Big Miracle (C or 2/4 stars)
'Big Miracle' (directed by Ken Kwapis) is inspired by true events & tells the incredible tale of a small town TV news reporter & a Greenpeace volunteer who are joined by world superpowers to save a trio of the Earth's largest creatures in the brutal Arctic Circle. The mammals in peril are 3 California gray whales that got trapped in October 1988 under quickly freezing (50 degrees below zero) ice near Barrow, Alaska. The whales' desperate surfacing for air is spotted by said news reporter (John Krasinski). His Greenpeace volunteer ex-girlfriend (Drew Barrymore), & the Alaskan Wildlife Foundation decide that the whales will drown if they can't reach the sea. This story attracts attention of major news outlets (across America), & hundreds of people start showing up at the site.
An anti-Greenpeace oil mogul (Ted Danson) volunteers to help (with subtle egging on from his wife, played by the great Kathy Baker), knowing it'll be good PR for him. The same goes with the outgoing Reagan administration, which 'okays' an order for the Coast Guard (led by a gruff, yet congenial general played by Dermot Mulroney) to pull a giant rig across Alaska to help break ice. The Soviets (iffy allies in '88) come to our aid with an enormous ice-cutting ship. Even the local Inuit Indian community, which has survived on whale meat for centuries, helps in several ways, as everyone finds means to contribute - even while profiting, too (an out-for-herself news reporter played by Kristen Bell claims that news coverage will make America perk up & send $$. The Soviets look like good guys. 2 Minnesotans (James LeGros, Rob Riggle) bring their own ice melting machine to Barrow to help & to promote their product, etc.).
Early on, 'Big Miracle' proves to be a charming, humorous, & surprisingly engaging let's save the whales from doom flick. The film looks as phony as you would assume from a 1980's-depicted mainstream studio offering. But there's something endearing about that. There are a plethora of boilerplate subplots, jokey 80's details, & character revelations to keep you interested. The whales ... are adorable. That said, I was never sure when I was watching archival footage, real whales, or animatronic whales. Drew Barrymore is tailor-made for a role like this: sanctimonious environmentalist. It just suits her. Krasinski is very accessible & amiable as the news reporter who initiates the rescue. And you gotta love a late-breaking cameo from none other than a real 1980's coiffed Sarah Palin.
But 'Big Miracle' loses steam as it goes. There's only so many times one can watch Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, & Tom Brokaw tell us updates about what's going on in Barrow, Alaska. Once the interesting subplots even-out and the focus goes back on the whales' rescue, you realize that you barely got to see the whales, at all. SO much emphasis is put on the humans; in other words, the whales at the core of the story get lost amid the love triangles, political wheeling-&-dealing, & botched rescue missions. Furthermore - and here's a SPOILER alert: though this is based on a true story, I found it disheartening & overwhelmingly sad that one of the 3 cherished whales (and the baby, at that!) dies right before rescue - END SPOILER. I mean, come on. You're put through the ringer. You expect success. Whales escape. But THAT had to happen? It just saddened me, and made me focus on the film's flaws rather than remembering the goofy fun of the first hour.
An anti-Greenpeace oil mogul (Ted Danson) volunteers to help (with subtle egging on from his wife, played by the great Kathy Baker), knowing it'll be good PR for him. The same goes with the outgoing Reagan administration, which 'okays' an order for the Coast Guard (led by a gruff, yet congenial general played by Dermot Mulroney) to pull a giant rig across Alaska to help break ice. The Soviets (iffy allies in '88) come to our aid with an enormous ice-cutting ship. Even the local Inuit Indian community, which has survived on whale meat for centuries, helps in several ways, as everyone finds means to contribute - even while profiting, too (an out-for-herself news reporter played by Kristen Bell claims that news coverage will make America perk up & send $$. The Soviets look like good guys. 2 Minnesotans (James LeGros, Rob Riggle) bring their own ice melting machine to Barrow to help & to promote their product, etc.).
Early on, 'Big Miracle' proves to be a charming, humorous, & surprisingly engaging let's save the whales from doom flick. The film looks as phony as you would assume from a 1980's-depicted mainstream studio offering. But there's something endearing about that. There are a plethora of boilerplate subplots, jokey 80's details, & character revelations to keep you interested. The whales ... are adorable. That said, I was never sure when I was watching archival footage, real whales, or animatronic whales. Drew Barrymore is tailor-made for a role like this: sanctimonious environmentalist. It just suits her. Krasinski is very accessible & amiable as the news reporter who initiates the rescue. And you gotta love a late-breaking cameo from none other than a real 1980's coiffed Sarah Palin.
But 'Big Miracle' loses steam as it goes. There's only so many times one can watch Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, & Tom Brokaw tell us updates about what's going on in Barrow, Alaska. Once the interesting subplots even-out and the focus goes back on the whales' rescue, you realize that you barely got to see the whales, at all. SO much emphasis is put on the humans; in other words, the whales at the core of the story get lost amid the love triangles, political wheeling-&-dealing, & botched rescue missions. Furthermore - and here's a SPOILER alert: though this is based on a true story, I found it disheartening & overwhelmingly sad that one of the 3 cherished whales (and the baby, at that!) dies right before rescue - END SPOILER. I mean, come on. You're put through the ringer. You expect success. Whales escape. But THAT had to happen? It just saddened me, and made me focus on the film's flaws rather than remembering the goofy fun of the first hour.