The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer

The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer is a 2009 Peruvian 3D animated film from 20th Century Fox and Dolphin Films, produced by Lorenzo Von Lorch and directed by Eduardo Schuldt. The book that gave rise to the film and the script were written by Sergio Bambarén.

Plot
Daniel is a young dolphin who decides to separate himself from his group to venture into the unknown vastness of the oceans. But he has one goal: to discover his life's purpose. The journey will not be easy, of course, as Daniel will face dangers and challenges, meet friends and many enemies. Still, he will move on, always listening to the voice of his heart and believing his instincts.

Why It Will Not Follow Your Dreams

 * 1) There are LOTS of meaningless childish dialogues, like the scene where Daniel and Carl meet a baby fish named Squishy and spend a lot of time petting and playing with him until his mother shows up.
 * 2) The animation is of a very low quality with poorly polished textures, almost empty backgrounds and poorly done character movements.
 * 3) The characters are all forgettable, with little or no personality, and some are annoying like Carl, Daniel's cuttlefish friend.
 * 4) Speaking of Carl, he doesn't contribute anything to the film besides being a boring helper, he's just there as a filler.
 * 5) The character designs are crude and weird, and besides the movie doesn't even try to have a unique look, as one part of the characters has a cartoonish design (like Carl and Daniel) and the other part has a more realistic design (like Mr. Bite, Maitre and Lucius).
 * 6) The film has some disgusting scenes, for example at the beginning, where a baby dolphin lets out fart bubbles from under the water and then breathes them, and at the end, where the characters for some reason eat coins that they find on a wrecked ship.
 * 7) The soundtrack, although decent, gets to be very repetitive.
 * 8) Lucius, the main antagonist of the film, has a very ugly design and looks more like a monster from an outdated horror movie, and can also very easily scare younger viewers.
 * 9) Speaking of Lucius, there are several disturbing scenes with his character, highlighted by the scene where he is sleeping in the depths of the ocean while the camera takes a close on his eye as he wakes up.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) At least the plot is decent.
 * 2) The most acceptable character in the movie is Lucius, who plays a good role as an antagonist, although he's scary for younger audiences as stated earlier.
 * 3) The scene where Daniel met on his journey gather to help against Lucius's barracuda army is the best scene in the movie.
 * 4) The water animation looks good for a low budget movie.
 * 5) The idea that the film gives of always following your dream is very good.
 * 6) The soundtrack, although repetitive is good at least, especially the song "La Aventura del Mar" by Diego Torres, which is by far the best thing in the whole movie.

Trivia
In 2016 a sequel to the film called "The Dolphin 2: Beyond the Reef" was revealed, but almost nothing is known about this sequel.