`FLIPPER' MAKES A BIG SPLASH WITH FAMILY-STYLE FUN.Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Film Critic It may be recycled from a '60s TV show, but this ecologically hip ``Flipper'' couldn't be more up to date. Not only does the clever mammal lead the humans to an underwater toxic dump, but he videotapes the crime with a specially designed underwater camera strapped to his head. Compared to that other whale tale, ``Free Willy,'' this one gets a little overcomplicated, and has too many talky talk·y adj. talk·i·er, talk·i·est 1. Talkative; loquacious. 2. Containing or given to too much talk: a talky, boring play. scenes with adults nattering at each other about this troublesome toxic waste toxic waste is waste material, often in chemical form, that can cause death or injury to living creatures. It usually is the product of industry or commerce, but comes also from residential use, agriculture, the military, medical facilities, radioactive sources, and plot. But while younger kids will fidget fidg·et v. fidg·et·ed, fidg·et·ing, fidg·ets v.intr. 1. To behave or move nervously or restlessly. 2. through that stuff, they're sure to get sucked back in for the dramatic climax - a harrowing shark attack in which only Flipper and his dolphin pals can come to the rescue. All in all, this is a first-rate production and a terrific summer entertainment for the family. Set on a small key off the Florida coast, but actually filmed in waters off the Bahamas (as was the ``Flipper'' TV show), the movie is candy for the eyes, with cinematographer Bill Butler Bill Butler may refer to several people:
At the outset, 14-year-old Sandy (Elijah Wood), a jaded, mall-cruising, concert-going city kid, gets dumped on the island to spend the summer with his Uncle Porter (Paul Hogan
Paul Hogan AM (born October 8, 1939 in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales) is an Australian actor and comedian. ) while his parents go through a divorce. Porter is a fisherman and a free-wheeling, laid-back type who lives in a dilapidated shack, keeps a beer-drinking pelican for a pet, and subsists mostly on canned Spaghetti-Os. Completely turned off by this scene, Sandy can't wait to escape - until a chattering dolphin catches his attention, and eventually, his heart. Actually played by three different male bottle-nosed dolphins and an animatronic puppet, the movie's Flipper is exceptionally acrobatic, clever and expressive. Soon Sandy has become an entrepreneur, delighting the island kids by having Flipper perform in exchange for money to help feed him. But a harbor official (Isaac Hayes, with a Bahamian accent) tells them it's illegal to keep the animal as a pet, and so Sandy and his new-found girlfriend Kim (Jessica Wesson Jessica Wesson is an American actress, born in 1982.[1] She is best known for playing Brad's (Zachery Ty Bryan) first girlfriend, Jennifer Sudarsky, on Home Improvement. ) tearfully return Flipper to deep waters. By the time Flipper swims back to the harbor, he's deathly death·ly adj. 1. Of, resembling, or characteristic of death: a deathly silence. 2. Causing death; fatal. adv. 1. In the manner of death. 2. ill, tipping the humans off that something fishy is going on. The plot involves a blow-hard fishing boat captain (Jonathan Banks) who hates dolphins, shoots them from his boat and is dumping barrels of waste in their breeding grounds. Why the guy would want to foul his own fishing waters is a mystery; perhaps it was explained in one of those boring scenes where the adults were talking. The important thing is, it kicks off a racing good climax where Porter's marine biologist marine biologist specialist in the biology of marine life. girlfriend (Chelsea Field) leads the charge to find the toxins and expose the bad guys. At some point, someone (we won't say who) ends up in the water at the mercy of a vicious hammerhead shark hammerhead shark, active, surface-living shark, genus Sphyrina. Its curious head has lateral projections resembling the crossbar of a T, and its eyes and ears are located in the outer tips of the projections. . Depending on whether he is a friend to dolphins, he may or may not be saved. The underwater battles between sea creatures involved animatronic puppets created by Walt Conti Conti (kôNtē`), cadet branch of the French royal house of Bourbon. Although the title of prince of Conti was created in the 16th cent. (``Free Willy''), but you won't guess that from watching. The scenes are excitingly realistic. The filmmakers clearly aimed to make this a first-rate family movie, and though it lacks the uncluttered grace of ``The Black Stallion,'' it has echoes now and then of that movie's balletic ocean beauty. The casting is also top drawer: Elijah Wood is perfect as the sensitive Sandy, and Paul Hogan brings an easy humor and saltiness to the role of his father figure. THE FACTS The film: ``Flipper'' (PG; mild language, a beer-drinking pelican). The stars: Elijah Wood, Paul Hogan, Chelsea Field, Isaac Hayes. Behind the scenes: Directed and written by Alan Shapiro, based on the screenplay by Arthur Weiss and story by Ricou Browning and Jack Cowden. Running time: One hour, 36 minutes. Playing: Citywide. Our rating: Three Stars. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: A chattering bottle-nosed dolphin captures the heart of a jaded 14-year-old city kid, played by Elijah Wood, in the ecologically themed ``Flipper.'' |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion