When this TV movie is focusing on following the whales trapped in low water areas, it is fascinating. Unfortunately, there is far too much footage involving the family led by Peter Strauss and Dee Wallace who are fighting to keep the locals from shooting the whales and their efforts to get the government involved. The danger with the whales being slowly starved to death in the low tide is explained by their inability to turn around to get out to the deeper seas, and the efforts of Strauss, Wallace and their kids to help the gorgeous humpback whales is certainly honorable.
The problem is the film is extremely overly long and often ponderous and thus boring. Good location photography and a sweet musical score does help, but in dealing with the subplots involving the people, the whales are short changed as they are much more interesting than the real actors. You can't direct whales. You can only shoot them and document what they are actually doing, and that's much more fascinating than the actual story. It's a difficult film to retain interest because the most interesting elements are dealt with early in the film and then shoved to the side with only infrequent views of these marvelous sea mammals who will have the viewer enthralled with their squeaky song and sudden burst of water out of their spout holes.
The problem is the film is extremely overly long and often ponderous and thus boring. Good location photography and a sweet musical score does help, but in dealing with the subplots involving the people, the whales are short changed as they are much more interesting than the real actors. You can't direct whales. You can only shoot them and document what they are actually doing, and that's much more fascinating than the actual story. It's a difficult film to retain interest because the most interesting elements are dealt with early in the film and then shoved to the side with only infrequent views of these marvelous sea mammals who will have the viewer enthralled with their squeaky song and sudden burst of water out of their spout holes.