As seen in
Dolphin Tale 2 continues the
story of famous prosthetic-tailed Winter the dolphin and her courageous life at
Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida.
This story begins with the rescue of a dolphin (later named Mandy, after
the little girl who discovers the troubled creature). It shows the detail and care involved with
rescuing marine mammals who find themselves in unfortunate predicaments.
We are then re-introduced to
Winter. However, when Winter’s long-time
tank mate passes away, she is thrown into a state of depression. Winter’s continued handler / junior aquarium
scientist, Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble, the same boy from the first flick), is
perplexed by her sudden change of mood and with the help of the Aquarium’s
operator Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.) they realize that what Winter may
require is another companion. More
specifically, if they do not find one, the USDA will be forced to remove Winter
from her habitat and move her to another aquarium located half way across the
country.
When the obvious choice in Mandy,
is rehabilitated ahead of schedule they are faced with the moral dilemma of
keeping her to accompany Winter (simply to appease the USDA and the board of
directors), or releasing her back into the wild where she belongs, sticking to
the mission statement of RESCUE, REHAB, RELEASE. If Mandy is not the answer, they need to find
another or face losing Winter for good.
While more does happen including
Sawyer having to make a decision about his future and a rescue of a juvenile
dolphin, it is the introduction of a sea turtle that is found tangled in fishing
line, and his obnoxious pelican companion is exactly what this movie required
to lighten the mood on a very story-heavy plot.
For being real animals, their comedic timing (almost like a real life
Timon and Pumbaa) is almost perfect.
The performance from the child
actors is almost unbearable, similar to nails on a chalkboard. Throwing in veteran actors in Morgan Freeman
(who I am pretty sure, shot all his scenes within an hour), Ashley Judd, and
Kris Kristofferson helped as they were able to somewhat pull off some
respectable dialogue and semblance of order.
Harry Connick Jr. however, ranged from brilliant to shaky at times (although
that’s always been my opinion of him).
I did find any child under 6 may
have troubles sitting through this, as it does rely heavily on story, but the
inspiration is real. The closing credits reveal actual footage from the
different rescues/releases that are portrayed in the movie. It is beautiful that people are willing to
help these creatures who may suffer from terrible fates if they didn’t step
in. If you love an inspirational tale (and
specifically dolphins) you will love this movie. If neither are your thing and you are just
taking the kids, you will find your watch is more viewed than the screen.
No comments:
Post a Comment