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!