43
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 60Time OutTime OutAmiable yarn based on the mid-'60s TV series about a growing youngster and an orphan dolphin.
- 50Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertLike the original 1963 movie and the TV series, it expects us to be endlessly amused by a dolphin that does things that are endless but not amusing.
- 50VarietyJoe LeydonVarietyJoe LeydonThe effectively offbeat casting of Paul Hogan and some impressive underwater cinematography do much to enliven Flipper, an otherwise unremarkable attempt to revive the franchise that spawned two features and a popular TV series in the mid-1960s.
- 50Entertainment WeeklyKen TuckerEntertainment WeeklyKen TuckerOne reason the Flipper flick is worse than the TV show: Bland, mannered Paul Crocodile Dundee Hogan plays Sandy’s uncle, Porter Ricks, instead of television’s wonderfully grumpy Brian Keith.
- 50Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonThe premise has been updated as a passable bit of family entertainment with essentially the same modus operandi but with a gentle pro-environmental message: Don't mess with Mother Nature.
- 50San Francisco ChroniclePeter StackSan Francisco ChroniclePeter StackThe dolphins are charming, which is at least 50 percent of the concept of the film. The flip side is the film's predictability and shallow characters. Audiences may walk away feeling that they got a pleasant dose of cinematic Dramamine, but that it takes a long time and is a little tedious en route.
- 40The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinOught to please an undemanding kiddie audience, but Flipper offers little else in the way of excitement or plot.
- Flipper is push-button family filmmaking that could have used a stronger sense of porpoise. Plotwise, it ain't much.
- 37Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonAn unimaginative boy-and-his-mammal saga with only tenuous connection to the old television series of the same name.