Saturday, September 24, 2011

Double Feature Weekend... Abducted Dolphin Tale

This weekend I took in two features, Abduction and Dolphin Tale. Of the two I am sure you can figure out which one was the better one... While Abduction was, in my opinion, a minor league action movie that had the attraction of the loyal Twilight Saga fan base, which I am not knocking as I am a diehard Twi-hard through and through, Dolphin Tale can attract and please families and adults alone just the same with this heartwarming story that is truly inspiring.

Friday night my girlfriends and I took in the Taylor Lautner movie, Abduction. While I had seen a few previews, I thought it looked really good and really wanted to see it since I like so many varieties of movies. I was a little discouraged when I saw the Rotten Tomatoes rating and it was 0% positive... and then later in the day it had increased to 4%, still not very good at all. This is Taylor's first big screen movie as the main actor since the Twilight Saga, while Robert Pattinson has had 2 successful, in my eyes at least.


Abduction is slightly predictable, with amateur actors as the main characters. Lautner plays Nathan Harper who finds out his parents are not who they say they are after researching missing children for a research paper. His partner and love interest Karen Murphy, played by Lilly Collins, witness the murders of his "parents" and are on the run. While Nathan and Karen are not sure why they are being chased, they are approached by two different CIA operatives and not sure who to trust. This movie is about Nathan figuring out who he is and what happened to his real parents. It wasn't terrible and I truly think Lautner has potential for action movies like Jason Statham. I give this movie 3.5 stars out of 5, and maybe a wait for the DVD.


And today my mom and I took my 3 kids to see Dolphin Tale. My kids are 12, 9, and 7, and my daughter, the 7 year old, was really excited to see this movie. This movie was so wonderful! We opted not to see it in 3D, as my 9 year old Nathan gets headaches from 3D movies. Dolphin Tale is inspired by a true story and stars "Winter" the dolphin the movie is centered around.


The main character is Sawyer Nelson, an 11 year old boy who is very closed off emotionally and socially withdrawn. Sawyer says goodbye to his cousin Kyle in the beginning of the movie, as he is going off to the Army, and is sad about losing his cousin. On his way to his summer school English class, a man calls for Sawyer's attention as he had just found Winter washed on to the beach. She had been tangled up in a crab trap and severely hurt. The man that got Sawyer's attention called 911, who contacted the marine animal hospital in the area.

Sawyer and Winter had a connection since the moment he cut the ropes free. The marine animal hospital arrives and Sawyer meets Dr. Clay,played by Harry Connick Jr., and his daughter Hazael. Dr. Clay, Hazel, and their team take him to their facilities. Sawyer sneaks into the marine animal hospital and see that WInter isn't doing too well. Upon Sawyer's arrival Winter immediately perks up, which shocks Dr. Clay. So Sawyer sticks around and starts to open up and creates relationships with the people that for at the marine animal hospital, and eventually stops going to summer school. Sawyer's mom, played by Ashley Judd, finds out and gets upset at first, but once she see's what Winter and the time he has spent there has done for her son she becomes ok with him missing summer school.


As the movie progresses, you learn of a tragic event that happens to his cousin Kyle and then to Winter with her damaged tale. Dolphin Tale was emotional and funny, heartwarming and inspiring. All three of my kids, my mom and I thought this movie was so good. I am not gonna lie, I cried at lead 3 times, but I am crier... This movie will not disappoint adults or children, I feel it touches each in a different way and inspires both not to give up on your dreams, that anything is possible if you don't give up. GO. SEE. THIS. MOVIE. I obviously give this one 5 stars out 5!!!

What movies have you seen the weekend, or recently?

;) Shannon

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