there are many movies that continue to be made that will never be topped. Although, when incorporating a real life scenario and adding more to the story to engage the audience, only makes the movie better. Not only was the story an: inspirational, creative, joyful, exciting movie, it also brings another degree of excitement and influence to the plot.
There are many times throughout the movie where Winter is struggling. They continue to see specialists to try and get a tale made that will work for her. Sawyer would attempt to put it on and try to get her to swim with it. However, like anything, sometimes it just doesn’t feel right. Therefore, Winter would smack her tail against the water to attempt to get it off. Sawyer, and the hospital workers, continued to find a tail for Winter that she liked and felt comfortable to swim in. What a difficult task! Not only was it hard to make, it was also extremely difficult to find someone to make such a complex device. Even going through the struggles they did, Sawyer and the employees didn’t stop until Winter was got the device made that she needed. And so they did.
I personally extremely enjoyed this movie. Forever a favourite of mine. I was very fond of the friendship that Sawyer and Winter developed throughout the film. As well as having the plot be based on a real-life scenario it made it so real while watching it. Knowing that and seeing what happened to Winter, makes you realize how important it is to always be aware of the animals around you. If Sawyer had not found Winter laying on the beach he would not have made it. We are so fortunate to have access to these devices that can be made to help humans and animals when in critical conditions like this. Creating a bond like these two did is so important and seeing Sawyer help Winter recover made the movie even better that everyone should see.
Written by Camille Spence