I went in to this sequel fully preparing to hate it, but, to my surprise, it is a much better movie than the first. Two years later, Jesse is still living with Vincent Vega's brother and is none-to-happy to discover that he has a bratty brother of his own but soon forgets about that when he discovers Willy has returned to Astoria. He tries to impress a girl with his whale expertise but she's having none of it. Nothing like a cold, hostile female character to make your movie work, huh? Though, Elvis, his new sibling, is desperate to join in on the fun.
Everything is happy (and going nowhere) until Captain Murphy from Lethal Weapon crashes an oil tanker and pollutes the water, trapping Willy and his pod. Jesse's attempts at rescuing them are ignored by the adults though he eventually takes matters into his own hands when the ocean catches fire, making for a far more exciting climax than the original movie.
Director Dwight H. Little is known for mainly making violent action movies such as Rapid Fire, Marked for Death, and Halloween 4 (the latter two starring Danielle Harris, who I was sure was going to return but...nope!) so this is quite a departure for him and he does a much better job than Simon Wincer did on the first movie. The scenes of the burning ocean at the end look amazing and the story of Jesse bonding with his new brother makes for much better drama than the mucky schmaltz of the original.
It ain't perfect, and the villains seem shoehorned in there as they appear and disappear within 10 minutes, but this really is one of those times when a sequel outdoes the first, and it's mad that it barely made back its budget. I guess the summer of 1995 was just too busy for people to care about a whale and his mop-topped human pal.
Everything is happy (and going nowhere) until Captain Murphy from Lethal Weapon crashes an oil tanker and pollutes the water, trapping Willy and his pod. Jesse's attempts at rescuing them are ignored by the adults though he eventually takes matters into his own hands when the ocean catches fire, making for a far more exciting climax than the original movie.
Director Dwight H. Little is known for mainly making violent action movies such as Rapid Fire, Marked for Death, and Halloween 4 (the latter two starring Danielle Harris, who I was sure was going to return but...nope!) so this is quite a departure for him and he does a much better job than Simon Wincer did on the first movie. The scenes of the burning ocean at the end look amazing and the story of Jesse bonding with his new brother makes for much better drama than the mucky schmaltz of the original.
It ain't perfect, and the villains seem shoehorned in there as they appear and disappear within 10 minutes, but this really is one of those times when a sequel outdoes the first, and it's mad that it barely made back its budget. I guess the summer of 1995 was just too busy for people to care about a whale and his mop-topped human pal.