Dolphin Tale 2 *** (2014, Harry Connick Jr, Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble) – Movie Review

All the cast are back from the 2011 original in this polished, enjoyable true-life family drama sequel in which the team who saved dolphin Winter’s life re-assemble after the death of her surrogate mother, the elderly dolphin Panama. As dolphins cannot be housed alone by law, the team want to find her a new companion so she can remain at the Clearwater Marine Hospital, headed by Harry Connick Jr’s character Dr Clay Haskett, and they have found another possible new playmate named Hope.

Morgan Freeman’s character Dr Cameron McCarthy has some amusing lines that liven things up. And now that Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) and Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) are becoming young adults, there’s a cute hint of a budding teen romance between them. But, even with Ashley Judd and Kris Kristofferson also in the cast, all the focus is where it should be, on the really cute dolphins and their good-natured story.

Writer-director Charles Martin Smith appears in a cameo telling Dr Clay Haskett that he has 30 days to fix any violations.

It’s the fifth time that Freeman has worked with Judd after Kiss the Girls (1997), High Crimes (2002), Dolphin Tale (2011) and Olympus Has Fallen (2013).

© Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review

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