Movie: Flipper

The all-time favorite movie, Flipper, propelled the reputation of the dolphins as friendly and playful creatures, to new heights. It is a story every child can relate to. The movie takes place in the Florida Keys where Sandy Ricks has no choice but to stay all summer with an uncle who is carefree and hard-headed. Both, it is soon understood, both would much rather be left to themselves, but they bow to fate.

They spar and disagree but a friendly dolphin changes all that. The actual story is from a television series in the 1960s, a milder version.
Time makes a difference, and the movie is dressed up and updated to fit a newer market of movie goers. Movies in the sixties were not raunchy,and in comparison to day were quite bland.This movie ups its sassy talk, and makes it conform to its new life styles. This 1996 version is a change from the television Flipper.

The movie does not cater to the tender feelings of children, or pretend to, as some parents would have liked. As an example, Flipper's mother is shot and this might make young children uneasy and fretful. And there are frightening sharks around and, in one episode, one went after Sandy. The reviews stressed that watchful mothers should decide if their children should be allowed to see the movie. Its rating is PG.

The movie,fourteen years old, still appeals to kids, but not as much as it did then. Children of today have a much greater variety and Nemo, Flipper was not. No matter how parents want to protect them from this, it never seems to work. Besides, seeing how their hero managed to get though the summer, and he the better for having been there and having made friends with Flipper, is wholesome.