“Big Miracle” is clearly a formulaic movie with a plot that has been seen many times before, but it miraculously carries itself to become a grounded piece with adequate touches of drama, comedy, and suspense. This heartwarming tale revolves around a family of majestic whales and how they touched the hearts of people from different parts of the world. After getting trapped in rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle, people from a small icy town, environmental activists, local and international news reporters, small and big entrepreneurs, American politicians, the U.S. military, and a Russian fleet join forces to save them.
This family-friendly eco-drama starts a bit laborious, but once it gets revved up, it becomes an involving piece that leaves viewers morally enriched without feeling preached at. Although there are times that its narrative focus becomes shaky, it is still able to showcase something admirable in its challenging attempt to infuse its many characters’ competing stakes and allow them to band together for a single cause.
Inspired by a true story that made headlines in 1988, this motion picture’s most interesting aspect is how its plot details read so much like a Hollywood script.
The film keeps its most ideal cinematic elements intact including: a romance that developed between a White House employee and a top Army National Guard officer; a media-coverage mania with its own share of romantic bits; the unified efforts of an oil tycoon, small-time business buddies, and whale-hunting Eskimos; and ultimately, the unlikely joining of forces of the United States and the Soviet Union governments to save the whales in the midst of the Cold War. All these, along with the environmentalism vs. corporate conflicts and a heartbreaking death along the way, actually happened in real life. And so, the challenge for the filmmaking team is to ensure that these seemingly rehashed mainstream components can genuinely satisfy the audience’s need for a touching family fare. Surprisingly, it ends up as a sweet-natured animal-rescue tale.
It is notable to mention that the movie’s closing billboard offers intriguing footage of the true-to-life personalities involved in its source material’s 1980s whale-saving mission.
In line with the light touches of director Ken Kwapis’ caring hands, the storytelling works best whenever it steps out of its package’s convenient routines and stereotypical characterizations. The big whales are at the center of the saga, then the big media and politics surround them accordingly. Although it doesn’t reach the same level of cinematic brilliance as the famed masterpieces of the genre, the film renders a fine mix of tear-jerking and funny scenes to keep the viewers engaged from start to end. It also provides a few surprising moments that bring some classic touches meant to please its target audience.
This genial offering is defiantly old-fashioned in its presentation. It may be a high-risk material that would most likely not work, but it actually does so. This is the type of movie that doesn’t readily grab the viewer, but it invests in the right emotions to build up the interest for the story. With a healthy dose of gentle-spiritedness and skepticism, it balances its expository scenes with reasonable bits and pieces of human motivations without the need for sentimentalized farce. There is enough wit and passion to its story without resorting to overly manipulative accounts that typically leave an annoying taste to the narrative.
The varying layers of this thematically rich movie speaks volumes about love, cross-cultural misunderstandings, and political and media circuses. Its giveaway black-and-white characters and sub-stories may serve as its backbone, but it is still able to rightfully explore their gray areas in order to address issues such as political cynicism, corporate greed, media opportunism, dogmatic traditions, and humanitarian and ecological disputes.
The film benefits from the screen charisma of its strong ensemble cast led by Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski. Even with such an inherently simplistic script, its long list of characters manages to involve the audience with their compelling blend of likeably positive and negative personalities. Their performances effectively work with broad strokes without cluttering the story with their diverse personalities. Meanwhile, the lifelike acting of the whale characters’ animatronic and digital incarnations also wins the people over by genuinely tugging at their heartstrings.
With a big heart, a congenial cast, and a storytelling that is respectful of the audience’s intellect, “Big Miracle” delivers solid family entertainment. Amidst some clunky parts, its feel-good tale remains gripping and uplifting even until the credits roll.
