''Big Miracle'' is a 2012

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Ken Kwapis Kenneth William Kwapis (born August 17, 1957) is an American film and television director, screenwriter, and author. He specialized in the single-camera sitcom in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as '' Sesame Street Presen ...

, and stars

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...

and John Krasinski. The film is based on Tom Rose's 1989 book '' Freeing the Whales'', which covers Operation Breakthrough, the 1988 international effort to rescue gray whales trapped in ice near Point Barrow, Alaska.

Plot

In small town

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

, Adam Carlson, a news reporter, recruits his ex-girlfriend Rachel – a Greenpeace volunteer – on a campaign to save a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle. Adam names the adult whales

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rod ...

and Wilma, and the infant

Bamm-Bamm Bamm-Bamm Rubble (sometimes spelled Bam-Bam Rubble) is a fictional character in the ''Flintstones'' franchise, the adopted son of Barney and Betty Rubble. He is most famous in his infant form on the animated series, but has also appeared at var ...

. Drawn into the collaborative rescue work are several normally hostile factions: Inupiat whale hunters, a Greenpeace environmental activist, an oil executive, ambitious news reporters, the

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

, the American president and politicians on the state, national and international levels. Also joining in the effort are two entrepreneurs from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, who provide de-icing machines to help keep the hole open. Finally an enormous

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

ice-breaker ship arrives to remove the last barrier before the whales die. The ship's first attempt leaves only a dent. The ice is finally broken and the adult whales escape the ice. The infant whale dies from injuries. The epilogue, narrated by Nathan, reveals that McGraw used his new reputation to uphold a contract to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Karl and Dean's de-icers made them local celebrities, Scott and Kelly were married, Jill worked her way up to a national news network, Greenpeace membership became more prominent, Adam confesses his love for Rachel and she returns his affections and they share a kiss, Adam got to stay being a news anchor, and both Nathan and Malik became closer to one another, and Nathan recalls about the hole in which the whales were first found and quotes, "It kept getting bigger and bigger, until it let the whole world in."

Cast

* John Krasinski as Adam Carlson *

as Rachel Kramer, based on Greenpeace activist Cindy Lowry * Ahmaogak Sweeney as Inupiat grandson Nathan to Malik ** Sweeney also narrated the film. * John Pingayak as Inupiat whaler Malik *

Kristen Bell Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. Beginning her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she made her Broadway stage debut as Becky That ...

as Jill Gerard, a news reporter *

Vinessa Shaw Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw (born July 19, 1976) is an American film actress and model. She began her career as a child actor, and had her breakout role in Disney's 1993 Halloween comedy-fantasy film '' Hocus Pocus''. Shaw also appeared in '' Ladyb ...

"Ted Danson and Vinessa Shaw Join 'Everybody Loves Whales'"
''HeyUGuys''. Retrieved 2010-11-08. as Kelly Meyers, based on Bonnie Carroll *

Stephen Root Stephen Root (born November 17, 1951) is an American actor. He has starred as Jimmy James on the television sitcom '' NewsRadio'', as Milton Waddams in the film ''Office Space'' (1999), and provided the voices of Bill Dauterive and Buck Strickl ...

as Gov. Haskell *

Ted Danson Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'', for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. ...

as J.W. McGraw *

Kathy Baker } Katherine Whitton Baker (born June 8, 1950) is an American actress. Baker began her career in theater and made her screen debut in the 1983 drama film '' The Right Stuff''. She received the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Suppor ...

as Ruth McGraw * Dermot Mulroney as Colonel Scott Boyer, based on General Tom Carroll * Rob Riggle as Dean Glowacki *

Michael Gaston Michael Gaston is an American film and television actor. He played agent Quinn on the show ''Prison Break'', Gray Anderson on the CBS drama series ''Jericho'', and appeared in the first episode of ''The Sopranos'' as Alex Mahaffey, a compulsive ga ...

as Porter Beckford * Ken Smith as Stu * Megan Angela Smith as Sheena *

Tim Blake Nelson Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor and playwright. Described as a "modern character actor", his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in '' O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' (2000), Gideon in '' Minority Report'' (2002), Dr. Pend ...

as Pat Lafayette *

James LeGros James Le Gros () (born April 27, 1962) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in '' Living in Oblivion''. Career James Le Gros appeared as Rick in Gus Van Sant's 1989 ...

as Karl Hootkin *

Mark Ivanir Mark Alexandrovich Ivanir ( he, מארק איווניר; uk, Марк Олександрович Іванір; russian: Марк Александрович Иванир) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli actor known for his character roles on America ...

as Dimitri * Stefan Kapicic as Yuri *

Andrew Daly Andrew J. Daly (born April 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred as Forrest MacNeil on the Comedy Central series ''Review'', and had a supporting role in the HBO comedy series '' Eastbound & Down'' as Terrence Cutler. ...

as Don Davis * Jonathan Slavin as Roger Notch *

Gregory Jbara Gregory Jbara (; born September 28, 1961) is an American film, television, and stage actor, and a singer. Early life and education Jbara was born in Nankin Township (now Westland, Michigan, Westland), Michigan, the son of an advertising office m ...

as General Stanton *

John Michael Higgins John Michael Higgins (born February 12, 1963) is an American actor and comedian whose film credits include Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, the role of David Letterman in HBO's '' The Late Shift'', and a starring role in the American vers ...

as Wes Handrick * Sarah Palin as herself (archive footage, as ''Sarah Heath'', in her brief sportscasting career)

Production

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

bought the screenplay by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler in April 2009, and in the following June, Kwapis was attached to direct. In September 2010, with

and John Krasinski cast in the starring roles, filming began in Seward. It had a production budget of $30 or 40 million. The crew constructed sets in Anchorage to resemble places in Utqiagvik during the whale rescue. Filming lasted for . The film's working title was ''Everybody Loves Whales'', which is a line still heard in the film. Visual effects on ''Big Miracle'' were created by

Rhythm and Hues Studios Rhythm & Hues Studios was an American visual effects and animation company, that received the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1995 for '' Babe'', in 2008 for '' The Golden Compass'', and in 2013 for '' Life of Pi''. It also received fou ...

and

Modus FX Modus FX is a Canadian visual effects studio in Quebec. Description Co-founded by Yanick Wilisky and Marc Bourbonnais in 2007, Modus FX is a visual effects company that offers digital production services for film, television and new media. Modus ...

. Burger King promoted the movie with toys. The

MPAA The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...

has rated this film PG for

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

. The red-and-black Soviet

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

in the movie is modeled after real world ''Arktika''-class

nuclear-powered icebreaker A nuclear-powered icebreaker is an icebreaker with an onboard nuclear power plant that produces power for the vessel's propulsion system. , Russia is the only country that builds and operates nuclear-powered icebreakers, having built a number of ...

which is considerably larger than the diesel-electric icebreaker used in the actual rescue effort, the 1975-built ''Admiral Makarov''. In shots which include live footage of the 2007-built ''

50 Let Pobedy ''50 Let Pobedy'' (russian: 50 лет Победы; "50 Years of Victory", referring to the anniversary of victory of the Soviet Union in World War II) is a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker. History Construction on project no. 10521 started ...

'', the blue-and-white polar bear logo of the former operator of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet,

Murmansk Shipping Company Murmansk Shipping Company (russian: Мурманское морское пароходство), often abbreviated as MSCO, is a Russian shipping company based in Murmansk (hence the name). One of the primary shipping companies operating in Ar ...

, is clearly visible but the atom symbol on the hull as well as the name of the vessel has been airbrushed out.

Reception

On the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds a "Certified Fresh" rating of 75% based on reviews from 104 critics. The site's consensus was: "''Big Miracle'' uses real-life events as the basis for a surprisingly satisfying family drama." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

the film holds a score of 61 out of 100 based on 28 reviews. The film grossed $2,267,385 on its opening day, ranking at No. 4 behind '' Chronicle'', '' The Woman in Black'', and '' The Grey'' at the box office. The film grossed $7,760,205 on its opening weekend and remained at the same spot. On its second weekend the film dropped to #8, with $3,946,050. The film closed its run on April 5, 2012, with $24,719,215 worldwide.

References

External links