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Eye of the Dolphin

She found her voice in the ocean... And within herself.

2007 · 1h 40m · PG-13 Drama, Family
Directed by Michael D. Sellers

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Overview

Alyssa is a troubled 14-year old, suspended from school a year after her mother has drowned. Her grandmother Lucy, at wit's end, decides to take Alyssa to her father, James, whom Alyssa thought was dead for years. He studies dolphin communication at Smith's Point, on the Grand Bahama Island. James has not known of Alyssa's existence and is clueless about parenthood. The women arrive at the same time that James may lose his research operation to a tourist attraction. Father, daughter, dolphins, and town are on a collision course. Alyssa and James get encouragement from James's girlfriend and her father. It's the dolphins who can teach, and Alyssa who discovers how to listen.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
29%
Tomatometer
Fresh

There's a pleasantly dreamy quality to much of Eye of the Dolphin, and that goes a long way toward enabling audiences to ignore the formulaic plot and enjoy the laid-back charms of this innocuous indie.

Joe Leydon, Variety
Rotten

For all its good intentions, Eye of the Dolphin is unsteady and amateurish, with its own problems in getting its message across.

Nell Minow, Chicago Sun-Times
Rotten

[An] unassuming, but sadly unexciting, family film.

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times
Rotten

There's real heart to be found in the story but it comes along with borderline saccharine sentimentality, a too facile ending, and clean outcomes that aren't earned.

James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Rotten

As Eye of the Dolphin makes some jarringly contrived plot twists, a viewer can imagine writer/director/executive producer Michael Sellers listing his assets and pondering how to combine them for one movie.

Maureen M. Hart, Chicago Tribune

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