Dolphin Tale Trivia Quiz

Answer: Crab trap

At the beginning of the movie, we see a dolphin investigate several things lying on the ocean floor. Later, young Sawyer (played by Nathan Gamble) is riding his bicycle by the beach. He hears a fisherman on the shore yelling to him. The man is asking if Sawyer has a phone.

When Sawyer investigates, he finds that the man needs the phone because he has found an injured dolphin whose tail is caught in a line of a crab trap. Sawyer uses his new knife to cut away the line. He stays by the side of the dolphin as a marine rescue team shows up to take the dolphin to their facility.

Answer: Pelican

Sawyer rides his bicycle to the Clearwater Marine Hospital to see how the rescued dolphin was faring. He heads toward the employee entrance. However, there is a pelican sitting above the doorway who squawks and flaps his wings upon Sawyer's appearance. Sawyer quickly jumps through the door, followed by the noisy bird.

Inside, Sawyer meets a young girl who was at the rescue scene. She introduces herself as Hazel, the daughter of the man who runs the facility. She also introduces Sawyer to the pelican, whose name is Rufus and who acts like a guard for the building and family.

Answer: Pedialyte

The dolphin, named Winter by Hazel, has a very injured tail and is extremely weak. She is watched almost around-the-clock and supported in the water by the hospital's staff. Because she has a bond with Sawyer (as he helped her on the beach), he is asked to help in her aid.

Winter needs nourishment and she is coaxed to start drinking Pedialyte out of a large bottle. She refuses it, however, and gets weaker. When Sawyer enters the water and gently persuades her, she takes the drink from Sawyer and begins the recuperation process. Later she would get the dolphin "milkshake" made with blended fish.

Answer: Army

At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to a young man named Kyle, who is Sawyer's older cousin. We learn that he was a champion swimmer in high school. While he is watching a swim meet, his old coach comes up to wish him "best of luck".

It turns out that Kyle is putting his Olympic dreams on hold and is joining the U.S. Army to save up some money for training. He is going to be deployed overseas and assures Sawyer that he will be back as soon as possible.

Answer: Strain on her spine

After the successful surgery to remove Winter's damaged tail, she begins to heal. She even starts to play with toys and interact more and more with Sawyer and Hazel. She starts to "swim" by moving the lower part of her body from side to side.

However, X-rays showed that this was putting undue strain on her spine. Sawyer was told that the continued physical stress of this could cause paralysis or death. Someone needed to find a solution to help Winter.

Answer: Veterans Affair Hospital

Sawyer receives news that his cousin is coming back home and has a very badly injured back. His cousin goes straight to the VA hospital upon reaching his home town. Sawyer and his mother go to visit him there. His cousin is very despondent and is in a wheelchair being looked at by Dr. McCarthy who deals with prosthetics.

After Sawyer and his cousin have a heartfelt talk, Sawyer has an idea. He finds the doctor eating his lunch and asks him to come visit the marine hospital later. Dr. McCarthy would go on to take the challenge of creating a unique prosthetic tail to save Winter.

Answer: A hurricane

One day the people at the marine hospital hear that a storm is approaching and it has been officially declared a hurricane. Sawyer goes back home to wait out the storm with his mother. Hazel and her father and the staff do everything they can to "storm proof" the buildings and protect the animals.

After a long, windy, and rainy night, Hazel's dad (played by Harry Connick Jr.) opens the door. To his horror, he sees a huge amount of damage to the property. After initial cleanup, it is estimated that over $500,000 of damage occurred. This is more than the facility can handle as it is already in monetary trouble.

Answer: A hotel

Throughout the movie, it is remarked that the hospital is on shaky ground financially. They are barely staying afloat. It turns out there is a local rich developer named Phil Hordern who is interested in buying the hospital.

However, the plans would be to demolish it and build a hotel. The plans go through and the papers are signed. The work begins to find homes for all of the animals. Unfortunately, no aquariums were willing to take on a dolphin with no tail.

Answer: WintersGel

When Winter tries her first prosthetic tail, it is a custom one by Dr. McCarthy (made from old Buick parts). They put the sock on her first then slid on the device. She hated it and immediately smashed it against the tank wall. When the final device was finished, she repeated the manoeuvre and smashed it.

Sawyer went to her tank that night and sadly told her that she must learn to use the prosthetic or she will eventually die. She raised up her stub and showed him the sock. He suddenly understood. After telling Dr. McCarthy that it was the sock causing the issue, the doctor created a new gel-like film he called WintersGel and it worked beautifully.

Interestingly, at the end of the film, it was stated that (in real life) the product called WintersGel was a commercial success and has been helping people and animals with prosthetics.

Answer: A carnival

Sawyer is very upset when he thinks the hospital is being sold. Just as he was leaving the site one day, a mother and her handicapped daughter (who was missing a leg) came to see Winter as the girl felt a kindred spirit for the animal. Since they had come hundreds of miles, this made Sawyer realize Winter might draw large crowds.

Sawyer and Hazel began planning a large carnival fundraising event called Save Winter Day. The upcoming event was televised and Sawyer's cousin even agreed to swim in a match for the event to draw in more people. The day was a massive success and drew in some much needed money. More importantly, the man who was going to buy the place agreed to let it stay under the current management since so many people were fond of Winter.