No-one knows exactly when
Morgan Freeman became sufficiently self-parodic no one outside of Chris Nolan wished to cast him in worthwhile films anymore. Freemans laconic voiceover in the ultimate slow-burner classic The Shawshank Redemption had been an iconic cinematic trope for years; subject to satire and good natured parody for some time, however, if one had to pinpoint a moment when Freeman spectacularly misjudged his own brand it was in voicing the narration of March of the Penguins. In the lamentably sentimental National Geographic documentary, Freeman mounted his own oeuvre without irony in an attempt to attribute human characteristics to the behaviour of penguin colonies. This particular stroke of mawkishness silliness became a financial hit, especially after the American right attempted to embrace this faux-naturalism as a crude truism of orthodox biblical morality. The previously good natured parodies took on a steelier edge, underlying the manipulative quality of Freemans languid tones. A thousand sketches and an insurance advert later, the man that hit a spectacular but too oft neglected peak with Finchers neo-noir masterpiece Se7en has lurched so far into crass stereotype with
Dolphin Tale that his avuncular persona is side-lined in favour of an uncontrollable reaction of physical violence.
The below trailer betrays so many stereotypes of mawkish boy/animal triumphs over the odds that producers in Disney would be physically sick. Though, if the opening figures for Christian feel-good drama Soul Surfer are any indication, such vile exploitative sentimentality can be very lucrative. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdpg9NsgEaI The film stars, in addition to Freeman his Kiss The Girls co-star
Ashley Judd and
Harry Connick Jr and is directed by
Charles Martin Smith. The screenplay of Dolphin Tale has been written by
Karen Janszen and
Naom Drom working for Robert Engelman et al through Alcon Entertainment. The current US release date is December 23rd of this year, UK showings likely to follow soon after.