Analysis: “Drive” and “Dolphin Tale”

I’m guessing this will be the only review in the entire universe comparing Drive and Dolphin Tale, but from a screenwriting standpoint there are some important issues to be explored in relation to these two films. If you have seen either/both movies, hit the link below. If not, please be aware I will be discussing major plot elements [SPOILERS!] for each film.

Both movies have generated significant buzz:

* Drive for aesthetic reasons (critics have loved it, currently a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) as well as some controversy over its violence (“The brutal violence which punctuates ‘Drive’ is by this point rather infamous, and much of the criticism directed at the film revolves around the purported crassness of these moments”) and other complaints about its content including one confused soul who is suing the filmmakers because “‘Drive’ bore very little similarity to a chase, or race action film… having very little driving in the motion picture.” (HT to Nate Winslow for that link).

[Here is the IMDB logline for Drive, screenplay by Hossein Amini (screenplay), based on a book by James Sallis: “A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.”

* Dolphin Tale for the surprising positive response by critics for a mainstream family film (currently a 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes), the even more surprising fact it rose from #3 in its debut week to #1 at the box office its second week out, besting more heavily advertised movies such as Moneyball, The Lion King in 3-D, Courageous and 50/50, and some controversy of its own due to comments made by co-star Morgan Freeman about the tea party movement.

[Here is the IMDB logline for Dolphin Tale, written by Karen Janszen and Noam Dromi: “A story centered on the friendship between a boy and a dolphin whose tail was lost in a crab trap.”]

The thing I want to zero in on is the reactions I tracked during first week Drive was released. The build-up I saw on Twitter and other online sources amounted to substantial heat created by people who had screened the movie early, many claiming it was the best film of the year, some even their favorite movie ever. This generated a significant expectation in the online film community about Drive and indeed during the opening weekend, almost all the reactions I saw from moviegoers, especially those based in LA, was unabashed praise which only added to the fervor.

But there was another strand of comments: Why wasn’t the box office performance better? I saw dozens of Tweets and comments from people, surprised at the relatively modest Friday night B.O. results, urging others to go see the movie to help drive [pun intended] up the first weekend numbers. The film opened at #3 ($11M) behind Lion King and Contagion, a more than respectable total, but evidently to many not matching their heightened expectations.

To date, Drive has taken in $28M in domestic box office. Meanwhile in just two weeks, Dolphin Tale has made $39M

What gives?

After having seen both movies, here are a few of my thoughts based on this central premise: Some of the aspects of Drive that make it interesting artistically are the very same things that do not translate well for mainstream audiences. In contrast Dolphin Tale is what it is — a solid family drama — which widened the target audience to its maximum potential.

Drive switches genres: With its opening sequence, it sets itself up as an action movie. Then for about forty minutes, it becomes a family drama. Once Driver agrees to help Standard pull off one last heist to clear himself with the thug to whom Standard owes protection money from his stint in prison and that robbery goes awry, it shifts into a crime-thriller. Indeed if you go to the movie’s IMDB page, the genres associated with it are Action, Crime, Drama.

Audiences on the Coasts may have loved the surprise of that genre mash-up, but moviegoers in the flyover states — in my estimation — like to know what they’re getting when they check out a movie. With Drive, they didn’t. With Dolphin Tale, they did.

Regarding Dolphin Tale, the filmmakers knew from Day One they were making a family drama and they hit just about every single marker for a successful one: Lonely misunderstood pre-adolescent boy (Sawyer), shadow of a lost father, contentious relationship with hard-working single mother (Lorraine), friendship with an animal (Winter) that humanizes the Protagonist, a spunky Attractor figure (Hazel) the same age as the Protagonist, a surrogate father figure (Clay), wise Mentors (Reed and Dr. McCarthy), humor in the form of Trickster sidekicks (most notably the pelican), an interesting subculture (marine life), big events (hurricanes), compelling central problems (Winter may die), interesting solution (prosthetic tail), capped off with the youths coming up with plan to save the day. Knowing the target demo was not LA, SF or NY, but Memphis, Salt Lake City, and Atlanta, there is even a scene where Hazel offers a prayer on behalf of Winter and their attempts to save the dolphin. The fact she prays to her deceased mother minimizes putting off any specific religious group and broadens the movie’s appeal to religiously inclined viewers.

In other words with Dolphin Tale, audiences knew exactly what they were getting because the filmmakers stayed laser-focused on the target demo with every narrative choice they made.

Drive’s violence is shocking, recurring, and visceral: This is another example of a narrative approach that may have appealed to critics and the movie’s fans, but was likely a real put-off to mainstream moviegoers (indeed when I saw the film in Durham, NC, after that first bloodbath that took place in the motel room, a number of people in the theater got up and left). The violence is even more startling because of the genre switch. Here we are one minute in the middle of an 80s John Hughes movie — a montage with Driver, Irene and Benicio happily skipping rocks at the LA River while “A Real Hero” plays in the soundtrack — the next minute Christina Hendricks has her head blown off or Driver boots a thug’s skull to a bloody pulp in an elevator. When I saw the movie, I was seated directly in front of about six young adult males. Before the film, they were going on and on about this shoot ’em up videogame and that one, clearly action movie guys. After the elevator scene, one of them said to his cohorts loud enough for me to hear him, “What the fuck was that?”

What was the word of mouth on Driver? In LA, touted as one of the films of the year. In Dallas or Milwaukee? I’m inclined to think the reaction in middle America was more like those young adult males sitting behind me: WTF. Meanwhile Dolphin Tale had amazing word of mouth, getting a rare A+ CinemaScore rating and as a result its B.O. dropping only 27% its second weekend and ending up as the #1 movie in the United States and Canada.

Drive’s Protagonist is morally ambiguous: I found Driver to be an engrossing character and his arc moving from an obsessive need for privacy, quiet and control to friend of Irene and his son Benicio to protector-killer a compelling one. However the fact remains one of the ways he makes money is hiring himself out as a getaway car driver. No matter that he doesn’t carry a gun, doesn’t want to know any details of the crimes being committed, he is an accomplice to those crimes. But that’s probably not the big sticking point, I would think, for audiences in the flyover states. The larger issue is that what Driver’s goals are — first to help get Standard out from under the debt he owes, then to return the briefcase full of cash to Nino and Bernie Rose — are themselves ambiguous morally. In order to help Standard, Driver has to participate in a crime. Returning the money to Nino and Bernie Rose? They are both vicious crooks. Where’s the right and wrong in that? My guess is a moviegoer in Topeka or Minot would have a difficult time connecting with Driver’s goals as a Protagonist and allowing themselves to fully enter the story.

Dolphin Tale on the other hand is squeaky clean on this front: Sawyer is a good kid who has been dealt a bad hand. His father left him five years ago. His cousin (Kyle) is being shipped off to military service overseas. Instead of becoming a pre-teen asshole, Sawyer internalizes his pain, preferring to spend time alone in sullen silence. Then something happens: He finds a dolphin (Winter) lying onshore, its tail fin caught in a crab trap. He helps Winter. And the well-being of the dolphin is his precise line of focus for the entire movie. A distinctly unambiguous moral character.

Drive has an unhappy ending: I thought the resolution of Drive was one of its best moments — boy does not get girl, instead boy has to drive away from the only joy he has [presumably] known in his life toward an uncertain future. That choice goes against perhaps the must fundamental rule of Hollywood’s conventional wisdom: Give the audience what they want in the end. Instead we are left with a bittersweet finale that to most people in Middle America would likely be perceived as a downer.

In contrast Dolphin Tale lays out the classic family drama happy ending: The dolphin lives, even becoming a celebrity figure, the kids’ plan helps to save Clay’s marine hospital works when the threat of a forced real estate sale evaporates as the property’s new owner (Hordern) decides not only to let Clay stay, but also to support his efforts at helping injured marine animals. One big fat happy ending.

The fact is both movies are going to be profitable [Drive’s production budget was $15M and Dolphin Tale $37M], so what’s my point? A few things: (1) If you live in LA and you look at a movie like Drive thinking it will do $50M at the box office, it’s probably a good idea for you to occasionally escape the 101–110–10–405 bubble and check out what’s going on in the ‘real’ world. Otherwise you will be out of touch with the sensibilities of a vast majority of moviegoers in this country. (2) As a screenwriter, the narrative choices you make have a direct impact on the potential audience your movie can find. (3) It’s easy to extol a film like Drive and belittle a movie like Dolphin Tale, but the fact is Hollywood needs a certain amount of family dramas every year. Just as there is an audience for original indie films, there is also one for straight-ahead PG rated movies. (4) If you want to write quirky, edgy, weird, offbeat, distinctive, violent or whatever independent movies, go for it. God knows we need all the original movies we can get nowadays. But if you want to write family movies that have a strong moral center, identifiable characters, and lots of emotional resonance, don’t hesitate to go for that either. Frankly the major studios are much more willing to shell out money for those type of movies as they have a wider appeal and it’s likely you can find more work as a screenwriter toiling in that genre than Pretty in Pink with a face smash.

[Note: I am not bagging on Drive. I liked it and found it to be quite entertaining. Rather I’m simply pointing out what I think are important dynamics about the consumer and movie marketplace.]

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