One of my all time favorites.

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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!

I was rather appalled to see the low rating this movie received here, personally considering it fun family fare. It revolves around a young teenager, Sandy Ricks, who is sent by his mom to Coral Key to spend the summer with his Uncle Porter. While there he befriends a dolphin named Flipper. Lots of adventures ensue amid the predictable nephew / uncle bonding as well as a little romance for Sandy with a local girl.I'm a great Crocodile Dundee fan myself so absolutely loved Paul Hogan in his role as crusty and comical Uncle Porter. For starters, he keeps an endless stock of Spaghetti-O's in his house to serve as his usual meal, heated with a blowtorch! Elija Wood, Frodo from The Lord of the Rings, appeared quite competent playing the young Sandy, a boy at first none too fond of his forced summer vacation locale.Of course the dolphin is magnificent and there are some wonderful underwater scenes. Set in the Florida Keys, it was apparently filmed in the Bahamas. This adaptation of Flipper makes great family entertainment, a sweet, sentimental, and fun movie that is infinitely superior to many of the cinematic offerings for youngsters nowadays.

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

Dolphin - cuteElijah Wood - very very cute, especially when wet and partially nekkidPaul Hogan - strangely attractive, must have been the leather bondage cuff he wore through the whole moviePlot - very sillyCute blonde - romance sub-plot highly unconvincing, clearly no girl can come between a boy and his dolphin and Elijah doesn't even make a vague attempt at kissing her, instead choosing to spend all his time fondling FlipperEnding - strangely similar to Casablanca, as Elijah says farewell to the finned love of his life...Lij: Last night we said a great many things. You said I was to do the thinking for both of us. Well, I've done a lot of it since then, and it all adds up to one thing. You're going out into that sea with your family where you belong.Flipper: eee eee eeeLij: Now you've got to listen to me! Do you have any idea what you'd have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten we'd both wind up in SeaWorld. Isn't that true, Paul Hogan?Paul: I'm afraid the kid is rightFlipper: eee eee eeeLij: I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with your family. You're part of their life - the thing that keeps them going. If that pod leaves here and you're not with them, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon. And for the rest of your life.Flipper: eee eee eeeLij: We'll always have that time under the pier. We didn't have - we lost it until you found the poison barrels. We got it back last night.Flipper: eee eee eeeLij: And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. And where I'm going you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Flipper, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of one little boy and his dolphin don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Some day you'll understand that. Here's looking at you, kid.I'm so moved I may weep.In summary, approximately 5000 times better than Queen of the Damned, not quite as good as Lord of the Rings.