Producer and director Yoram Gross returns with the sixth film in the Dot series, and gives us the best Dot film ever!
Twentieth Century girl Dot - she of the flaming red hair and bare feet - learns how to breathe underwater from her dolphin friend Nelson. They hear whales speak of a beached whale and decide to investigate. Dot speaks to Tonga, the beached whale, and hears a sad tale about humans killing Tonga's parents and friends. Tonga beached herself to commit suicide as she has no one who loves her and no place to go.
Now THIS is a Dot movie, and it's the right way to make an environmental message movie without being too preachy. The story is very good and the dialogue is better than you'd expect. When Dot notices rubbish on the ocean floor, she tells Nelson, "Sometimes I'm ashamed to be human." (She's not the only one.) She also accuses grown-ups of not wanting to fix problems they make. None of the kids in this movie trust the adults, and most of the adults give the kids a good reason not to trust them. In the end, nearly the entire human race looks bad because of the way we treat the whales, the ocean and each other. This is the type of children's movie that would never get made in this country, but thankfully we can see it.
The screenplay is by John Palmer, who also worked on Dot And The Kangaroo (1977) and Dot And The Bunny (1984). Bob Young returns to compose two new songs. The underwater photography of real ocean creatures really enhances the film. And Moby Dick - yes, THAT Moby Dick - is worked into the story!
Excellent job, everyone! Now where's the DVD?
