Dolphin Tale is a 2011 family Drama film inspired by the story of Winter, a bottlenose dolphin who got her tail caught in a crab trap, and subsequently was fitted with a prosthetic tail. The film is directed by Charles Martin Smith, who also wrote the screenplay. It stars Harry Connick Jr. as Clay Haskett, Nathan Gamble as Sawyer Nelson, Ashley Judd as Lorraine Nelson, Kris Kristofferson as Reed Haskett, Cozi Zuehlsdorff as Hazel Haskett and Morgan Freeman as Cameron McCarthy.
A sequel, Dolphin Tale 2, was released in 2014 and focuses on how Winter became companions with another dolphin named Hope.
Dolphin Tale provides examples of:
- Artificial Limbs: The whole plot of the movie revolves around Winter getting one.
- As Herself: The real Winter portrays herself. It's not like they could've gotten any other dolphin with an artificial tail, after all.
- The real Hope portrays herself as well.
- Surfer Bethany Hamilton also makes an appearance in the second film as well.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Kyle gives Sawyer a Swiss Army Knife early on. Sawyer later uses it to cut the ropes away from Winter.
- Also, the discussion of how seat belts rub. Sawyer compares it to the way the sock feels against Winter's skin.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander / Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Dr. McCarthy. Eccentric...but he knows what he is doing, and he ends up making a prosthetic tail for Winter the Dolphin.
- Crush Blush: Rufus the pelican, in his own manner, after he develops a crush on Mavis the sea turtle in the second film.
- Hazel at the end of the second film, when Sawyer sends her a text calling her the best after she launched balloons to say goodbye.
- The Determinator: Sawyer, Hazel, Clay (at least the first time around), Reed, and Dr. McCarthy.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Winter does her own version of this after Panama passes away.
- Dueling Movies: With Soul Surfer.
- Feed by Example: When all the more qualified aquatic life hospital employees didn't know how to convince Winter to drink from the bottle she needed to drink from, newcomer Sawyer came up with the idea to drink from it himself in front of her... and it worked, providing this trope's page image.
- Foregone Conclusion: Those who are familiar with Winter's real-life history will know that Winter will be saved thanks to Sawyer's efforts and will later befriend Hope.
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: The movie definitely applies this trope strongly to Winter, and indicates it for other aquarium dolphins as well.
- Handicapped Badass: Winter and Kyle.
- Just Plane Wrong: Remote control helicopters don't pilot themselves like that... when the controls went slack, the most likely case is that the RC helicopter would autorotor down, not zoom through several tight spaces.
- Without control input it will just keep going in a straight line until it hits something or flies out of sight. The throttle/rudder stick has no spring on the up/down axis, it just stays where you put it. And without cyclic input it will just keep doing what it was already doing when you stopped giving it cyclic input.
- Mr. Fanservice: And how! An entire male high school swim team wearing nothing but tight swim trunks appears in the beginning. Harry Connick Jr. in a tight t-shirt and shorts may count as well.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The mogul who purchases the aquarium resembles Richard Branson.
- Only in Miami: Averted — and how. Movie takes place in Clearwater, Florida — which is a lesser known, but by no means obscure, city on the West Coast of Florida.
- Specifically, it's the third largest City in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa and St. Petersburg. It's generally known for nice beaches, but that's about it.
- Parental Abandonment: Sawyer's father left the family 5 years ago, and nobody has heard from him since. Hazel's mother passed away when Hazel was 7 years old.
- Shout-Out: To Apocalypse Now; Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" plays when characters are flying a model helicopter.
- The Pest: Rufus the pelican.
- Plucky Girl: Hazel for sure. Lorraine could be considered an adult version, since she does not give up on Sawyer or Kyle.
- Recycled At Sea: Free Willy with a handicapped Dolphin
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Winter did obtain a prosthetic tail after losing her real one. She lived at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Almost everything else is fictional. After the movie, real footage of Winter's rescue and rehabilitation is shown before the credits.
- Hope, the dolphin from the sequel, beached herself and was brought to the Clearwater Aquarium during the first movie's wrap party. The dolphin trainers left the party to help, and the filming lights were put to use to light her arrival!
