I'm not sure if Dolphins like cheese, but I sure hope you do, if you are going to watch this movie. Seriously though: The movie has quite a few moments that might flip other movies over into complete kitsch. I don't know how they managed, but they stayed on the right side of kitsch if you wanna call it that.

And it is a kids movie after all. While I don't cut them too much slack (remember even if you're a kid watching, in 10-20 years you might wanna re-watch your "favorite" movies again and be bitterly surprised),this one just gets by it. There are a few story points that really are too much, but overall the movie is just too confident. Plus you've got to love Dolphins anyway (well at least I do) and their "tales" ...

Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble) is stuck in summer school and his belove cousin Kyle, who is a champion swimmer, is going to war. One day, he helps rescue a dolphin entangled by a crab trap. The dolphin named Winter loses her tale and she needs her rescuer. Dr. Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.) reluctantly agrees to let him help. Kyle loses his leg in the war. Dr. McCarthy (Morgan Freeman) working on Kyle's prosthetic leg is recruited to develop a prosthetic tail for Winter.

It's a very lovely family movie. Sure it's pulling on all the heart strings. It's got a pelican sidekick, the adorable kid leads, war heroes, disabled kids, and the dolphin. It may be cheesy. It may be hokey. It may be corny. But I love it all. If you have a heart, you'll love it too.

All right, I just watched this movie and I just found that some characters were either made up or embellished into one person but despite that, I found this tale of the handicapped dolphin Winter quite inspirational. Certainly having to use a prosthetic tail in order to swim properly is worth showing for anyone who wonders if such a thing was possible and also being told by the characters why that tail is important is worthy info. I also found out the character who invented it looked nothing like Morgan Freeman but since he's not someone really famous, I'm guessing it won't be too much of a big deal for anyone who knows how "true stories" are always exaggerated for dramatic purposes. I mean, while there might not have been a withdrawn boy that helped this Winter come out of her shell, seeing him in the person of Sawyer, played by Nathan Gamble, does provide someone to empathize with when comparing attitudes that progress for the better. And seeing him befriending a similar-aged girl named Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) and her father, a veterinarian played by Harry Connick, Jr., also is wonderfully touching to see. There are some scenes, like Hazel and Sawyer's playing with a flying model helicopter, that seem meant for laughs (which I thought was only slightly amusing),but overall, Dolphin Tale is a good family drama that doesn't get too sugary-sweet in the extreme. Oh, and I'm soooo glad that Connick's widowed dad didn't suddenly fall for Sawyer's abandoned mom (Ashley Judd). That would definitely have been too much! And the 3-D images were fine but weren't really necessary.