Dolphin Tale 2

Stars: Harry Connick, Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Kris Kristofferson, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Morgan Freeman

Director: Charles Martin Smith

When in doubt, make a sequel.

And while rather too many sequels simply sink, this slick revamp of the elements that made the based-on-a-true story original popular swims surely to success as wholesome family entertainment.

Female dolphin (Their brains are as complex as ours) Winter, star of the real-life Clearwater Marine Aquarium and heroine of the first film who was saved with a prosthetic tail after losing her tail in a crab trap and, returns but this time shes in a bad way. After the death of her surrogate mother, she is constantly grieving and unwilling to relate to her human friends - even youngster Nathan Gamble. And things will only get worse unless a new female companion can be found for her

Director-screenwriter Charles Martin Smith, who also turns up in front of the camera, does a slick job of blending real-life film with his semi-fiction fictional tale of a tail and reunites the entire original essential cast, including Harry Connick Jr Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson and Morgan Freeman who comes up with another, even better prosthetic tail to save Winter and the film too

It says a lot for the mere land-dwelling actors that they are not entirely upstaged by dolphins, a comedy pelican and the reality footage of the aquarium and the real-life people associated with it.

A sure bet for parents no swearing, no sex and a genuinely happy ending to boot.

Alan Frank

USA 2014. UK Distributor: Warner. Colour.
107 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: U.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 30 Sep 2014