Life is all about choices. Who among us has not yet seen himself torn between an opportunity, new, dangerous and challenging, and the security of our common, every day and common life? In "Dolphin Tale 2", Sawyer Nelson needs to decide between continuing his little life working at Clearwater Marine Hospital with his family or leaving everything behind to join a prestigious quarterly course, which will add value to his school curriculum. In the case of Nelson, played by Nathan Gamble ("The Dark Knight", "The Mist" and "Marley & Me"), the choice seems easy. As a teenager dedicated to studying marine animals, joining a temporary course in the open sea, where I would have contact with other marine species and the experience of having contact with other young people who have the same interest, would be more than convenient. However, the invitation to the course came at one of the most delicate moments in the boy's life. One of his best friends, the dolphin Winter, is going through a difficult time after the death of her pool partner. Grief has made Winter, once a happy and sassy creature, a sad animal, and why not say, introspective.
This time, we follow Winter, depressed after the loss of her tail and her companion. With that in mind, their caretakers at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium must take every precaution to find a way for the animal not to suffer. At the same time, Mandy, another dolphin, appears as a hope for the girl Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff), Winter's faithful squire. After all, must another animal be kept in captivity to save another's life? Perhaps this is the film's best worked ethical and moral dilemma, something that is not handled as naively as it could be.
Of course, the 107 minutes of history can become tiring for anyone looking for a more realistic film filled with personal dilemmas. However, here the focus is different. The cast is on the scene to support the script, not asking for anything extraordinary from each one. In this Morgan Freeman serves only as comic relief and nothing more, like calling the dolphin a fish. What matters is knowing how the protagonist who gives the title to the film will survive. And an interesting and intelligent point of the script is not to create any human "villains" from large corporations to continue the story, as well as in the first film. Winter's situation itself (based on a true story) is dramatic enough not to need obvious subterfuges and clichés.
One of the problems of the film is the artificiality of some of the challenges that arise. While it's understandable that Sawyer doesn't want to risk losing what she already has, and even a growing crush on her friend Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff), the tension over the fate of Winter and the aquarium itself is far-fetched, even endowing a uncomfortable and unnecessary dislike Dr. Clay (Harry Connick Jr.), Hazel's father and father figure to Sawyer. Even poor Winter ends up having her moments of random aggression, all to try to create some extra conflict. Luckily, the film holds onto its central arc, about the challenges Sawyer and Winter face with the coming changes, and the subplots involving rescuing animals like Mavis the turtle show more of the day-to-day life of the aquarium and its importance to that town, making the public really care about the well-being of the place and its employees.
What pleases most in "Dolphin Tale 2" is not its screenplay (which is flawed in several moments, especially due to the lack of creativity in almost replicating the story of the first film), its incredible images of home videos with real rescues or the cast (who do an efficient but unmemorable job). The main thing is the urgency of the theme, an ode to living beings and the responsibility that humanity has towards them. It may not be unprecedented or present new cinematographic languages, but the film makes an impact and can inspire the target audience, children and teenagers, to take special care with animals and the environment.
With a cast of veterans, Harry Connick Jr. ("Will and Grace"), Ashley Judd (First Degree Crimes), Kris Kristofferson ("Blade" Trilogy) and the very special participation of Morgan Freeman, who returns in this second film. However, the young Nathan and Cozi Zuehlsdorff stand out in the cast, who plays the friend and now has a crush on Sawyer, Hazel Haskett. The chemistry between the two actors is rare considering their age. Also, both Nathan and Cozi especially have a lot of charisma. The duo worked very well on screen and such performance worked in favor of the feature. It is very gratifying to see that in a generation of expressionless actors, apathetic and incapable of conveying any emotion, there are exceptions. The scenes of Cozi taking the lead in some decisions and situations at the aquarium, learning her lessons, in addition to the scene in which she says goodbye to Sawyer who will be away for a few months, are important passages in the character's maturation, which gains importance in relation to the first.
The production has a photograph in clear and vivid colors and the portrait of the animals is, although somewhat visually idealized, relatively realistic, making it clear that, however cute they are, they must be treated with care, precisely because they are wild, lesson taught with clear didacticism, with the exception of the pelican Rufus, used as an almost surreal comic relief (a fact noticed even by the characters themselves, it should be said). The film, despite focusing on children and youth, does not resort to jokes or avoid addressing themes, and is dramatic throughout. Even when Morgan Freeman appears to be the comic relief - and his joke scenes are good - it doesn't break the sequel's serious mood.
"Dolphin Tale 2" also does not villainize any of its characters to highlight the real conflicts that gave rise to the plot, nor does it romanticize things too much (even when everything indicates that Hazel and Sawyer are on the scene just to start dating). However, this sequence suffers from repetitions. The continuation's conflicts, despite being different, are shown in a very similar way to the first feature: Clay being pressured by someone to make a difficult decision and facing the objections of his daughter Hezel and Sawyer in the face of possibilities - even the lines get to be very similar.
A hurried call, an emergency rescue, intensive care, a successful outcome accompanied by dozens of onlookers clapping their hands and taking pictures - this sequence, which retraces the rescues, is repeated several times throughout the film and ends up becoming exhausting at a certain point. Time. The ending is not surprising, but the images that are shot alongside the credits, the home videos of the rescues that inspired the film, the treatments and releases, give that pride of knowing that, regardless of being good or bad, the story is true. The way the film shows the work carried out by the Clearwater Aquarium is extremely charming, the affection and respect that humans manage to establish with animals, the rescues, the healing process of whatever the problem is, all these aspects are well reported throughout the film, leaving the spectator touched by the history of the aquarium, in addition, of course, to the fact that the plot also brings aspects of family relationships and the process of necessary choices throughout life, the film is full of messages and, despite not being a film with a lot of action, the viewer leaves the cinema with a feeling of satisfaction.
Far from being another boring movie with animals, even because they don't star in it, "Dolphin Tale 2" efficiently passes (without appeals or caricatured villains, as is the custom in works of this type) a message of respect for animals, without getting attached to a mushy and politicized speech. In the end, "Dolphin Tale 2" is a "feel good movie" for children, with animals and even a sports celebrity giving her example of overcoming difficulties (surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost an arm in an attack shark in 2003 and had its story told in the movie "Soul Surfer"). If the language of the film is simplified even by the standards of this genre, it is because its target audience is children. The result is a harmless feature film, which should please little ones who like animals and teach some lessons that, although already well known, are still valid.
