A 1988 global effort to save three grey whales trapped in the winter-Alaska was told in a year-later published non-fiction book called "Freeing the Whales". It was one of the most bizarre events to ever happen in the history; turning an everyday happening (death of animals) into an international bond. More than two decades later, the fine print is now on screen and is lead by a Drew Barrymore whose acting is sometimes interesting and sometimes agonizing; in this movie though, she is somewhere in the middle. Directed by Ken Kwapis, director to 'He's Not Just Into You' and get this: a Sesame Street movie, 'The Big Miracle' is an overpopulated family movie that surprisingly whales you off your feet with certain tenderness.
Taking the generic figure of a Disney family drama, 'Big Miracle' proves one thing: innate charisma and magic has a very thick difference with miracle. And in the event that this worked on you affectionately, you'll be the first to say that the movie didn't need the latter.
John Krasinski is Adam Carlson, an ambitious local news reporter from Anchorage. His initial card he plans to play: report on the first ever Mexican food chain in Alaska, the uppermost part of North America. Amigos, the northernmost restaurant in the world, he would report in front of the lens. He has been living in Barrow for at least four years now and he will wait no long time until he finds out that three grey whales are trapped in a six-inches thick winter ice. The huge mammals will be required to regularly surface from the icy water in order to breathe. Their temporal home is a hole in the midst of icy Alaska which diameter is hardly comparable to a clubhouse's swimming pool. Carlson breaks the news and draws the attention of the globe.
Reporters land on the icy land, and day by day, as the threat to the whales become more and more intense, the effort becomes greater and greater too. Center of this global effort is Adam Carlson's ex-girlfriend Rachel Kramer (Barrymore) whose liking to help the poor mammals is never diminishing. The joint effort will eventually be consisting of many people, great and small, and will conclude an inspiring and all the while tear-jerking plight.
If we will be talking about technical things, we can straightforwardly say that 'Big Miracle' is a not really good movie. It has unconvincing plot, pacing predicaments and overpopulation issues. When you are in the premises of an Alaskan town where temperature is under forty centigrade, there should be icy mist, or at least visible breath in the mouths of the people as they speak. Ken Kwapis seemed to forgot something about detalyé, hence my understanding has became concrete on why many critiques also dismiss this "whale of a tail" as they call the movie names. The movie will be technically passable only if there is no overpopulation on both events and characters in this one hundred-minute-long movie.
Drew Barrymore, even though I didn't see anything sparkly in her in this movie, gleams the movie throughout. Like the movie, Barrymore, even back in 'Charlie's Angels' and 'Donnie Darko'; needless to say that she was one of the iconic parts of the 'Scream' franchise, has her own innate charisma that make you drawn into her without thinking of technicalities. Ahmaogak Sweeney and John Pingayak are both Alaskan locales who give better depth to the film--spirituality even. The animatronics though looked impressively real creatures, 'nuff said.
'Big Miracle' is one of those movies that you will have a hard time explaining why it did work for you.
GRADE: B
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