Jackson Booth-Millard Free Willy was obviously a big hit for the family, and I had the definite opinion that this film would be exactly the same kind of concept, but with a dolphin instead of a killer whale, but I was prepared to try it. Basically young Sandy Ricks (Elijah Wood) has been sent by his mother to a rustic island in the Florida keys, Coral Key, to spend the summer with his uncle Porter Ricks (Paul Hogan) on his his fishing trawler. Sandy is unhappy in his new environment, bored with nothing exciting to do and having to do chores for Porter, but then sitting on the dock of the bay he meets a new friend, a dolphin he later names Flipper. As they continue meeting he manages to teach his new friend a few tricks, and this also helps him to find another friend in local girl Kim (Jessica Wesson) who gives him the idea to get people to pay to watch the dolphin do his tricks. Sandy and Porter do slowly bond over their time together having fun with Flipper, who they realise was separated from his family by fishing rival Dirk Moran (Jonathan Banks), and there is a big danger coming when the bad guy is planning to dump poisonous substances in the water. In the end the villains are defeated, Flipper swims away with his remaining family, Sandy's mother and sister come to take him home, Sandy says his goodbyes to friends Cathy (Chelsea Field), Marvin (Jason Fuchs) and Kim, and he asks Porter if he can come back next summer to which he happily agrees. Also starring Bill Kelley as Tommy and Isaac Hayes as Sheriff Buck Cowan. The dolphin is cute and lovable doing tricks and jumps, Wood is alright as the teenager who has some fun, and Hogan is okay most of the time with his cheeky remarks and accent, but as a film this was a bit boring and predictable, kids will obviously like the sweet natured feel and heartwarming soundtrack, but for me not much interested me, a rather disappointing family adventure. Adequate!

Neil Welch The 1996 take on Flipper has Paul Hogan as the nominal male lead, but the main character is actually Elijah Wood, at the exact moment between child and adult actor.The story won't surprise too many people - boy befriends dolphin, they solve the problem of missing fish and poorly dolphins by finding illegal toxic waste dumping - but it is colourful, moral, and entertaining, with lots of underwater photography and, of course, dolphins.Which is not to say that it doesn't have the odd moment which makes you roll your eyes - the hammerhead shark groaning was my favourite - but it is still a pretty good Sunday afternoon family film.Joel McNeely's music is lovely.

sddavis63 This is loosely based on the 1960's TV series of the same name, of which I know I watched a few episodes but really have no memory of. So the movie stands alone for me. It isn't great in all honesty. It's strongest point is that it's completely family-friendly. There's nothing here that would make you hesitant about letting your kids watch this, and younger kids will especially enjoy the story of the friendly dolphin as he interacts with his human friends. That may also be the biggest weakness of the movie, mind you. It's yet another cutesy animal story that makes wild animals seem - well - less than wild, and in that sense perhaps dishonours the wild animals in the process. I'm not an animal rights fanatic, but I do think it's better for kids to see wild animals as they really are as opposed to these manufactured "wild" scenes.The story isn't particularly strong, with the relationship between Flipper the dolphin and Sandy (Elijah Wood) being the backdrop to a larger environmental story revolving around the illegal dumping of toxic waste. Paul Hogan appears as Sandy's uncle Porter, a fisherman in Coral Key, Florida who takes Sandy in for the summer. Jonathon Banks plays another take on the caricature of the requisite evil character - in this case, the one who kills Flipper's dolphin companion at the beginning of the movie, tries to do away with Flipper himself, tries to kill Sandy in the open ocean and is ultimately revealed to be the evil toxic waste dumper. An unbelievably evil character in other words.So, the story is lacking, although the underwater photography featuring dolphins and also at least one hammerhead shark is pretty well done, and - to reiterate the strongest part of this movie - you have to like the family-friendliness of it.

Theo Robertson Sandy has to spend his Summer break with his uncle Porter in the Florida Keys and right away we're supposed to sympathise with him . If we had to sympathise with uncle Porter that I could understand but no we're supposed to feel sorry for Sandy . Now let's see Sandy gets a holiday on the South East American coast , the Caribbean in fact and everyone who saw this at a South Central or Hell's Kitchen cinema are supposed to shed tears for Sandy ! Why ? Is he going to get attacked by a giant squid ? Oh hold on he did get attacked by a giant squid in another movie ! As you can imagine FLIPPER plays out like all these other aquatic family movies . Boy doesn't get on with a family member , sea animal is oppressed by these nasty evil humans , boy and sea animal become the best of friends , boy finds love though happily not in the flippers of a sea creature , there's an environmental subplot etc . So in effect FLIPPER is no better or worse than any other movie of its ilk . You know how everything is going to work out before the end credits or even before the opening credits . The only thing of note is Paul Hogan who is fairly impressive in a straight role