Review by Dana Chaffin

Dolphin Tale is now available on DVD at most movie retail stores (such as Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart) and at www.dolphintalemovie.com.

This film is based on the inspiring true story of Winter the dolphin and her amazing human rescuers from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA). Winter is an incredible little dolphin that never gave up even after losing her family and eventually her tail. She is an inspiration to those with disabilities and encourages everyone she meets. The entire family will love this movie for the amazing story, the outstanding cast, and the adorable animals.

Dolphin Tale is a very entertaining movie for the whole family to enjoy. It follows the true story of Winter, played by Winter, at the time of her rescue she was a 2 to 3 month old dolphin, that was rescued from being entangled in a crab trap. A fisherman spotted the dolphin and with the help of a boy, Sawyer played by Nathan Gamble (Marley & Me, The Dark Knight), passing by who calls for help. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) rescue team lead by Dr. Haskett played by Harry Connick, Jr. (Hope Floats, Will and Grace) takes the injured dolphin and cares for her at their Clearwater, Florida facility. Her tail had been wrapped so tight in the ropes and the damage was too severe that her tail would eventually be amputated. But that did not stop her, once strong enough she taught herself a different way to swim. The connection between Winter and Sawyer was special and both of them needed each other. Dr. Haskett’s young daughter, Hazel played by Cozi Zuehlsdorff, was quite a help to the CMA team and the recovery of Winter. She and Sawyer became good friends while going through the ups and downs of Winter’s ordeal. Sawyer’s mother, played by Ashley Judd (Simon Birch, A time to kill), saw the difference in him and finally approved of him skipping out of summer school to help with the dolphin. The team discovers that Winter’s new way of swimming is causing life threatening damage to her spine and they must find a way to correct it or she will die. That is when Sawyer finds a prosthetics Dr. from a nearby VA hospital, played by Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption, The Bucket List), to manufacture a prosthetic tail, which had never been done before. After several failed attempts would they have to give up? While this bunch of heroes are fighting to keep Winter alive the CMA is in dire financial stress and will be closing and the property sold if something does not happen fast. So can they save Winter and the CMA in time? You will have to watch the movie to find out, but I can tell you it will have you crying, laughing, and cheering for the team and Winter, the little dolphin that could!

In the movie Winter is the celebrity, but there are many other amazing stars at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA). Right now the facility is home to sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, otters and more. The CMA’s mission is to restore and preserve marine environment through education, research, and the rescue, rehabilitations and release of marine life. All of the animals at the facility got there because of an injury or illness. It is their goal to help each animal recover and release it back into the wild, but unfortunately not all of the animals are able to return so they become permanent residents and help with educating visitors. There is a 24 hour emergency stranding phone hotline and when a call is received, no matter what time, a dedicated team of staff and volunteers respond. Educational programs and summer camps are available for visitors at the Clearwater, Florida site, but there is also CMA L.I.V.E. a virtual educational program to reach classrooms all around the world. Part of the research program is a sea turtle nesting program to help sea turtle hatchlings make it safely to the water and ensure their survival. Since 2005 over 60,000 hatchlings have been released into the Gulf of Mexico. All of these programs are provided by CMA staff and their caring volunteers. To find out how YOU can help CMA &/or get involved visit their website www.seewinter.com or contact kmartin@cmaquarium.org for details.

Dolphin Tale is an inspirational and entertaining movie for any age. The entire family can get together for an awesome family night movie, but even the adults and teens will enjoy. It will leave viewers with a positive message of hope that anything is possible. Winter’s story is not over and she will continue to touch many more lives around the world.

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A movie based upon an inspirational true story.

Randy Simpkins and his wife Christal are loading up their van and preparing to go on vacation. Their 2 year-old son Joe is riding his trike in the driveway. 

Christal tells her husband to put Joe in his car seat while she goes back inside to finish up. Randy lets Joe keep playing while he goes in to check on his email at work before they leave. He comes back out a couple of minutes later and Joe is nowhere in site.

Then the search for the little boy begins. At first the parents are convinced that he is probably hiding from them and playing some kind of game. A half an hour later after searching everywhere in the house and on their property plus all of the nearby neighbors the parents are fit to be tied and now know that their son is gone, lost, or has been taken.

It is every parent’s worst nightmare.

Randy calls the Sheriff who immediately calls in the Fire Department’s search and rescue experts and then the search begins in earnest.

Meanwhile the Grandmother who lives nearby calls their minister at church who starts a prayer chain and calls in dozens of church members to help in the search and to help the family cope. In a very short time 100’s from the church and the community show up to volunteer.

After searching everywhere for 4 hours, the experts are beginning to fear the worst. It is a rural area full of all sorts of potential dangers for a 2 year-old. In every direction there are woods, ponds, dry wells, old buildings, and swamps that could swallow up the boy and time is getting short.

After a couple more hours, the Fire Chief begins to regrettably call in all of the crews  for the night with only a half an hour of daylight left. It is an emotional time for all.

In the midst of it all Randy Simpkins realizes what is really important in his life and promises God to make changes accordingly. Up to that point his life had been consumed by his job but after this he planned on putting his faith and his family first.

An inspirational story with a powerful ending. <<View the trailer and more info at the movie website>>

<<The DVD is currently available @ Thomas Nelson>> or at the following stores after October 26:

*Note: We received a DVD free for review: <<Read our Disclosure Statement>>

The R rating should be taken seriously. There is incredible violence and sexual content which is not appropriate for children. This film is also not for the faint hearted and not for those who do not enjoy intense battle scenes.

The graphics in this movie are stylized and most of the battles are computer generated. There is a ‘comic book’ texture and a mythic character to the presentation. This is a historical event, but all of the characters are presented in legendary fashion.

Certainly the scantily clad Spartan army is bigger than life with all their abs and muscles rippling into action. I don’t even know how to explain the Persian King Xerxes. He looks like he’s on a float right out of the last gay parade in San Francisco. Nothing like the real Xerxes is reputed to look like, from real historical records or from his profile on coins.

If you like battle scenes, then this is a must see movie for you. If you like politics, the city-state Counsel back in Sparta is ready to sacrifice King Leonidas and the 300, and cave in to the Persians. A display of politics at its best. If you like love scenes, it is almost embarrassing to view the lyrical presentation of the last night between Leonidas and his wife.

What really makes it interesting is the by-play and the on-going conversations between the 300. They continue to willingly give their all to the very end in the hope that all of Greece might have time to finally unite and save the homeland. It reminds me of the Alamo where the defenders were also facing a far superior force and total annihilation.

I actually enjoyed this movie far more than I ever expected too. This is a movie for those who enjoy major battles with heroes in supposedly lost causes that are greater than life itself.                *Top

This is the second offering (Flags of Our Fathers, the first) about the battle which raged on Iwo Jima island during WWII.  The movie is done almost entirely in the Japanese language with English subtitles except for the American soldiers on the battlefield and a few flashbacks of visits to America.

This time the Japanese side of the war is shown from the perspective of the ordinary drafted soldier, up to the conflict which raged among the senior offices in command.  A different movie and quite effective.  As one raised in the 50′s on John Wayne war movies, it was entirely different to see the enemy up close and personal as regular folk with lives and families waiting for them back home.

Ken Watanabe does an exceptional job as General Kuribayashi.  The pathos of command is accurately shown here as this leader tries to deal with a losing situation, bad communications (sometimes on purpose), insufficient supplies, and insubordinate junior and senior officers.

Saigo (played by Kazunari Ninomiya) gives us a bleak contrast of life in the Japanese Imperial forces as a drafted and barely willing grunt.  Saigo continues to survive even as many around him take their own lives as a matter of ‘honor’ Japanese style.  The Japanese soldiers understood that they were there to give their lives for the Emperor and they were probably never going home.  Saigo keeps remembering his wife and child and keeps fighting and trying to survive for them till the very end.

A very powerful story and one to be honored.  However, I believe that it goes too far in one scene where an American soldier kills several Japanese who had already surrendered.  One could see it coming and it was a gratuitous offering in the midst of an otherwise unique production.  While such behavior undoubtedly happened during this war, barbaric acts were far more likely to be perpetrated by the Imperial forces of Japan rather than the Americans.  The sheer force of this scene in the movie is unbalanced by similar action on the other side.

A tremendous movie overall, cast in dark almost black and white scenes with only slight color.  This sets a visual tone for the mood of shear hopelessness felt by the Japanese in this battle.  It is an experience that I will remember and I highly recommend.  I expect that this film and the previous one (Flags of Our Fathers) will receive numerous awards.

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The movie opens with the Queen sitting for a portrait.  The TV is on and the news is announcing the election of a new prime minister- Tony Blair.  Soon the newly elected Blair and his wife are at the palace getting instructions on how they must address and act in the presence of the Queen.  Two months later, the government is facing its first crisis with the death of Princess Diana.  What kind of funeral and official acknowledgement is appropriate for a former member of the royal family, a former wife of the Prince of Wales, but also the mother of a future King?

Helen Mirren does an incredible job portraying Queen Elizabeth II.  You forget that you are watching a movie until James Cromwell shows up as Prince Phillip.  James has played in so many movies that it is hard to vision him as the Prince consort.  Michael Sheen does an exceptional job playing Tony Blair along with Helen McCronry as Cherie.  Sylvia Syms is a delight as the Queen mother.

The conversations and reactions between the Queen and the Prime Minister reveal a wide contrast between formal royal tradition and modern political pragmatism.  The movie gives a behind the scenes look at how the royals actually live and think.  It portrays the Queen and her family as remote and far removed from the regular folk that are their ‘subjects’.  This is an interesting movie and a delightful character study.  I highly recommend it.

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Come see this movie, it is time well spent, even during the busy Christmas season.  After all it is the story of the season and actually well done.  This movie is good overall and very good in many parts.  Hollywood rarely gives us a film based upon the Bible that can be taken seriously from a Christian perspective.

First for the very good or even excellent:  The film does a superior job at portraying the lifestyle of first century folk in Nazareth of Galilee.  You get a real taste of what life was really like back then, as you watch the characters involved in their daily work and economy.  Quite realistic.  Also the movie sets did accurately represent the houses and buildings of that time period.

The movie gives us a real taste of what it was probably like to be Mary and Joseph living in Nazareth.  Keisha Castle-Hughes does a good job portraying Mary as still very much a child facing adolescense.  Joseph (Oscar Isaac) is of coarse, much older and more mature.  This insight is worth the price of admission and even popcorn and a drink.  After the pregnancy of Mary was apparent, the difficult decisions that Joseph faced and the ultimate rejection of both Mary and Joseph was well done and effectual.  The scenes of their difficult trip to Bethlehem were accurate, but probably longer than need be.

The hopelessness and fear of regular folk for the Roman military and the political structures was well demonstrated.  The movie showed Herod involved in building projects and concerned with raising funds through taxes, this is quite accurate.  Herod ‘The Great’ was well known around the Roman Empire as a ‘builder’, he not only sponsored the rebuilding of the Temple, but built a number of cities, stadiums and palaces/fortresses like Massada, as portrayed in the movie.  Also, Herod’s storied obsession with putting down any possible threat to his rule, real or imagined, was well represented by Ciaran Hinds.

Now for the not so excellent parts:  The Magi were presented as ‘comic relief’ in the movie.  These ‘characters’ did make the film more entertaining, so I guess we should be somewhat forgiving of this tried and true Hollywood formula.  Since so little is really known about them, taking some liberty is acceptable.  However, there should be limits.  The ‘Wise men’ in the movie decide on their own not to go back to Herod and inform him of the child.  The Biblical text makes it clear that they were warned in a dream.  Then there is the question of whether they were even there that first Christmas night.

The timing of several of the key events in the movie is off in comparison to the Biblical texts.  Since so many of these events are traditionally associated with the Christmas story, we should be forgiving.

What about the Magi, after all, every Nativity display has them there at the birth of Jesus?  What would the ‘Nativity Story’ be like without the three guys bearing gifts?  Every child would ask their parents: “Where’s the Three Kings and their camels?”.  However, a careful reading of Matthew 2 clearly shows that the Magi didn’t show up in Judea until some months after the event, and didn’t bring their gifts to the stable, but to the house where the baby Jesus and his parents were now living in Bethlehem.  Also, while we are at it, the text really doesn’t say that there were three of them, it just mentions three gifts.

The movie also has Herod sending his troops to Bethlehem that very night, and Joseph leaving for Egypt with Mary and baby Jesus immediately (before they even take Jesus to the Temple).   Matthew 2 makes it clear that these events happened quite a few months latter.  That is why Herod ordered the troops to kill all the children under 2 years and not just the newborns.

Overall, “The Nativity Story” is a good movie and I highly recommend it.  It is the one Hollywood production that all Christians should be able to support and take their families to, particularly during this Christmas season.

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The film is far different than the trailers would seem to indicate.  It is really two separate stories. First there is the story of the battle for Iwo Jima, one of the greatest sieges in American military history.  Over 7,000 Americans died and 19,000 Japanese in a brutal month long campaign to take the Japanese Island.  Then there is the story of three American soldiers who were sent back to mainland as ‘war heroes’ to help promote war bonds.

The movie would have been far more powerful if it stayed with one of the two stories for longer periods rather than flashing back and forth in short confusing sessions.  Many of the characters that were seen over and over again were never fully developed.  The war scenes were more than shocking yet had little effect since many were more like a bad dream than reality.

Only the three ‘heroes’ were given more than one dimension.  The characterization of Ira Hayes (Adam Beach), a native American, was clearly the most interesting.  He seemed to be haunted by the war and his bogus status as a supposed hero.  The three ‘heroes’ never considered themselves as such, because the famous flag-raising that they participated in was far from being the glorious heroic event that the picture seemed to indicate, and that the folks back home were led to believe.

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This movie was well worth seeing.  Excellent camera work and visuals.  Extraordinary sets, magnificent costumes, and pageantry.  Top flight actors and acting.  I clapped with everyone else in the theater at the climax of the movie.  Only a weak and implausible script kept this from being a true epic. Nevertheless, it was a good movie overall, and I was happy that I took the time and spent the money to see it.

This movie really is a love story between Xerxes, the Persian King (Luke Goss) and Esther/Hadassah (Tiffany Dupont).  Luke Goss here, reminds me of a dark haired Fabio.  Tiffany Dupont does an exceptional job in convincing the observer that a king could very well fall heads over heels for her.  The love story thread is weak in terms of historical accuracy, but provides the best developed and the most interesting part of the script.  The most interesting character in the movie for me was Hegai, the head harem eunuch played by Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister Jr.

The intrigue and assassination plots are way to complicated and confusing to follow.  The Jewish back story including Samuel, Saul, & Agag is much more than what is really needed to explain the diabolical plots of Haman.  Haman is played by Jim Callis (Battlestar Gallactica) who does a convincing performance as the main villain.

The movie script does depart somewhat from the Biblical text in several instances, and there are a number of extraneous and unnecessary story lines.  The story of Mordecai is there, but clearly takes a back seat to the ‘love story’.  However, the main story of God’s providence remains intact for everyone to enjoy in the end.

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This is an excellent movie.  Not at all the usual Oliver Stone movie.  No conspiracy theories, no politics, just the story of regular folks caught in the midst of a huge event and their heroic responses to the situation.  The acting is quite good in this movie.  Nicolas Cage plays Sgt. McLouglin.  This is not your typical Cage role, in fact, soon you do forget the familiar actor and see only the character.  Michael Pena really does steal the show in his portrayal of Officer Will Jimeno.  Michael Shannon is not far behind in his steely characterization of Marine David Karnes.

It is the story of a group of Port Authority Police officers attempting to rescue folks from the World Trade Center on 9/11 who end up getting caught themselves in the rubble when the towers collapse. Of their group, only Sgt. McLoughlin and officer Will Jimeno survive the downing of the two towers but find themselves caught, injured, and buried in the rubble for 10 hours before they get the attention of two marines searching the rubble for survivors.  It takes another 12 hours for rescue crews to free them and get them out.  It is a moment of triumph for everyone involved.

The movie shows the families waiting for word about their loved ones and thinking about their relationships and how it all could be so much better if they only had a second chance. It is thoughts about their families that give Sgt. McLoughlin and Officer Jimeno the reasons to keep on living, and their faith in God that strengthens them.  In their darkest and most discouraging moments they are heard citing Psalms and the Lords Prayer.  At one defining moment when life seems to be slipping away, Officer Jimeno has a vision of Jesus Christ offering him a drink of water.  It encourages Will and brings him back from the brink of death, then he begins to keep  Sgt. McLoughlin awake, and challenges him to keep on hoping.

Faith also plays a role in the story of the rescuers.  Dave Karnes, a former Marine, meets with his pastor and tells him that he believes that God has called him to respond.  The scene shows a Bible turned to the Book of Revelation.  He puts on his old Marine fatigues, heads for New York, and joins another Marine searching the rubble for survivors.  He eventually finds McLoughlin and Jimeno, and sets their rescue in motion.  He shouts down to them:  “No, we are not going to leave ya!, we’re Marines–you are our mission!”  When they are finally pulled out of the rubble by hundreds of rescuers that are risking their own lives to save the two, it is a moment of faith, love, will & American character triumphing over incredible evil.  It is a time of celebration for everyone involved– McLoughlin & Jimeno, their families, the two Marines that found them, and the hundreds of folks involved in their rescue, with the back drop of immense disaster and death, in the middle of the rubble of what was the World Trade Center.

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