Alcon Entertainment, Boxing Cat Films, Color Force,
Harry Connick Jr., Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson, Nathan Gamble, Austin Stowell
Several years have passed since Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble) and Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.) rescued Winter, a dolphin without a tail. Sawyer has the opportunity to attend a very special program which means moving far from home, and he’s not very anxious to leave Clearwater Marine Hospital. But when Winter’s partner Panama dies of old age, that leaves Winter alone in her pool. Government regulations require that a dolphin cannot be housed alone, so the team has 30 days to solve the situation or Winter will have to be transferred to a marine park or zoo somewhere else. This is the sequel to 2011’s Dolphin Tale.
This is a really good family movie like the good old days. There haven’t been many movies like this in the past 20 years or so, but this is a good one. It’s truly PG, it’s a true story, and it’s excellently told. Clearwater Marine Hospital is a real animal hospital and they allow the public to view the animals, but their only purpose is in their motto, Rescue, Rehabilitate, and Release. This place is dedicated to rescuing animals in serious trouble, fixing them up and setting them back out to sea as soon as it’s possible. Winter, if you remember the first film, will never be able to be released back to the wild because being seriously harmed by a fishing net, he lost his tail. Fitted with a prosthetic tail, he is surviving, but will never be able to survive outside.
This is being attacked by closed minded people who insist these animals are being captured in the wild and forced to perform for the amusement of humans. Nothing could be further from the truth with this facility, but they immediately jump to that conclusion based on the subject of the film. Personally, I appreciate zoos and marine parks, and have visited Sea World, Marineland, and Miami Sea-Aquarium, as well as the old Theater of the Sea out in the Florida Keys. I feel that there is a valuable lesson for people learned by seeing the animals up close and personal. IMAX films are great, but seeing a dolphin face to face really makes you understand the beauty of these animals. But people have their causes. I wanted to make it clear that I’m not an anti-Sea World guy, and I think they helped me and my five children learn a lot about life under the sea. But as far as this film is concerned, I really enjoyed it. very much. I liked the characters, I liked the care and concern they showed, and yes, this is based on a true story just like the first one. I think people who love real family films will like this, though I’m sure there’s a lot who won’t watch it, and that’s ok, too.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
