Is "Dolphin Tale" any good

After seemingly months of watching theatrical trailers promoting “Dolphin Tale,” I certainly expected more sap than strength from this story of the rescued title animal being aided immensely by a mechanical tail.


Winter wonderful: The gentle animal is this "Dolphin Tale."


Dolphin Tale: PG: mild thematic elements; 1:53; $ $ $ ½
Boy, was I ever wrong! Turns out director Charles Martin Smith (“Air Bud,” “The Snow Walker”) fashions a pretty darn good family film by staying grounded in reality without ever moving into silly or sentimental territory.
Martin, the guy who originally made a name for himself playing “Terry the Toad” in the classic “American Graffiti,” offers a bit of a documentary feel before tossing in wealth of human situations. There’s a sad kid (Nathan Gamble) missing his dad, a free-spirited girl (Cozi Zuehldsdorff) without a mom, a special quartet of caring adults (Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jr., Kris Kristofferson, Morgan Freeman), a vet clinic in financial trouble, and even a pretty scary hurricane manufactured for this film from the same producers who gave us the similarly inspiring (and barely fact-based) “Blind Side.”
In this case, of course, most of the inspiration comes from Winter, the tough little dolphin who positively affects all of the above and still serves as a beacon of encouragement for disabled folks around the world. And for humor — when fresh-faced newcomer Zuehlsdorff isn’t at least making us smile — Smith delivers a goofy, scene-stealing pelican named Rufus, constantly pestering anyone wandering in and out of the Clearwater medical aquarium where Winter lives.


Sawyer finds the severely injured animal washed up on the beach, where she is then taken to a Marine hospital under the care of a dolphin doctor played by Harry Connick, Jr.


Without the use of her tail, the outlook is grim. But the dolphin shows progress when around her young rescuer and with the help of a special prosthetic, Winter begins to live again.


If Morgan Freeman were in a made-for-TV movie, it would be pretty good, right? That's the case with "Dolphin Tale." The movie is overall enjoyable but it touches on some serious themes ranging from a hurricane to the loss of a parent to a close family member being injured in Iraq, so it lends itself to being too serious at times and a little over the top.


That said, kids will fall in love with this movie, and grown-ups will like it too. Who wouldn't want to have a splash fight or swim with a dolphin?


I want to!


And the film is available to see in 3-D and the movie happily uses this gimmick throughout.


The story of Sawyer and Winter is simple and sweet. I thought "Dolphin Tale" was a good little movie.
It's in theatres now, and is rated PG.