Zeus and Roxanne Reviews

An amiable kiddie picture about the unlikely relationship between a scruffy, ginger-colored mutt called Zeus and a dolphin named Roxanne. Single dad Terry Barnett (Steve Guttenberg), a musician, and his son Jordan (Miko Hughes) are spending a couple of weeks in the Florida Keys. Their next-door neighbors are single mom Mary Beth Dunhill (Kathleen Quinlan) and her daughters Judith (Majandra Delfino) and Nora (Jessica Howell). Zeus is Jordan's dog, and Roxanne is the dolphin that marine biologist Mary Beth is trying to reintroduce into the wild. When Zeus and Roxanne start rubbing snouts, she sees an opportunity to get the grant she needs to set Roxanne free. The plot machine hums along pleasantly enough, driven by the notion that there are two kinds of people in the world: people who love animals, and creeps with vaguely foreign accents who are mean to them. The animals are cute and nothing bad happens to them, despite villain Claude Carver's (Arnold Vosloo) mild threats. Some viewers -- particularly single mothers -- may take offense at the fact that Terry's motherless son is an all-around nice kid while Mary Beth's fatherless daughters are precocious, manipulative minxes in vamp nail polish, but overall adults will just find it all a bit saccharine. And it's not made for them anyway, so who cares?