Dolphin Tale

A young dolphin is caught in a crab trap and suffers severe injuries to her tail. She is rescued and taken to the Clearwater Marine Hospital, where she is named Winter. Without her tail she cannot swim as she once did, and her survival is in doubt. A dedicated marine biologist, a prosthetics specialist and a determined boy named Sawyer, who forms a close bond with the animal, work together on an artificial tail that could give Winter a future and offer hope to people facing similar loss.

Charles Martin Smith directed the film, which sits between The Snow Walker (2003) and Dolphin Tale 2 (2014) in his filmography. Karen Janszen and Noam Dromi wrote the screenplay, and Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove and Richard Ingber produced. The cast includes Nathan Gamble as Sawyer, Cozi Zuehlsdorff as Hazel Haskett, Harry Connick Jr. as Dr. Clay Haskett and Morgan Freeman as Dr. McCarthy, with Winter playing herself among 31 credited cast members.

Released in September 2011, the family drama runs 113 minutes and was made for about 37 million US dollars, going on to take roughly 96 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.8/10 from around 27,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.9/10 from 696 votes. A critics' rating of 6.5/10 from 112 reviews places it close to the audience scores.