Big Miracle | Film review

One thought may occur to you repeatedly while watching this feel-good family flick: No one’s dressed warmly enough. A thermometer reads negative 70 degrees Fahrenheit during one scene in the film, based on the true story of three California gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice near the small town of Barrow, Alaska, in 1988. Drew Barrymore’s Greenpeace activist dons a knit hat; some of the other characters wear no hats at all.

You’ll have plenty of time to mull that over as the predictable plot (in which Barrymore's character and her ex, played by John Krasinski, work together to save the giant cetaceans) progresses toward a happy ending. That’s not to say Big Miracle isn’t good, exactly. The story of the rescue is a fascinating one in which Reagan-era politics, U.S.-Soviet relations and media frenzy are all significant factors, and the movie offers a nostalgic, if corny, look at the time period. Story lines are introduced haphazardly; Tim Blake Nelson and Rob Riggle—as Minnesotans who fly in with a homemade de-icer to help the cause—seem particularly cartoonish. The end credits include footage of the real people involved in the events. Unsurprisingly, most of them have ice and snow caked on their eyebrows.