It’s been 3 years since we last visited Winter, the dolphin with the prosthetic tale and the rest of the aquatic life at the Clearwater Marine Hospital. This go around, in the based on a true story tear-jerker, Panama loses her life to old age and Winter mourns the loss of her friend.
However, in order to adhere to USDA regulations, they must pair up Winter with another female dolphin in order to keep her. A rescue dolphin named Mandy is considered for the task, but is healthy enough to be returned to the wild, leaving Winter with little hope for a chance of remaining at Clearwater. In a turn of events…all based on the what really happened, a juvenile female dolphin is found and of course is named “Hope” by Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff). Now it is up to Hazel’s father, Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick, Jr.) and Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) to make sure the two become fast friends.
Let’s be honest. The story isn’t about Clay, Sawyer or Hazel, they are there for dialogue filler and to guide the story. The real stars are Winter and Hope. Even Morgan Freeman is outshined by the aquatic mammals. The sub-plots are inserted to tie everything together, but all your kids are going to care about are the dolphins and that’s perfectly acceptable. I took my friend’s daughter for 9th birthday to the advanced screening and she loved it. She talked about marine biology, the dolphins and how the communicate, knew all the names of the animals in the film and was more than happy with the end result. She really loved it and if the target demographic was all for it, then Warner Bros. did their job in making a family film.
The only question I had was Harry Connick Jr. wasn’t on the soundtrack? His song styling would have fit perfectly with the sentimental storytelling. WB pulled out all the stops, especially by bringing in surfer and shark attack survivor, Bethany Hamilton. Like the title says, bring your tissues. You’re going to see a lot of dolphins swimming, hear a lot of sappy music and laugh at a weirdo pelican.
Think Flipper meets Free Willy and you’ll ball like a baby.
A Dolphin Tale 2 opens nationwide Friday, September 12, 2014.
