“Big Miracle” will undoubtedly make anyone who chooses to see it feel good. However, determining who that might be is another story.
See, while the new inspirational drama does not contain any material that could be deemed even remotely inappropriate for a child, you would be hard-pressed to find one who would be able to sit still for the duration of the motion picture. At the same time, adults are likely to find the whole thing a bit cheesy and one-dimensional.
In “Big Miracle,” which is now playing at movie theaters throughout the Valley, John Krasinski plays Adam Carlson, a newsman who cannot wait to escape the northern tip of Alaska for a bigger market. However, everything changes when he happens upon the biggest story of his career – a family of majestic gray whales that has become trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.
With time running out, Adam and his environmentalist ex-girlfriend Rachel (Drew Barrymore) must rally an unlikely coalition of Inuit natives, oil companies and Russian and American military to set aside their differences and free the whales. As the world's attention turns to the top of the globe, saving these endangered animals becomes a shared cause for nations entrenched against one another.
“Big Miracle” also stars Dermot Mulroney, Ted Danson, Tim Blake Nelson, Stephen Root, Kristen Bell and John Michael Higgins, all of whom give great performances – at least with what they are given from screenwriters Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, who seemingly had their sights set on the Hallmark Channel when penning this project.
That is to say that “Big Miracle” is kind of dopey. Granted, it is impossible to dislike the movie unless you have a great big iceberg in your chest where your heart should be. However, Amiel and Begler play it so fast and loose with clichés that the fictionalized version of this story becomes less interesting than what it would have been like as a documentary.
On the other hand, that does not stop “Big Miracle” from warming your heart (which is ironic when you consider the icy temperatures of its Alaskan setting). After all, when it comes to motion pictures, emotions always trump smarts. Using that philosophy and considering the wide array of acting talent involved, the flick is undoubtedly worth a watch.
“Big Miracle” (PG – 107 minutes) is now playing at movie theaters throughout the Valley. Visit FirstLook.com for specific showtimes.
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