The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer (2009) User Reviews (44)

Longest Saturday Morning TV show EVER!

[ezezio · 2/10 · 10 April 2011]

This had the storyline of a Saturday morning cartoon that's been running forever. The voices and emotion in the characters were annoying and seemed to not fit in the scene. There was odd subject matter supporting the main story. Young dolphins talking about farting and breathing the fart? Was that supposed to be funny? Or do dolphins really do that to stay under water longer...probably not. Overall, it was not a good movie. It's not close to being a good movie. It literally hurt to watch the first 30 minutes. The rest i spent writing this review. I tried to draw out my son's opinion, and all he kept saying was that it was a "really long movie". I think that's 4 year olds way of saying that it stinks. One bright spot in this movie is the music. I love 80's movie music, and this movie featured bad vocals and too many guitar riffs.

Only watch this movie if you don't believe the bad reviews. Then, write your own version of how horrible this was. We should see how many people can watch this just to confirm the badness!

Ugh...Daddy what is wrong with this movie?

[roboticteacher · 1/10 · 4 March 2011]

We usually get a movie every Friday night as a family. It's a big deal around our house. Throughout the week the kids only get a half hour to an hour (if they're lucky) of television a day. When the television goes on, mouths drop and eyes go glassy. While the girls are watching their "programs" my face has to melt off to get their attention.

When The Dolphin started the kids were ready with their popcorn and settled down for an uninterrupted show. Within ten minutes of the film starting my three year old turned around and asked, "Daddy, what is wrong with this movie?" Withing twenty minutes both girls were on the couch with us and asking what was in the magazine I was reading. "Dad," they said, "let's just turn it off." So for kids who don't usually get a lot of exposure to movies and t.v., their willingness to read their Dad's National Geographic magazine on overpopulation is a pretty damning condemnation of this film.

A notable lack of respect for children.

[Cathures · 1/10 · 11 April 2011]

I put this movie on on a whim, primarily on the basis that there have been some halfway decent movies available of late from lesser known studios in the vein of CG animation with a distinct appeal to varied age bands with their primary focus being children. However at this point I distinctly regret this choice.

This movie was an utter abomination, mass produced soulless CGI trash with little respect for children as viewers. It smacks of boardroom meetings, of what would be cheap and easy to churn out and of perceived ideas of what the core essence of children's animating should be. The characters range from the cardboard in the dolphin protagonist, to the extremely annoying in the form of the "comedy relief", and I use that term loosely, the jokes were flat, often crass (of course children like more "rude" humour but even a child can be disgusted with a lack of tact ) The character designs left an immeasurable amount to be desired, often lapsing into utter nightmare fuel in the case of the sunfish character, a design not even intended to be intimidating to children. The plot was limp and directionless and there were several points where the film seemed to be winding down to a natural end only to prolong its death throes by zooming off on another lifeless plot tangent.

In the end, the only thing that's left to be said about this movie is that in a domain like children's movies, this sort of film is a distinct step backwards from the current trend of catering richly to children and adults and going a little further with what they are capable of handling in their viewing, harking back to the older Disney where children were not quite reduced to fart jokes and cheap effortless animation. There is so much more out there to watch, don't waste you or your children's time with this money spinner.

People who gave stars... saw the movie?

[mpinavargas · 1/10 · 26 December 2010]

If there's a place in the universe where people who misbehaves are thrown into, at the Welcome Ceremony this movie is shown... for eternity. To me, Schuldt is the greatest business man in the world since somehow, regardless of his EPIC ineptitude for making movies, he manage to kind of make 3 films (if we consider those transvestites movies)

The animation of The DOPLHIN is repulsive, period. The storyline has no emotion what so ever. Action and drama are presented in the most naive form possible. The Structure is missing. Acting, long gone in the draft of Piratas en el Callao. The cameras are the exact same thing a person does when using a 3D software for the first time. When characters speak they go in and out of the frame constantly. I simply don't understand what is wrong with this BASIC idea of film making! Point of interest... have you ever heard of that? The Depth of Field in the movie is... oh yeah, there's none. So everything is a composite of bad taste and no contrast for elements on screen.

If the budget won't let you improve your animations, rendering and effects, I can give you a great piece of advise Schuldt: Be humble and work hard on the story. HUMBLE.

There are a lot of books Schuldt should read and a lot of movies that are NOT straight for TV that he should watch. People like Schuldt are the reason why I cry for a dislike gadget at Facebook and a NEVER SHARE option in my browser.

If you simply think I'm exaggerating, don't trust me, just go watch the movie and you'll see why this movie don't deserve stars. We, as spectators, deserve an apology.

This is among the worst of children's films

[stilanas · 1/10 · 28 January 2011]

Have the positive reviewers even seen this movie? Everything about this movie just reeks of being churned out because the makers figure kids have no taste. The animation looks cheap, and unlike the far superior Pixar movies, the film makers don't know how to stay out of uncanny valley or have a decent story.

Most of the actors can't muster much more than dull surprise in representing their one dimensional characters. The annoying comic relief characters appears to have graduated from the same school as Jar-Jar Binks, but less well animated. The nadir of comedy is when a minor dolphin character has a whole scene about him farting. This doesn't advance the plot at all.

The script lacks structure with Daniel moving from scene to scene with little motivation, needing narrators and a literal voice from the sky to explain why he is doing the things he does. The apparent theme of the movie, of following one's dream could not be any more trite and vapid. Daniel runs away from home and his ultimate triumph is to go SURFING in the lamest sort of anti-climax imaginable. The resolution to the conflict to the monster fish, if you think about it critically, makes you wonder how Daniel could even be considered a hero.

This is a terrible film. It is uninspired trash, a low budget pixar/dreamworks wannabe. Don't buy this. There are much better films out there for children.

REALLY Horrible movie!

[mitchj-972-272553 · 1/10 · 8 February 2011]

I cannot fathom how anyone could possible give this movie anything more than a 1. I would give it a negative score if it were an option. It really isn't worth my time to type this up, but I chose to do so only because you might read this and avoid having to sit through this drivel with your kids! The animation looks like something out of a video games. The acting is horrible, the plot pathetic, and even my daughter (6) thought it was bad! Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere for entertainment (or go to the dentist...it would be less painful). At first I wondered why more people hadn't written bad reviews of this movie, but now upon submission I notice that one must have 10 lines in a review to be accepted. This movie isn't worth that much time! Do you get a sense that I disliked this movie a little! I am actually getting a little motion sick watching the horrendous animation!

STEER CLEAR OF THIS MOVIE!

"Oh my God"

[stevensfamily09 · 1/10 · 5 May 2011]

I thought we found a cute little movie about dolphins. God forgive me. I won't go into exact detail about what I truly think of this movie because if I were to do such a thing I doubt I would be allowed to ever comment again. "ANYWHERE" To be perfectly honest I believe it is really good that I rented this movie from red box. The reason being that red box doesn't give you the cover for me to wipe my ass with. This movie left me with complete and total nausea the entire time. It is complete and total new age dribble. No lesson at all except if you have low expectations that make no sense and aimlessly move a long through life at the very end you will find a life of complete and total selfish aspiration. If it feels as if my review is all over the place, it is because the movie is. Most of the people are right about this. Anyone that gave this movie a positive did so because they did the unthinkable. Not watching the movie themselves and subjected their poor children to the worst God awful movie ever made. Please save your time, money, and toilet bowl. Don't watch this movie. Please. Your kids will thank you!

horrific, disgusting, and vomit inducing!

[amanda-campos2424 · 1/10 · 26 May 2012]

This movie is by far the absolute worst movie I have ever seen. the voice of the characters frightened my young cousins and made them cry.

I strongly recommend to every age group to never ever watch this movie!

If I was stranded on a deserted island with only this movie and a terrarium full of scorpions and I was forced to eat the scorpions or watch this movie I'd eat the scorpions without hesitation!

I hope you receive this message and take my word for it.

sincerely,

a terrified viewer

Do N O T watch it.

Masta price baby

[nroutsong · 10/10 · 1 July 2020]

This is good movie. It had good part like when the good thing happened. You know that good part. That part is very good. When that part happens the best part is good. Very good could recommend to some. That good part is good. And that movie is very good.

It's got problems, it's also got spirit and heart.

[ulrichburke · 6/10 · 26 May 2016]

OK, before I get laughed outta court having read the other reviews here - here's what this thing's main problem is - background/foreground interaction. Whoever did the backgrounds, INCLUDING the water, REALLY knew that animation package - they were superb. The problem IS - he should have been given control of ALL the animation including the foregrounds, the creatures were a leetle ropey. Their perspective was dodgy front-end on and you DID glimpse the waves THROUGH the baddie's mouth sometimes. And the mouth movements didn't quite keep up with the words but don't forget the English version's a redub. (That's not budget - they had the software - that's just sloppiness in using it.) So for sure it had techie issues. BUT.... I loved its song (honest!) I think there was room for a Group Sing at the end too. I loved its message - was at a low point when I watched it and the 'Follow Your Dream' message sure gave me a much-needed kick in the pants! Its audience was little kids and it wasn't QUITE engaging enough - again true - but techie issues aside I loved all the characters. I wish Daniel had kept his g/f, I'd've loved to see them surf that wave together even if they did part afterwards. But it's well worth its 6/10 for the guy who did the backgrounds. I felt every bit of heart he put into them, kudos to him, I hope he gets much more work outta it. I felt a lot - not all - of people put a lot of work/heart into that thing, if the WHOLE team had done - money men included - it would've been a winner. Remember the message. Remember the lovely water and gorgeous backgrounds. And it should've been called DANIEL - Story of a Dreamer (The Dolphin's too generic.) Missed opportunity - if you're being harsh, yes. I prefer to call it a slightly flawed pearl. But it's NOT the waste of space others are calling it, go along with it for the ride and you'll come out on the crest of Daniel's wave.

Chris.

The worst Christian film I have ever seen

[irishkokobear · 1/10 · 29 June 2012]

To sum up my absolute hate for this movie, I created an IMDb account JUST to write a review on this movie. To begin, the only reason I watched this is because I was doped on Tylenol with the flu and needed a movie to pass time. I cannot say enough times how much I dislike the dialog, plot, casting, characters and overall animation.

My seven year old brother and I decided that the producers probably made this movie in a weekend. The dialog doesn't match up with the way their mouths are moving, and every here and there the characters would be talking OUTSIDE of the shot. It's almost more entertaining to make fun of this movie, rather than actually watch it. To be honest, my brother and I thought it was a rip off of Veggie Tales...only with worse musical numbers and animation. By the time the first song started playing, we thought John Denver was singing. Not only that, but someone obviously had to write new lyrics/music because song writers would be ashamed to be apart of this movie.

Lastly, the characters were more poorly depicted than a children's picture book. For example, "Carl The Squid" looked like he escaped from that movie "Chernobyl Diaries"...it's almost scary. Also, the physical features of the fish/dolphin aren't even anatomically correct. For one, porpoise don't even sleep! And the squid's face is backwards. Overall, this movie will actually decrease your child's chances of getting into a good college and most likely scare them away from the ocean.

In summary, if you're religious...FIND A DIFFERENT MOVIE because you will definitely be offended and ashamed you even clicked "play".

wow just wow

[ulsuspect · 1/10 · 2 October 2011]

worst movie i have ever seen. seen 5 minutes and i made an IMDb account just cause of how bad it is. worst dialogue ever in a movie worst animation ever scariest villain ever 100 foot barracuda. I messed up first time writing this review but its so bad i had to rewrite it do not subject you or your children to this movie and i have to pretend i like it cause my little sister likes it i almost have 10 lines so please don't watch it I love watching bad movies but this is really that bad do not watch it And i thought good burger was a good movie it shows you how bad this movie is So do not watch this and i really cant get 10 lines out of this very easily but worst dialogue ever this is brutal and should not be viewed by children its horrible and bad its about dreams and he never says what it is also it says being selfish is a good thing and it teaches things your 5 year old obviously already knows

Worst movie I've EVER seen!!! Not - I repeat, NOT - for children!

[jtucker-86-966497 · 1/10 · 21 June 2011]

As another reviewer said, if I could give this movie a negative score I would - I only wish I had read the reviews here before renting this movie for my 5-year-old. I actually signed up here at IMDb just so I could warn anyone else who may possibly be considering showing this movie to your children: DON'T! We have Friday night movie night at our house, and my son chose this from RedBox; looked innocuous enough and suitable for a young child... boy, was I wrong!! Horrible (read: creepy) animation; trite, senseless drivel masquerading as a "storyline"; terrible music; and - worst of all - the most hideous, nightmare-inducing "bad guy" character (the sunfish? more like a maniacally vicious, monstrous barracuda!) ever imagined for a so-called children's movie. What the H--l could the people making this movie have POSSIBLY been thinking??? We foolishly soldiered on to the end of this miserable mash-up, as I was hoping a positive ending might wash away the bitter bile watching it induced, but alas - I was wrong again. Could find absolutely nothing positive to redeem this vapid waste of time, technology & resources. I thought I believed in freedom of artistic expression, but all copies of this movie should be permanently destroyed so no other psyches will be harmed by viewing it.

Do NOT watch this or show it to your children!

[tinahall99 · 1/10 · 25 May 2011]

As everyone said, this is SO horrible! I feel terrible that I got it for my children, because now that they've started watching it, they won't let me turn it off. Thankfully, they haven't cried yet, at the scary parts, but they are thoroughly confused. I thought it would be a great, cute dolphin cartoon for my 3 and 5 year old kids, but this movie has a horribly confusing storyline and makes no sense. The animation doesn't bother me, it's fine, but the storyline is just weird. Redbox really needs to take this out of their circulation of DVDs, seriously this is a huge waste of money and I got it free with a free promo code from Redbox, still a waste!

One dolphin's dream is one viewer's nightmare

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 9 October 2017]

As said many times, love animation to bits (some of my all-time favourite films are animated) and always try to be kind to any film regardless of its quality when it's deserving of that. Am not going to lie and say that every animated film (or animation in general) is great, there are some terrible animated films out there.

'The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer' is one of the biggest examples of terrible animation, despite being a generous and perceptive reviewer it is very difficult to be subjective and kind when talking about one of the biggest wastes of time ever encountered. Always look for redeeming qualities to bad or less films, 'The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer' has nothing to recommend it and children and adults alike will struggle to get any enjoyment out of it. Its least bad component is the animation of the water, the one animation detail that has any attention to detail but it looks only okay, never rising above that.

It is frankly wasted by the animation in every other regard and throughout the entire film being so atrocious that it makes one feel physically ill looking at it. The colours are flat and lack any vibrancy or vividness, very little attention is paid to little things let alone bigger effects, the backgrounds are sparse, lack fluidity and never allows one to get immersed into a potentially magical world and it has the single most ugliest and stiffest character animation for dolphins (especially bad for a film full of robotic and ugly character designs for every character) for any animated film set under the sea.

Music is frequently discordant, never fits and is likely to give younger audiences nightmares just hearing it. The script is awkward and muddled, with a lot of parts being over-explanatory, some parts being too complicated for younger viewers to properly understand it and a lot of other parts are incredibly juvenile that are so childish and unfunny to intelligence-insulting degrees. The story is never engaging or worth investing in emotionally, with far too much aimless exposition and a lot of stretched out scenes that go on for too long and go absolutely nowhere. Even adolescents and adults will find it difficult to comprehend what's going on.

Furthermore, 'The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer' is one of the worst examples of target audience issues in a family film, with nothing for children and adults and with elements that will alienate people of all ages. There is a real sense that 'The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer' had no idea who it was aiming for and what it wanted to be. Adults will be insulted by the excessiveness and childishness of the often pointless potty humour while children will find the darker scenes constantly interjected with abrupt and jarring tonal shifts far too frightening and out of place. Pacing is all over the place dull.

Characters are either annoying or deprived of personality, with a protagonist so devoid of endearing personality or development and full of aimless motivations and illogical decision making that he's impossible to root for, and not in a long time has there been more unintentionally creepy voice acting.

In conclusion, undersea animation at its most amateurish (yes more so than 'Izzy's Way Home' and 'The Reef'), dullest and most nightmarish. 1/10 for the okay at best animation of the water only. Bethany Cox

I feel a little dumber now

[mtvphonehome · 1/10 · 24 April 2011]

OK, I started out watching this movie with my 5 year old son, thinking, "Ok, follow your dreams! That's cool, good message and all that." But that quickly turned into "Um, this has got to be the absolute lamest movie I've ever seen in my entire life." The whole movie had the feel of a bad Christian cartoon, but without the spiritual message. I take that back, Christian cartoons are better, and that is REALLY saying something. It's almost as if they took every cliché from every kids movie that takes place in the water and ripped it off but not very well. I can't believe this was "based on a book", I really can't. Someone actually got published with a plot like this? Really?? SPOILER (lol).. Apparently at the very end Daniel, rides the perfect wave and follows his dreams... so I guess he really wanted to surf or something, even though he is a dolphin and only really talked about surfing at the very beginning of the movie, right after doing the whole "Free Willy" jump out of the lagoon, with the moon in the background... I could go on all day about this, and to be honest, I did get some enjoyment out of this movie, because it was sooooooooo bad, that it was amusing to watch how bad it was. And I'm a little ashamed of my son (I say this in jest, I'll never be ashamed of my kid!)... I kept asking him if he liked the movie, or if it looked a little "weird", trying to draw it out of him, but he swore up and down that he liked it and it looked "good".... so maybe the movie will fool your kid too, but it certainly won't fool you.

Childbearing would be less painful... and I'm a guy.

[l3viathin · 1/10 · 5 November 2011]

Awful says it all. The script reminds me of something I may have written in grade 5. You know how you're supposed to write a rough draft and then have it proofread, refined, rewritten, and then maybe 8 drafts later end up with the final copy? this felt like maybe... draft 1 or 2.

The CGI was abysmal, the only movie with more awful CGI that I've seen is Hoodwinked (another awful awful movie!). The characters seemed to only have 2, possibly 3 facial expressions, none of which actually fit the scene they were in.

AND THE SONG! Where to begin? how about staying on key? how about creative lyric writing? how about hiring someone older than 3 years old to compose your ONE AND ONLY song????? gag me with a mouldy barnacle.

I went into this movie with the hope that I may have some killer one- liners to laugh about later. None existed. I was hoping for some lame lame lame scenes to shake my head at tomorrow and say, why did I watch this? The movie is even too lame to do that with! You remember in Junior High when you do something that just completely shakes your existence (in a bad way) ?? well, when I look back at having wasted 1.5 hours of my life on this film, those Junior High moments will loom up and superimpose themselves onto this film.

How many more awful things can I say about this movie? tons. However, I don't want the producer/director/anyone else associated with it, to hunt me down and curbstomp me for going on and on and on about how terrible it was.

Don't watch it. There are no redeeming qualities. I would rather have watched Passchendale than this movie.

Oh, my Wife just reminded me of the ONLY funny part... when Daniel is trying to turn a shark into a Vegan, Carl is stuffing fish into a crack in the rock behind them. Yes, I chuckled at this part, but then proceeded to bash my head against the wall for the rest of the film and forgot about it.

I think I'm getting close to the 1000 word max, so again, DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS MOVIE.

I Cant believe that I saw the whole thing!!

[larsson-879-705964 · 1/10 · 31 May 2011]

This movie is among the worst animated movies I ever seen. To start with the animation sloppy (it is more CGI doodle than it is CGI animation). The characters looks & moves like plastic toys. The animation is so bad that even with a good written story it would be hard to forgive it. The main character is that kind of parent approved hero that don't do much more than telling the small minded kids obvious life lessons. He has a street talking squid-sidekick that is just as cowardly as he is annoying (unfortunately he not as funny). There is also a lot of other characters like the little non-stop talking dolphin & a "CUTE" fish baby that never shut up. The story is never anything more than pointless messages & stupid plot conveniences. If you really want to see this movie take a bath with a drunk Roald Dahl, playing with some plastic animals & it will be the same experience.

Fantastic Movie with Great Humor

[readinggirl5180 · 10/10 · 29 January 2014]

I originally bought this movie for $1 at a Blockbuster sale, thinking "Oh, hey, what could be better than the story of a dolphin with a dream?" After watching it with my friends, we realized the answer to that was NOTHING. NOTHING IS BETTER THAN THE STORY OF DANIEL Alexander DOLPHIN.

Although the first part of the movie drones on and on about stupid clichés, it starts getting good once Sparky appears. I mean, who doesn't love fart humor? His side comment of "Those are my stinky friends" had us on the floor dying of laughter.

The epitome of the comedy of this movie was when Daniel finallyyyy decided to listen to the Voice of the Ocean and leave the Lagoon. After saying his full name in every single sentence, the leader dolphin (who was so cleverly named Leader) yelled after Daniel that he was making a mistake, but Daniel ignored him and jumped over the cove to achieve his dream of surfing as the entire dolphin community watched him leave. Then, just in case you missed it, Leader turned to his followers and said "Someone has broken the law today... (wait for it)... It was Daniel." AS IF THEY WEREN'T ALL GATHERED AROUND HIM YELLING "DANIEL DON'T" "DON'T DO IT DANIEL" "WHAT ARE YOU DOING DANIEL" AND DIDN'T SEE HIM DRAMATICALLY LEAP THROUGH THE AIR TO LEAVE.

But the greatest character in this whole show is Carl, the squid who tagged along on Daniel's journey to go after his dream and fulfill the prophecy. He was great as the comic relief (as if the film really needed a comic relief)! All I have to say is Carl is the man.

Also, the Fly Daniel Dolphin Fly song was a nice touch and I hope to add it as my ringtone or possibly a ringback tone so that others can enjoy the cinematic genius that is "The Dolphin."

All in all, I cannot stop raving to everyone I know about this superb film. All of my friends loved it! Well, apart from the one who sat in the corner banging her head against the wall and threatening suicide.

Beautiful Colors - Not Well-written Thought

[patperryrivers-392-181398 · 7/10 · 8 June 2012]

This movie had lovely animation and beautiful colors. It was really not as bad as many of the other posters have written. The plot is too complex for young viewers and it has some very, very scary moments--so it is not appropriate for children under 9 or 10 I'd say. It has some pretty good points about following dreams, not being afraid to stand up for what was right (courage), not being a blind follower, etc. If you have another good choice for family night that is age appropriate for young children, perhaps you should choose it. However, the animators and actors were on the right track here and just need to really work on the writing. I was not sure if these were biblical allusions in the movie (Lucifer was the big monstrous fish, I guess?)

Pretty good movie. A bit too long, and a bit too scary, and in great need of a better script, but it has a lot of potential and you can use it to teach the kids about sea animals.

Somebody dropped the ball. . .

[Terastas · 5/10 · 22 March 2012]

I won't lie: This movie is flawed. Big time. The characters are mostly personality-deprived, the writing is terrible, and the plot has a tendency to rush through things with deus ex machina then stretch things out with pointless dribble.

But for all of its faults, I can't hate this movie. . . Much.

The most maddening thing about it, in fact, is that it has its moments of brilliance. The animation is anything but lazy, especially during above-water sequences (the water movements is pretty convincing). The soundtrack (with exception of the "Fly Daniel Dolphin" song) is nicely assembled, and the villain is a thing of brilliance (up until the big reveal at the end, at least).

The impression I'm given is that this movie was a labor of love for some people -- that some people REALLY wanted this movie to be good, but that a couple of other people just got high and winged it at the last second. I'm left with the impression that it's more an example of wasted potential and less one of how low the entertainment industry can go.

Again, it's not a good movie, but for an animation buff, there is enough in here to make it worth a rental at least.

Why they need to make such a horrible picture?

[Davizwi · 14 July 2011]

I sadly, watched the whole movie and I'm still thinking what sort of 3D graphics program they used, so I will never, NEVER, download it. Hottibly done, horrible story, horrible characters. The idea of the movie would be good if it was not so naive. Children will not leave the movie with a "Dream chaser sindrom". They will just eat another popcorn and play a video game. Therefore, I am telling you don't take this DVD home to watch with your kids, because it does not worth it. A poor quality movie in all kinds you can imagine. I still don't know how people find the story good for children if there is lots of movies with the same screenplay that will actually make the children fight for what they believe.

Not good, but not nearly as bad as these reviews indicate

[tigerbonewan · 5/10 · 4 September 2016]

For one thing, it's kind of dull. It's based on one of those large, thin books parents buy to read to their pre-school children and select mainly based on the illustrations. The dilemma of the protagonist, that he's one dolphin who "still dares to dream" is not that compelling or relatable. It's an empty cliché married to cuteness. For another, it's dubbed, clumsily, from Spanish. Apparently all they did was closely translate the original and re-record a new voice track. No attempt to re-synch the characters' mouths and definitely no thought given to adapting the content for differing cultural sensibilities. Result: characters inserted purely for comic relief become total annoyances.

In its defense, its look and its cgi work are not bad. Not quite Finding Nemo or Finding Dorrie quality, but not too far below it. Thing is, you've seen those movies, you won't be dazzled by this. But I give it a lot of credit for achieving what it does on a Peruvian budget and being that country's first major cgi animation release. Problem with cgi animation is that it evokes in dumb people the attitude "How dare you show this to me - I've seen Pixar!" So they take to internet to write thought provoking reviews like "This is the WORST movie I have EVER seen!" - believe me, if you've seen Divergent, you've seen a worse movie than this. (And if they're real d-bags, they post a YT video of themselves wild eyed, and frantically gesticulating, starting every sentence with an OMG, pointing out all the obvious deficiencies in the dialogue and acting if sub-Pixar quality animation is an outrage against humanity.)

Bottom line: if you've got a school aged kid who's not too critical, who you need to occupy for a few hours, who's seen all the other kid flicks in the On Demand Free Movies bin, this one will do. And if you stop and look at it yourself for a few minutes, please, don't take to your webcam to rant on it.

Atrocious...unacceptably bad film.

[glen500-135-537504 · 1/10 · 22 November 2011]

I sat through this whole pile of drivel in utter bewilderment. I have seen an awful lot of films, therefore I have seen a huge amount of bad, very bad and utterly terrible pieces of cinema. But The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer is the world heavy weight champion of bad films. The narration and dialogue is almost painful to listen to, the story is a feeble attempt at a coming of age drama and the animation will make you want to close your eyes. I have friends who get together periodically to watch cheap, cheesy and deficient movies, I told them to try this one and even they were flabbergasted. If you haven't seen it find a copy, sit back and take it all in. See how long you can last. I only sat through it because my 2 and 4 year old were watching it, and they would watch a brick wall for 90 minutes if it was a cartoon brick wall.

This movie is not about following your dreams

[barrynof-175-590120 · 1/10 · 22 February 2012]

This movie has no idea what it is about. One minute, the dolphin is following his dreams, the next minute he is on a quest to find out what he saw in a dream. There is a difference, you know. It would be one thing if this movie was about a dolphin who likes to play and surf, but this movie tries to be more than it is. KISS- Keep It Simple Sam is the motto they should have used. Make the dolphin a character that likes to laugh and play and leaves the pod seeking adventure and leave it at that. Too confusing, no real plot line and no real link with the story and many of the characters. Surprisingly bad movie. The only plus to the movie is that the scenery is really nice. My guess is that they spent all their money on graphics and didn't have any money to make the story any better.