Dolphin Tale 2

A family film and a sequel. A dolphin that lost its tail lives at a marine hospital. Winter was rescued years ago and swims with a prosthetic tail; the hospital is known because of her. The problem is this: dolphins do not live alone. The older dolphin Winter has been with for years dies, and by the rules a dolphin left alone cannot stay in care. The institution must either find her a companion or transfer her to another facility. From there the film is a search. Injured dolphins wash ashore; each is released once healed, and none is a lasting answer for Winter. What the narrative is interested in is not love of animals but rules: the film takes up what a rehabilitation centre may do and what it must not. Keeping an animal that can return to the sea is wrong, and the narrative says so plainly. The side line is with the children: Sawyer is invited onto a shipboard programme and is caught between going and staying. It was shot at a real facility with real animals, and Winter plays herself. Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson and Morgan Freeman are in the cast. Charles Martin Smith wrote and directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes animal films to watch with children. Who it is not for: anyone expecting something different from the first film; the narrative repeats the same shape and its emotional cues are very plain.