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“Flipper” is push-button family filmmaking that could have used a stronger sense of porpoise. Plotwise, it ain’t much, just your standard-issue fodder about a disillusioned kid whose parents

have divorced (is there any other kind of teenager in movies these days?) who gets dispatched someplace he’s determined to hate and yet somehow he grows to love it. A dolphin figures in

there somewhere. Nonetheless, the dolphin sequences are guaranteed to charm. Younger moviegoers who won’t even know it’s based on a TV series from the ‘60s will fall for Flipper, and there

are enough amusing moments and handsomely scenic images to keep adults engaged, if just short of entertained. Porter Ricks (Paul Hogan), who was a park ranger on the TV show, apparently has

since fallen on rough times. Porter’s now a generic ne’er-do-well sea rogue with a heart of gold, the sort of lovable lug who feeds beer to pelicans, washes his dishes in the shower and has

a process for preparing toast that involves a blowtorch. Since much is made of the fact that he’s commitment-shy, you can bet that will be cured by the final reel. Sandy (Elijah Wood) is a

sullen teen, not least because he’s been sent to spend a summer with Uncle Porter. This testy relationship too will soften and grow over the next 90 minutes. He also meets a girl, Kim

(Jessica Wesson), whom he wins over with the tried and true pickup line: “Like my dolphin?” For intrigue, a rival fisherman named Dirk (Jonathan Banks) has been concocted. Porter’s boat is

named Reliable; Dirk has christened his boat with the predatory moniker Bounty Hunter, as if we needed any further hints on whom we’re rooting for. Dirk shoots at dolphins because, well,

he’s just plain evil. He also has this nasty habit of dumping toxic waste in the ocean, which helps provide an important ecological lesson (kids, don’t do this at home). Still, life is sweet

for Sandy, until some thoroughly illogical regulation--either subsection C in the Maritime Code or Chapter 8 in Syd Field’s screenwriting book-- dictates that an hour into the movie Flipper

must be separated from the boy who loves him. Flipper, cagey sea mammal that he is, knows just how to right any sundry wrong he encounters. Largely, “Flipper” plays as “Free Willy Lite.”

The troubled teen’s story had greater resonance in “Free Willy” because that disconnected character could relate to Willy’s own separation from his family; here, it’s just a plot device and

Flipper is simply a cute diversion that helps all involved forget about familial misery. Still, you get a sense that writer-director Alan Shapiro takes this hokum seriously and isn’t just

churning it out for a paycheck. Moreover, the film is helped immeasurably by committed performances from Wood and Hogan, Bill Butler’s bright and sometimes striking cinematography and a

stirring score from composer Joel McNeely. “Flipper’s” no flop, but it’s not quite worth making a flap over, either. * MPAA rating: PG, for some mild language and menacing action. Times

guidelines: It includes dolphins and teens briefly imperiled. (BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC) ‘Flipper’ Elijah Wood: Sandy Paul Hogan: Porter Chelsea Field: Cathy A Universal Pictures

and Bubble Factory presentation of an American Film/Perry Katz production, released by Universal. Director and screenwriter Alan Shapiro. Producer James J. McNamara, Perry Katz. Executive

producer Lance Hool. Cinematographer Bill Butler, Pete Romano. Editor Peck Prior. Costumes Matthew Jacobsen. Music Joel McNeely. Production design Thomas A. Walsh. Art director Kim Hix. Set

decorator David Schlesinger. Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes. * In general release throughout Southern California. MORE TO READ