The biggest star in the upcoming Warner Brothers film "Dolphin Tale" is not Morgan Freeman or Harry Connick Jr., but the dolphin herself.
"Dolphin Tale" is about a young bottlenose dolphin, Winter, who survives being entangled in a crab trap, undergoes a tail amputation and learns to swim with a prosthetic tail. The feel-good, family-friendly film captures the spirit of relationships and looking out for one another.
"The audience can expect to leave the theater empowered," said Austin Stowell, a supporting character in the film.
Based on actual events that took place in 2005, Winter inspires those around her while learning how to cope with life without her tail. The dolphin in the film is the real Winter.
"Dolphin Tale" explores the relationships of friends, family and strangers working together for a positive outcome. Sawyer, a quiet, shy boy, finds Winter entangled in a crab trap, and the two develop a loving relationship. The injured dolphin lands in the Clearwater Marine Aquarium where her rehab begins with a tail amputation. Sawyer, Dr. Clay Haskett (Connick Jr.), Clearwater's veterinarian, and Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Freeman), a prosthetic doctor who builds the new tail, not only help Winter continue living but save the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
"It's a snowball effect," Stowell said. "People gravitate towards good causes. One person can make a difference."
The film thrives off themes of the importance of family and friends being there during life's hardships.
"There is a sense of family from the beginning," said Stowell, who plays Sawyer's older cousin, Kyle, who goes off to war and comes back injured and upset that he can't live up to his Olympic swimming dreams.
"My character was the father figure in Sawyer's life," Stowell said. "I was the golden boy in the community and headed to join the army, still having hopes to be an Olympian one day. When I came back, I shut off Sawyer and our roles reversed where Sawyer was there for me. The movie teaches that family is forever and no matter what, you can always rely on family."
Although there are some fictional twists, including the adaptation of the central character, Sawyer, the movie stays true to the story of the survival of both Winter and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida, which originally was the city's old sewage treatment plant.
The film also depicts how Winter's ordeal inspires war veterans dealing with the reality of prosthetic limbs.
"She's overcoming the same obstacles as they are," Stowell said. "When they see another creature suffering the same circumstances, they think, 'If this dolphin can do it, so can we.'"