Dolphin Tale

Directed by Charles Martin Smith. Starring Harry Connick Jr, Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Kris Kristofferson, Morgan Freeman G cert, general release, 112 min

THERE IS, ONE assumes, a pun in the title. Wouldn't it have made more sense to call the thing A Dolphin Tail? It's just a thought.

Anyway, what we have here is a family movie from the old school. That is to say, the titular aquatic mammal does not at any stage – as Garfield or the Chipmunks surely would – dance cheekily to Funkytownor Sex Machine. Nor, I'm willing to bet, were electric cattle prods used to persuade her to go through her thespian motions. Rather, this is a good, wholesome true story about decent people who, while healing injured animals, encourage disabled youngsters to achieve their full potential.

Two venerable sods turn up to play lovable eccentrics – Kris Kristofferson as a grizzled granddad and Morgan Freeman as a deranged doctor. Heck, if it weren't so annoyingly well-meaning, Dolphin Talecould be sold as an emetic.

But, gosh darn it, the blasted thing works. Packing all of life into its economic frame, the film begins with a likable tyke Nathan Gamble, who’s being raised by single mom Ashley Judd, waving his beloved cousin off to one of the foreign wars. Some days later, he encounters a wounded dolphin on the seashore.

It later transpires that the unfortunate beast has to have his tail (get it?) amputated. A prosthetic would help, but what cheery old geezer would be crazy enough to attempt such a procedure. Well, it’s not Kris Kristofferson (a good thing, on balance).

Some more juiced-up youngsters may find Dolphin Talea little sedate. Directed by veteran actor Charles Martin Smith, it harks back to the days when family films were supposed to do you good. Sensible parents will enjoy forcing their yobs to sit through the life lessons and hymns to inclusivity.

Mind you, even the most fervent sandal wearer may retch at the scene where a little girl in a wheelchair peruses the handicapped dolphin and remarks: “She’s just like me.” Eugh!