Patman

In the winter of 1988, way up in northern part of Alaska, 3 grey whales were trapped by the layer of ice and rapidly freezing conditions near the coastline before they could make their migratory journey along the Pacific coastline. An Alaskan news man discovers the plight of the whales, and his reporting of the story catches fire with the national news outlets (when there was but 3 main one - ABC, NBC and CBS), bringing together reps from Green Peace, the coast guard, execs from Oil drilling, other news reporters, and the town's people who survived through their own history of whale hunting.

The cast is pretty good (featuring Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kristen Bell, Dermot Mulroney, Ted Danson, Vinessa Shaw, etc), and overall, the pacing of the film, along with keeping the ever-expanding key players's subplots, made for a film that can be enjoyed by the entire family (its key demographic). You can't but feel for the family of grey whales trapped by the ice as this rescue coalition of differing sides unfolds. I was actually surprised by the on-the-nose political interplay as the rescue effort looks more and more bleak as the weather freezes over the holes in the ice that allow for the whales come up for air, if only for a little while with each surfacing visit.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

Solid Snake

A B? Well that's a lot better than those trailers gave it as....

Patman

I graded it as a family film. Otherwise, I suppose it'd be rated a C/C+.