Janis P.
In our Kids Films series, we’re pleased to announce that Big Miracle is coming to UK cinemas Friday February 10th, just in time for you to enjoy it with your family over February half term. Below you’ll find a little more about the film, a review by two London Dads and their school age children, and a chance to watch the official Big Miracle movie trailer.
Big Miracle – SYNOPSIS
Based on the inspiring true story that captured the hearts of people across the world, the rescue adventure Big Miracle tells the amazing tale of a small town news reporter (John Krasinski) and a Greenpeace volunteer (Drew Barrymore) who are joined by rival world superpowers to save a family of majestic gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.
Local newsman Adam Carlson (Krasinski) can’t wait to escape the northern tip of Alaska for a bigger market. But just when the story of his career breaks, the world comes chasing it, too. With an oil tycoon, heads of state and hungry journalists descending upon the frigid outpost, the one who worries Adam the most is Rachel Kramer (Barrymore). Not only is she an outspoken environmentalist, she’s also his ex-girlfriend.
With time running out, Rachel and Adam 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 and leads to a momentary thaw in the Cold War.
Big Miracle comes to UK cinemas Friday 10th February 2012.
Big Miracle – OFFICIAL TRAILER
Big Miracle – REVIEW
We sent two London Dads and their Reception-age mini reviewers off to the Big Miracle film screening in the Soho Hotel in London last week. Here’s their review …
I went to see the preview screening of Universal Pictures’ latest release “Big Miracle” with a couple of near-5 year olds and another slightly sceptical dad in tow.
The film tells the story of 3 whales stranded under the Arctic ice, unable to make it 5 miles to open water as the encroaching ice closes in around them.
The end for this family of whales looks inevitable until their plight is picked up by a visiting US news team. Their reports are flashed round the world, galvanising an all-too-cynical world community into pulling together to, as it were, literally “save the whales”.
As family movies go, this one was pretty watchable and all the more engaging for the fact it is based on a true story – played out in the 1980’s complete with Reagan, Gorbachev and a nascent environmental awareness movement.
John Krasinski (from the American version of The Office) is very watchable as the news anchor and Drew Barrymore makes a fairly convincing eco-warrior.
There are a couple of hammy moments but also some true emotion and unforeseen twists.
In terms of timing and focus it just about kept the attention of our two young kids, though I suspect children a year or two older would get more from the story overall.
Definitely a step beyond many of the schmaltzy stories around aimed at kids… and if nothing else, you can enjoy the epic scenery and marvel at the sheer determination required by the real life characters that brought it to a conclusion.
Worth watching at the cinema!
