Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Dolphin Tale 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Stone-hearted cynics need not apply...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown December 4, 2014

Dolphin Tale 2 skips past rehash and heads straight for worthy sequel with a heartwarming family drama sure to please junior marine biologists and animal lovers everywhere. It's slower than director Charles Martin Smith's first film (2011), continues to prioritize melodrama over meatier material, and tends to sideline Winter, but also offers more in the way of familiar adolescent trials and tribulations for its young protagonists to overcome. The result is a flawed yet more rewarding human story; one that requires a bit more patience and will split children into two camps: the entertained-and-engrossed segment and the bored-outta-their-minds crowd. And while the camp your kids will fall into will largely depend on their age(s) and attention span(s), there's enough value to the sequel to recommend it to any parent looking to host a wholesome, decently engaging, mildly educational family movie night. That doesn't make it a great film, though...

The inspiring true story of Winter isn't over. Several years after receiving a prosthetic tail, Winter loses her surrogate mother, leaving her alone, grieving and unwilling to engage with anyone, even her young human friends, Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) and Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff). Worse, she may have to be moved from her home at the aquarium due to regulations requiring dolphins to be paired. When neither Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman) nor Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.) and his dedicated team are able to find Winter a companion, it looks like they may lose their beloved dolphin until an unexpected turn of events brings them Hope.

Gamble and Zuehlsdorff have aged, sure, but they've also evolved as actors in the three years since the original Dolphin Tale. Armed with broader range and more convincing chemistry with their co-stars, the teens, now 16, have come into their own and are more comfortable and consistent -- and in Zuehlsdorff's case, more seasoned -- than they were three short years ago. Unfortunately, Smith has a tighter grasp on character arcs than dialogue, leaving the still-maturing actors over-delivering somewhat generic performances. The rest of the cast makes the return trip as well... in more ways than one. They overact and overreach as much as the teens, approaching each scene as if starring in an ABC Family Movie of the Week rather than a theatrically released feature film. All well and good, I suppose, since Smith is apparently content writing a MotW script. It doesn't help that Freeman isn't nearly as crucial to the plot this time around, Ashley Judd is an afterthought, and Connick Jr. has been relegated to the antagonist's corner. (My son still considers Clay the villain of the flick.)

Performance quibbles aside, there's a good deal more to Dolphin Tale 2 than the first film. With the humans front and center and Winter relegated to more of a supporting role, subplots abound. Some work, some don't, but Sawyer and his family, friends and colleagues at least feel like more fully rounded, fully realized human beings. There seems to be a bit more truth to the sequel's true story. Seems being the key word. More things may be happening within the characters' lives, but very little of it amounts to anything more than an A-to-B family friendly drama. Sawyer and Winter's plights lack complexity, solutions come too conveniently, and whatever complications and obstacles arise reek of Hollywood polish. It's all harmless and perfectly innocent, but therein lies the problem. Promising dramatic weight is often undercut by prefab writing, direction, cinematography and music cues. Heartstrings are tugged, emotions manipulated, and tears demanded, and it's all too obvious the filmmakers are well aware of what they're doing. Kids will buy in -- again, if they aren't bored by the pace of the sequel -- but parents will recognize Dolphin Tale 2 for what it is: a reasonably fun and uplifting family film that doesn't have a lot going on beneath the surface.

Dolphin Tale 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dolphin Tale 2 boasts a precise and proficient 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation. It isn't striking by any means -- a glaring digital glossiness makes the film more TV movie than theatrical feature -- but it's more than serviceable, with bright, nicely saturated colors, vibrant primaries, lifelike skintones and generally satisfying black levels. Detail is noteworthy too thanks to crisp, clean edges and reasonably resolved fine textures. (The image isn't as sharp or revealing as I expected, and softness tends to creep in, but the encode isn't at fault.) And macroblocking, banding, aliasing, ringing and other issues are nowhere to be found, so no major distractions to report. Ultimately, the image is as perfectly presentable as it is perfectly forgettable. I don't have any real complaints to lodge, but then I don't have any glowing praise to offer either.

Dolphin Tale 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The same could be said of Warner's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track. I'm all for eight-channel mixes, but when it doesn't heighten the experience, it begins to feel more like overkill -- or worse, a gimmick -- than anything more substantive. That little gripe notwithstanding, the track does its job and does it well. Dialogue is clear, intelligible and neatly prioritized in the soundscape, even if it isn't always as naturally grounded in the soundscape as it should be. LFE output is solid; not very notable, but solid. Rear speaker activity is assertive; not as playful as I hoped, but more enveloping than its Dolphin Tale counterpart. Again, the extra channels aren't used to any great effect, making their contributions appreciated but underwhelming. If that all reads like the equivalent of a shoulder shrug, mission accomplished. Dolphin Tale 2's 7.1 track isn't plagued by any issues or mishaps. It just isn't all that impressive.

Dolphin Tale 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Underwater Magic (HD, 3 minutes): Writer/director Charles Martin Smith, producer Broderick Johnson, cinematographer Daryn Okada, and actors Nathan Gamble and Cozi Zuehlsdorff discuss scenes in which the teens swim with Winter, Gamble and Zuehlsdorff's training for the film's water ballets, and shooting the sequences above and underwater.
• Look Who's Running the Show (HD, 3 minutes): Smith, Gamble and Zuehlsdorff reminisce about the first film and provide an overview of the sequel, touching on how things have changed over the years and how that inspired the second film's story.
• Bethany Hamilton Meets Winter (HD, 3 minutes): Champion surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack (Soul Surfer), arrives on set, meets Winter and shoots a cameo for the sequel.
• The Mission (HD, 4 minutes): An overview of Clearwater Marine Academy's mission to rescue, rehabilitate and release injured animals, and the manner in which that mission informed the sequel and its script.
• True Story (HD, 4 minutes): The true events that inspired the sequel and the return of the entire cast.
• Music Video (HD, 8 minutes): Zuehlsdorff's "Brave Souls" and Gavin DeGraw's "You Got Me."
• Blooper Reel (HD, 7 minutes): A series of cutesy, family friendly outtakes.

Dolphin Tale 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dolphin Tale 2 is, in the words of the 10-year old son: "Great, funny, sad... and sloooowww. If you have kids -- take it from me, I'm a kid -- and those kids hate sad or slow movies, like my friend Damian, the first Dolphin Tale is better. If they can handle a slower movie, the sequel has a really interesting story, it's true (so you can actually learn more about Winter and Hope!), the characters show a lot of emotion, and it shows the struggles of a real aquarium hospital and what the workers have to do to rehabilitate the animals, keep them healthy, and eventually set them free. You should watch the movie! It's really good!" In the words of his 36-year old dad, "meh." Warner's Blu-ray release is decent, with solid video and audio and a small but pleasant supplemental package, so proceed accordingly. If nothing else, it will make future marine biologists bounce up and down when they unwrap a copy of Dolphin Tale 2 on Christmas morning.