Paramount was obviously fishing for lucrative family appeal when it tossed ANDRE into the 1994 summer-movie pool, but the American ticket-buyer proved to be The One That Stayed Away. Blame the bland bait, since ANDRE is a featherweight, emotionally manipulative kid-and-animal tale.
The plot heavily embellishes the true story of a friendly Maine seal who became a celebrity. It's 1962, and Harry Whitney (Keith Carradine), critter-loving harbor master of Rockport, finds an orphan seal pup and names it Andre. The Whitneys customarily take in stray animals, and Andre eagerly
joins the family, coming and going at will, accompanying Harry on scuba excursions, and frolicking with youngest daughter Toni (Tina Majorino). Her teen sister Paula (Aidan Pendleton) feels neglected in favor of the flippered visitor; Billy (Keith Szarabajka), a scowling, booze-soaked lobsterman,
repeatedly vows to kill Andre, because he thinks seals steal lobsters. Neither Paula nor Billy is pleased when media coverage turns Andre into a tourist attraction. Billy complains to federal wildlife bureaucrats, who put the seal into his "proper" environment, a Boston aquarium.
When the aquarium releases Andre into the open sea at migration time, homing instinct takes him right back to Rockport, an act that makes the animal a bigger local favorite than ever. Paula's boyfriend, who happens to be Billy's son, shoots at Andre to get rid of him for good, bringing on an
emotional climax in which little Toni, helpless in a thimble-sized rowboat during a squall, is towed to safety by the unhurt seal. Everyone forgives everybody else, and Andre spends the rest of his life happily migrating between the Boston aquarium and Rockport, his seasonal arrivals widely
heralded.
Closing credits display home movies of the actual Andre (who died after a mating-season fight with another seal in 1986, at the ripe old age of 24), and viewers will note that the true creature was a plump, mottle-grey harbor seal, while the Hollywood version is a photogenically sleek, dark
California sea lion. The filmmakers' excuse was that sea lions are easier to train, and indeed the on-screen Andre seems to have escaped from a circus, with his increasingly tiresome repertoire of double-takes and Bronx cheers. All he's missing is a rubber ball to balance on his nose or horns to
honk with his teeth. Midway through the movie, Harry teaches Andre to perform tricks for the public, and those omissions are rectified.
Andre's real-life friend was the late Harry Goodridge, who, to judge from his writings, was a level-headed naturalist. But the movie's "Harry Whitney" is a vaguely annoying man-child who'd rather gambol with his seal than serve as an attentive husband, father, or harbor master. Keith Carradine's
personable charm survives, but just barely. The overall ensemble, human and nonhuman, can't rise above a script which actually has one player on the telephone running through the whole hoary "You don't say! ... You don't say! ..." routine. Director George Miller is best known for not being
hyperkinetic action specialist George (MAD MAX) Miller; this is the Miller who helmed THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER and other tales of the Outback. He captures the rocky beauty of the coastline (actually Vancouver, masquerading as Maine), but can't endow one raspberry-blowing seal with the stirring
quality he granted Australia's wild horses in his earlier effort. In sum, it's hard to see ANDRE as anything else than an attempt to capitalize on another marine-mammal saga, 1993's surprise hit FREE WILLY, that had family audiences cheering on a killer whale. The makers of ANDRE should have taken
it as an omen that orcas dine on seals. (Alcohol abuse.) leave a comment
