Having all the stuff that made the 2011 first boy-and-his-dolphin story a hit* with audiences and critics, Charles Martin Smith’s “Dolphin Tale 2” is another good film inspired* by the real-life inhabitants* of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium* (CMA).

    Bringing together the original cast, headed by Harry Connick Jr., and, of course, Winter, the dolphin outfitted with a prosthetic* tail who put the CMA on the map, the sequel* has a straight-ahead, docudrama* feel.

    This time, Smith is also the screenwriter. The film continues to tell about the rescue and rehabilitation* of injured marine animals brought to the actual Gulf Coast of Florida facility.

    It has been several years since the film’s young Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble) first made friends with the dolphin who had lost her tail after becoming ensnared* in a crab trap, but the death of Panama, an elderly dolphin who was both companion and surrogate* mother to Winter, has left the younger dolphin sad and uncooperative.

    The clock is ticking for CMA’s Dr. Clay Haskett (Connick Jr.) to abide by* U.S. Department of Agriculture rules and find a companion suitable for pairing with Winter or see her moved to another aquatic facility.

    Their best bet would seem to be Mandy, a recent rescue who had been found beached and seriously sunburned, but keeping her at the aquarium with Winter would mean not letting her go back to her natural home.

    That would go against Haskett’s rescue-rehabilitate-release idea.

    Hope finally arrives in the form of a dolphin calf stray* (discovered, in real life, on the night of the first film’s wrap party), but it’s uncertain if the infant will like the tailless Winter.

    Smith gives a great deal of attention to the details — the facility’s daily rescue and rehab work. It makes the film so real and impressive.(SD-Agencies)