Dolphins are amazing creatures, and they’ve been fascinating us for years. They’ve been the focus of documentaries, movies, symbols on pieces of jewelry and home décor – we can’t get enough of ‘em.
1996 saw the release of “Flipper,” another dolphin movie, this one starring Elijah Wood and Paul Hogan. Wood plays Sandy, a teenaged boy with a huge chip on his shoulder who is sent to visit his uncle Porter (Hogan) to see if said chip can be dislodged somehow. They get off to a rocky start as Sandy breaks the rules and Porter doesn’t seem to know how to get through to the kid. But then Sandy meets Flipper, a dolphin who is trying to escape being shot by an irate fisherman. Seems the dolphins are scaring off the fish. Flipper takes a liking to Sandy and follows him in to port, where he comes to mean a lot to the boy. As the irate fisherman continues to be a threat to the dolphin, Sandy and Porter work together to ensure Flipper’s safety, and end up uncovering a toxic waste dumping ground in the ocean.
This movie had some good intentions but it just fell short in so many of them. In the first place, we’re supposed to believe that Elijah Wood is this really messed up kid. Sorry – he’s just too nice. He’s a good actor and he does look surly from time to time, but as far as being a troubled teen, nah.
We’re also supposed to think that Uncle Porter was this great influence in the kid’s life and totally turned him around. Never happened. Porter was a beach bum, pure and simple, and any changing that took place was not because of him.
Additionally, the movie started out to be pretty based in reality, and yet by the end of the film we’re supposed to believe that Flipper can operate an underwater camera, and he can swim around and come signal them when he finds the toxic waste. Yeah, right. If the film makers wanted us to suspend reality that much, they should have made this an animated movie. We were expecting the dolphin to, I don’t know, act like a dolphin. Silly us.
There were also some major plot holes. We first learn about the toxic waste because Flipper shows up sick as a dog. (If a fish can be a dog, but go with me on this.) They get him better, and then they take him right back out to the infested waters to look for the poison, and yet this time he doesn’t get sick. How come? And, his whole family is there waiting for him. How come they aren’t sick? This is just one of many holes that weren’t filled in to my satisfaction.
But, perhaps you’ll enjoy the film more than I did. It’s rated PG for some mild language and mild peril, so you can watch it with your children, and it would probably be popular with your preteen set. But I’m not a preteen, so it wasn’t my favorite.
Related Blogs: