Big Miracle (2012) - Movie Review for Parents

Bottom line: Big Miracle tells the amazing true story of the 1988 rescue of three gray whales, and the movie incorporates several educational and inspiring subplots. Older kids will enjoy the movie. Contains some language.

Big Miracle - Overview

Alaskan field reporter Adam Carlson (John Krasinski) gets big time exposure when he breaks a story about three whales trapped off the coast of Barrow, Alaska. When the story is picked up by Tom Brokaw's nightly newscast, people around the world are caught up in the plight of the family of grays, but no one more so than Adam's Greenpeace activist ex-girlfriend Rachel (Drew Barrymore), who up until then has been busy fighting offshore drilling, particularly against oil tycoon J.W. McGraw (Ted Danson).

As Adam continues reporting on the whales, Rachel gets to work helping them, even enlisting her nemesis McGraw, who sees his efforts to help as a grand publicity stunt. Working with the National Guard, McGraw agrees to allow one of his hover barges to be pulled to the site to help break up the ice. Meanwhile, reporters and camera people from all over arrive in the little town of Barrow to cover the events.

Among the new arrivals is TV reporter Jill Jerard (Kristen Bell), who is hoping that this story will be her big break. She becomes fast friends with Adam, who has had a long time crush on her from watching her on TV. All of the newcomers create a circus that is quite amusing and somewhat threatening to the native Iñupiat tribe, who plan to harvest the whales if efforts to free them don't work.

As many different people from all walks of life and with different agendas converge on the icy tundras of Alaska, the whales take center stage and win hearts all over the world. Even the Americans and Soviets agree to work together for the sake of a whale family fighting for life.

Big Miracle - Guide Review for Parents

Normally, when I describe something saying, "That's so '80s," it's not a good thing. This movie, however, is '80s in a good way. Typewriters, old-school land line phones and rock music will give parents a blast from the past, while the entertaining, educational and inspiring storyline is interesting and fun for adults and kids who are old enough to appreciate the story and not repeat the bad language.

Big Miracle is first and foremost an inspiring tale based on a true story about all kinds of people coming together to accomplish something great. But, in portraying the events as they occurred, the movie contains several educational subplots and interesting romantic twists that enliven the story and add depth, comedy and memorable moments.

Much of the depth of the story comes from the political climate of the time and the efforts to rescue the whales. However, there is also a love story. Well, two love stories, but one of them is actually true. And, the plight of the whales isn't the only struggle that will capture viewers' hearts. Also intriguing is the position of the native Iñupiat people whose culture and customs contrast with the rest of the world. The Iñupiat youth are being influenced by outside society even as the elders work to pass down the wisdom and traditions of their people.

The movie interestingly portrays several different agendas of different groups and people. One example is that President Reagan's advisers and others are shown various times talking about the impact of the whale rescue on Reagan's legacy and Bush's campaign. What Tom Rose points out in his book about the events, and the same thing was stressed by Reagan administrative assistant Bonnie Carroll in an interview I attended, is that Reagan loved animals and wanted to help, and he himself (according to Tom Rose's book) had little regard for how his involvement would look politically. This point would be an interesting way to show kids how people can have multiple motivations, and how the media can portray events in one way or another and thus influence public opinion.

Kids who see this movie will get a lot out of it, and they will likely enjoy it. The movie does contain some profanity and a couple of sad scenes, one in particular which could be disturbing to young kids. Although it's about whales, the movie is not geared toward young children, but school age kids about 8 or 9 and up will likely be able to sit through it and be interested in the events that unfold. For more specific details on the content of the movie, please see the overview below.

Big Miracle - Content Overview

• Violence (Low): The violence in the movie is mild and situational. Whaling by the native Iñupiat is discussed and briefly shown (we don't see any whales getting hurt). Some large-scale tremors occur when a ship tries to break the ice ledge.
• Scary Scenes (Medium): Scenes in which characters in the movie describe the precarious plight of the whales, or showing the whales struggling, could be frightening to kids. A woman diver enters the freezing water to check on the whales. One scene gets a little tense when a helicopter pilot has issues and people are scared the helicopter will crash.
• Sex/Nudity (Low): A couple of scenes show people kissing. A couple of jokes containing innuendo are made.
• Drugs and Alcohol (Medium) A few scenes in the movie depict adults drinking at dinners and in restaurants.
• Language (High): Some rude words are used. Some profanity such as "damn," "Oh my God" and other variations of the phrase, "jackass," "hell," and "bastards" is used.
• Disrespectful/Imitative Behavior (High): Some characters exhibit selfish and sometimes rude behavior. Some slang words for Soviets and others are used (could be mildly offensive). Nathan uses the events to make a little cash on the side by charging exorbitant prices for cardboard. Some characters engage in arguing or mild name calling. Rachel crashes a meeting about oil drilling and interrupts by yelling her points with a bull horn.

• Sad/Unsettling Scenes (Extreme): Big spoiler here if you don't know the story, the baby whale dies. The emotional scene could be very upsetting to kids.
• Movie Topics Kids Might Have Questions About: whaling, whales being trapped or unable to breath, Greenpeace, oil drilling, President Reagan, the Iñupiats and other Alaskan tribes, the Cold War and former Soviet Union, reporters and the influence of the media.