Boring

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

*Spoiler/plot- Day of the Dolphin, 1973. Two scientists corporate on deciphering and learning the dolphin's language. Their patron corporation decides to mis-use the dolphins for a political murder.*Special Stars- George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Paul Sorvino.*Theme- Corportations are evil.*Trivia/location/goofs- Screenwriter Buck Henry provides the voices of the dolphins when they speak human words. The trained dolphins who played Alpha and Beta were actually named Buck (for screenwriter Buck Henry) and Ginger (for dancer Ginger Rogers). On the next to the last day of filming, when their parts were done, they escaped and never returned. It was almost if they knew that for their roles it was a wrap.*Emotion- A charming film in the beginning for the scientific exploration of language and dolphin research. Unfortunately, the film plot gets cheaply tainted by political and corporate greed.*Based On- Cold War paranoid views of the global corporations international war actions.

This is a horrible movie. The plot is so fantastic and absurd, that talking dolphins is one of the more plausible aspects of it. I normally like George C. Scott - but not even he could save this turkey. The movie can't decide if it is an environmental morality play, a cloak-and-dagger thriller, or a farce. If had gone all out with farce, it may have succeeded, but it takes itself far too seriously. The "bad guys" are so wooden, the Sorvino character morphs around from one kind of character to another - just like that with no explanation, a ridiculous killing thrown in for no apparent reason, with extra effort to make it even more improbable. Some of the moments that the other reviewers liked, for me fell flat. Example - GCS's caressing of the dolphin in the tank creeped me out and seemed to suggest sexuality. I almost cried out - UNHAND THAT YOUNG LADY - uh, I mean dolphin. The whole idea that a dolphin could be a witness to a crime (thus causing the criminal to undertake ludicrous measures) is so flat out idiotic, I don't know what is any more far fetched. Do yourself a favor and watch one of the really bad movies from the last decade or so, if you want to watch something really idiotic. At least the hair styles and lapels won't add to the hilarity.

Marine biology scientist Dr. Jake Terrell, his wife Maggie and a crew of ecologists for the last few years have been financed by an organization to study confined dolphins on a distant Florida island. They've conditioned a male and a female dolphin to say "fa," "ma," "pa" and other basic vocabulary, and to comprehend English sufficiently enough to have simple dialogue. But Alpha can't be trained to think in English. He can merely mimic, until Jake teaches him a lesson about loss. He introduces a female dolphin, Beta, watches Alpha fall for her, then splits them up until Alpha can demand her, in English. The wholesale sequence showing Alpha swimming frantically around, thrashing his tail on the enclosure that divides them, is heartrending.Jake is like the classic father of the baby-boom bracket, unwavering in teaching valuable lessons even when he feels his child's anguish, in this case a dolphin who loves him like a father. When Alpha at last begs for Beta by name, it's an intensely gratifying moment, exemplifying the identity-related idea of language as a conciliation intuited out of loss. And, much to our grief, Alpha is now disposed to all kinds of anthropomorphic cognizant suffering.And naturally, trouble lies ahead in the form of a thriller plot true to the pinnacle era of conspiracies and rogue government. Initially, a young Paul Sorvino's slippery pollster blackmails his way onto Dr. Terrell's island, and before long, a sinister regime faction is revealed to intend to use the newfound capacity for communication in these dolphins to their advantage by abducting them for function in a presidential assassination, of all things.In training Alpha and Beta to verbalize, Jake destines them for humanity, initiating them into ceaseless yearning and unlocking the floodgates to advantage being taken of them. In due course, with the purpose of thwarting Alpha and Beta more exploitation, Jake must make a decision that is inconceivable to the living, beating heart. Pure as they are, dolphins comprehend mere absolutes. How can you make a dolphin understand not only that humans can be both good and bad, tell lies and kill their own, but that rejection, abandonment can still mean undying love, ultimate sacrifice? "Men are bad," he tells them, hardly suppressing his utterly irreparable heartbreak, and ours. "All men bad."

George C. Scott stars as a scientist who has trained dolphins to speak and understand English. Naturally some bad guys find out and want to use the dolphins in an assassination attempt.One of the many ecological "message" films of the 1970s. The plot is, technically, pretty silly but they pull it off. It has a great director (Mike Nichols) and Scott and Trish Van Devere are very good--but this just misses the mark. It's not a BAD movie just not a great one and I personally had some trouble taking it seriously. It was supposed to be a big hit and cost quite a bit to make. Unfortunately it was a HUGE bomb and disappeared quickly. That's too bad because it's actually pretty good. It's well done and the voices of the dolphins are (at first) frightening but you get used to them. Also it does have an ending which had me crying. I defy anyone to sit through that and not be moved.So, despite the scientific improbabilities, a pretty good movie that deserves a wider recognition.