Review: 'Big Miracle' unwieldy but has suspense  CHRISTY LEMIRE
AP Movie Critic Published:  If a movie is cheesy and knows it's
cheesy -- if it embraces the soft, gooey texture and pungent
aroma of its own fromage -- does that make it any more palatable
as a meal?  That is the question to ponder while watching "Big
Miracle," a rousing, feel-good, family-friendly animal adventure
which has the added benefit of being based on a true story. It's
a weird hodgepodge, mixing the large cast and the melodrama of a
1970s disaster movie with the small-town quirkiness of "Northern
Exposure," with just a touch of the big-haired ambition of
"Broadcast News."  At its center are three gray whales -- a
mother, father and baby who found themselves trapped within the
quickly forming Arctic ice near Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost
point in the United States, in 1988. The effort to free them in
the open water brought together a disparate alliance of
environmental activists, oil executives, journalists, native
people and even th