“DOLPHIN TALE” NO FLUKE

DOLPHIN TALE

Starring Harry Connick Jr.,

Ashley Judd,

Nathan Gamble,

Cozi Zuehlsdorff,

Austin Stowell,

Kris Kristofferson,

Morgan Freeman

Directed by Charles Martin Smith

Written by Karen Janszen, Noam Dromi

Running time 113 mins.

Rated PG

          Highly recommendable.

          Upshot: Eleven year-old boy (Gamble) makes friends with injured dolphin.

          Sounds like “Free Willy” with a dolphin, but plays like more than that. For one thing, the boy’s cousin (Stowell), who swims competitively, joins the military. I’ll remain deliberately vague here to not spoil the plot. Suffice to say, the story is not strictly limited to one dolphin’s survival.

          Okay, there’s just no way to talk about this thing without dropping a piece of information which, while I don’t think spoils the plot, comes about as close to doing that as can be gotten away with. The dolphin’s tail gets so injured that Morgan Freeman has to come along and help fix it.

          Perhaps that’s too vague.

          Another aspect of the film: It’s directed by Charles Martin Smith, the dude from “Never Cry Wolf.” And directed really well. Fine performances all around–particularly from Freeman, as one might expect. But the two singers who play the two single parents, Connick Jr. and Judd, are both skilled actors, too. And the kids pretty much carry the movie.

          “Dolphin” isn’t without its sappiness. For some reason, family fare has to strive to make people cry to become “feel good.” And yet, even with that going on, the recommendable aspects outweigh the cornball detractions.

          Back to plot-spoiling: There is an undercurrent to the film difficult to discuss without kind of ruining the movie. This undercurrent is perhaps best exemplified by a sequence with a remote control helicopter which the boy laboriously constructs. When the toy copter gets out of hand, and starts dangerously zipping around, we hear Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” like in “Apocalypse Now.” It’s an effective part of the film, though it really has nothing to do with the characters.

          “Dolphin Tale” is available in 3D, and that’s how I saw it, but it’s not at all a movie that has to be seen that way. Doesn’t hurt. Just more pricey.