When I Find the Person Who made When I Find The Ocean

I hate reviewing movies like this. I've literally sat down to write this review every day for the last four days and just haven't been able to find the words. You see, it's a film with a lot of heart, I mean a LOT OF HEART. And sadly, that's the best thing I can say about it. This is not a good movie, not even remotely. It's your typical family-friendly film for the Hallmark crowd, except that I wouldn't really recommend it to them either. Sure, it's innocent and sweet enough, but When I Find The Ocean is a classic example of what-could-have-been had the story been put in the hands of someone who knows how to tell a story.

Not that you'd end up seeing this. One look at the soft-focus photo on the cover of the director's daughter (and lead actress) with her golden retriever is enough to let most cinephiles know this probably ain't for them. And it's not. It is the story of Lily Strickland, a sweet young girl with awesome grandparents (I mean awesome; her grandfather is "The Six Million Dollar Man," aka Lee Majors!) living in Alabama in 1965. Trouble is, she has this soon to be step-father who is abusing her and while missing her father terribly (who is lost at sea) she sets out to find ... the ocean ... to find some sense of closure. Or something. Of all the things this film beats you over the head with, this is the one critical point they never make too clear. She leaves, going off on an adventure with her dog and, inexplicably, her rabbit. But when she falls into the trap of some poachers who are illegally stalking a wild leopard, she gets saved by and ends up traveling with a black steamboat captain.

You would think this is where things would get interesting, especially when the poachers, trying to cover up for their mistakes, get the KKK riled up to track down this "uppity" fellow who has absconded with the missing white girl ... except that the film sabotages every bit of tension it builds. In a film about racial tension, there seem to be fewer racists than you can find TODAY, and no one of import actually believes the poacher's story, so you never feel like anyone is in any real trouble.

And so it goes for two whole hours.

When I Find The Ocean is a mess from beginning to end, exactly the type of film you'd expect to see on one of the family cable stations late at night when almost no one would be watching. On the bright side, the film had two special features: one, your standard 40-minute (38 minutes too long) documentary on the making of the movie; the second, a fascinating 10-minute Animal Planet segment about how they did all the animal wrangling in the film. Watching trainers try to get performances out of young animals was the one bright spot out of the entire three hours I spent with this film. If, for some odd reason, you find yourself with this in your possession, check the Animal Planet piece. And skip the rest.

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us