Flipper (1996 film)

Flipper

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Alan Shapiro
Produced by James McNamara
Perry Katz
Written by Ricou Browning
Jack Cowden
Starring Paul Hogan
Elijah Wood
Music by Joel McNeely
Cinematography Bill Butler
Edited by Peck Prior
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • May 17, 1996
Running time
 95 Minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $25 million[1]
Box office $20,080,020

Flipper is a 1996 adventure film remake of the 1963 film of the same name, starring Paul Hogan and Elijah Wood. The movie is about a boy who has to spend the summer with his uncle, who lives on the Gold Coast. Although he expects to have another boring summer, he encounters an bespectacled dolphin whom he names Flipper and with whom he forms a friendship.

Plot

Sandy Ricks is sent off for the summer to stay with his uncle Porter in the seaside town of Coral Key. Initially, Sandy is unenthusiastic, and is upset that he's going to miss a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert which he already bought tickets for.

While out on Porter's fishing trawler, the two meet Porter's arch enemy, Dirk Moran. Nearby, a pod of dolphins is frolicking near Dirk's boat. As a big game fisherman, Dirk hates just about every other fish eating animal on earth. Later that evening, Sandy heads to the docks so that he can catch the ferry back to the mainland so he can see the concert.

The next day, Porter and Sandy are paid a visit by the sheriff Buck, who explains that they can't keep the dolphin unless he is in captivity. That night, Sandy and Kim set out on a dinghy to look for Flipper. They failed to locate the dolphin, but see men dumping barrels off of Dirk Moran's boat. The next morning, Kim arrives looking for Sandy when Pete, Porter's pet brown pelican, comes running up to her, almost as if asking her to follow him. Pete leads Kim to Flipper who is beached on the shore and sick. Cathy determines that Flipper was poisoned by toxic waste, which has been ruining the local fishing. The group tries to use Flipper's gift of echolocation and a special camera attached to his head to help them find the toxic waste. Their plan works, and are successfully able to locate barrels of the toxic waste. However, Flipper also manages to locate the rest of his pod, and drops the camera and reunites with them. Porter heads back to alert the sheriff. Sandy, however becomes concerned that something has happened to Flipper, and without telling anyone except for Marvin, sets off on the dinghy in order to find him.

Sandy barely survives an encounter with Dirk's boat which dismantles the dinghy. He sees a dorsal fin and thinks it is Flipper. It is actually Scar, the Hammerhead shark! Sandy swims for his life, but Scar is faster. As Scar is about to attack Sandy, Flipper appears and starts nose butting Scar in the gills, but the shark is stronger than Flipper. Scar is eventually driven off when Flipper's dolphin pod comes to his aid. Dirk Moran is arrested by Buck the sheriff for

The next day, Sandy's mom and sister arrive to pick Sandy up.Sandy decides to check out the commotion. It is Flipper, who has come to see Sandy off. The camera then slowly zooms out and the screen then fades to black.

Cast

Production

The film was shot in the Bahamas.[2] Animatronic dolphins, designed by Walt Conti and his team, had to be used extensively, such as in scenes where Flipper is needed to interact with the human characters, or swimming along; Conti stated that using real dolphins does not work out so well as many might think.[3]

Reception

Joe Leydon of Variety criticized the plot but appreciated the performances of Hogan, Wood, Wesson, Hayes and Field, as well as the animatronic work on the film.[2] Dwayne E. Leslie of Boxoffice noted the scene where a hammerhead shark attacks a seabird, which brings to mind similar footage from National Geographic, may be shocking for very young children.[4]

The film's tagline, "This summer it's finally safe to go back in the water." references the tagline of the 1978 feature film Jaws 2, "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."

Box office

The film debuted at No. 2 with $4.5 million.[1] Flipper ultimately grossed $20 million domestically, on a $25 million budget.

DVD release

The film was released on DVD in 2003 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment, available in both 16x9 anamorphic widescreen and 4x3 fullscreen editions. In 2007, a widescreen-only print of Flipper was released in a four film package alongside The Little Rascals, Casper, and Leave It to Beaver (film). Dubbed "Family Favorites 4 Movie Collection: Franchise Collection", all four films are based off popular TV shows. Flipper was later released on Blu-ray on February 8, 2011.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Brennan, Judy (1996-05-20). "Twister Sustains Box Office Momentum in 2nd Week". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-02-04.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Leydon, Joe (1996-05-06). "Flipper Review". Variety. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
  3. ↑ Rickitt, Richard (2006). Designing Movie Creatures and Characters: Behind the Scenes With the Movie Masters. Focal Press. p. 167. ISBN 0-240-80846-0.
  4. ↑ Leslie, Dwayne E. (1 August 2008). "Movie Reviews: Flipper". Boxoffice. Retrieved 17 November 2009.

External links

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