This film suffers from being caught between two thematic ideas; on the one hand it wants to be a light comic character romp, and on the other hand it tries for a contemporary teen romance come light adventure story. And on top of that, it tries to cash in on the reputation of the various TV series' versions of 'Flipper'. And the big problem is with this movie is that nothing really works; it all seems to cancel each other out.
(Spoiler Warning)
Paul Hogan is still quite adept at light knockabout comedy - such as the much-promoted toasting bread with a blowtorch bit - but this is mainly smothered by Elijah Wood's mod grunge moody contemporary teenager thang - which doesn't play to comedy very well.
There's a romantic angle thrown in with one of the local girls; but this is smothered by the attempt at character comedy with the showmanship entrepreneur angle, and the light adventure with the marauding shark bit.
Overall the film is too dull and downbeat to be really fun, and yet too light-hearted to really work as a serious contemporary story.
One bit I really liked however, was in the climactic scene when Elijah moved his eyes rapidly back and forth to show the character contemplating an emotional crunch-point. Elijah is naturally very expressive with his eyes, and he starts to show it off to good use in this movie. (PS: He's also got way hot legs as well - but that's totally beside the point!)
(Spoiler Warning)
Paul Hogan is still quite adept at light knockabout comedy - such as the much-promoted toasting bread with a blowtorch bit - but this is mainly smothered by Elijah Wood's mod grunge moody contemporary teenager thang - which doesn't play to comedy very well.
There's a romantic angle thrown in with one of the local girls; but this is smothered by the attempt at character comedy with the showmanship entrepreneur angle, and the light adventure with the marauding shark bit.
Overall the film is too dull and downbeat to be really fun, and yet too light-hearted to really work as a serious contemporary story.
One bit I really liked however, was in the climactic scene when Elijah moved his eyes rapidly back and forth to show the character contemplating an emotional crunch-point. Elijah is naturally very expressive with his eyes, and he starts to show it off to good use in this movie. (PS: He's also got way hot legs as well - but that's totally beside the point!)