Big Miracle (Kwapis, 2012)
Last week got quite heavy so I thought I’d try and find something family-friendly to recommend today (from a Capital Times review posted in March 2012):
Regular readers will know that I have a soft spot for animal redemption movies (Dolphin Tale, Secretariat) but Big Miracle won me over with more than just the true story of a famous 1988 Alaskan whale rescue. In a very tidy 107 minutes it manages to cover lots of ground smartly and sensitively – indigenous rights and culture; the tension between economic development and environmental preservation, regional politics versus national politics and the end of the Cold War.
Big Miracle is a film with plenty of antagonists but no villain – even Drew Barrymore’s heroic Greenpeace activist turns out to be more stubborn and inflexible than Ted Danson’s oil executive – and one of the more bizarre conclusions to the story even turns out to be true with the wedding photos over the closing credits to prove it. Big Miracle is a good, positive, cockle-warming film and is well worth a family trip to the pictures.
That column featured some other excellent pictures which I expect I’ll come back to here eventually: Philip Seymour Hoffman in both Moneyball and The Ides of March (directed by George Clooney), Michael Fassbender in Steve McQueen’s Shame and Andrew Haigh’s debut feature Weekend. Not so hot were espionage rom-com This Means War with Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy, and French rom-com Romantics Anonymous.
Where to watch Big Miracle
Aotearoa: Digital rental from Apple
Australia: Digital rental from Apple, Amazon or Microsoft
Canada: Digital rental from the usual outlets
USA: Streaming on Starz
UK: Digital rental from Apple, Amazon or Sky
