The Feature:
Having never seen the original "Free Willy", I was unsure whether I would be the best person to review its two sequels. But being the pop culture maven that I am, I recall that the original "Free Willy" was about a troubled boy and a whale. Although the premise seems lame, I am not against these type of "odd pairing" family movies, just as long as they're done correctly.

"Free Willy 2" is an example of an odd pairing movie that works, but doesn't do anything that already hasn't been done before. Meet Jesse (Jason James Richter), a seemingly well-adjusted kid who formed a special bond with a killer whale in the previous movie. His mother has just died, and he is saddled with a wisecracking younger brother named Elvis (Francis Capra). One day, Jesse, Elvis, and his foster parents take a trip out the Oceanside to seek out Willy, the killer whale. Once there, Jesse finds Willy by simply playing a harmonica, and makes friends with a girl who knows all about whales. Sounds like the simple equation for family-fun entertainment, right?

The thing that struck out at me is that the whales are not real. Instead, they are carefully crafted and designed animatronic whales. It doesn't really detract from the movie, but it's pretty obvious in certain scenes. Anyways, I was also thrown off by the casting of Michael Madsen playing Jessie's stepfather (every time I see him onscreen, I am reminded of his role in Reservoir Dogs).

Back to the movie. An evil ocean tanker spills, and all of the marine life in the surrounding area is threatened… including Willy. Through a series of events, the evil people, complete with evil facial expressions, want to put Willy into captivity, and charge people to see him. At this point, it's movie by numbers, as Jessie and Elvis unite to take on the baddies. You can fill in the rest yourself. Personally, I don't feel the need to watch this movie again, but kids may be drawn into the antics of Elvis, and the whales.

Video:
Warner Brothers proudly presents "Free Willy 2" in Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1. The print looks really good, with no grain whatsoever. Flesh tones seem a little dull, but that may be due to the fact that most of this movie takes place outside in the sun and on water. Otherwise the color palette used in this movie is very good, and overall, I am happy with the video quality of this DVD.

Audio:
The audio is presented here in Dolby Digital 5.1 (along with French 5.1 and Spanish 2.0). The movie's audio mainly consists of dramatic music, whales crying out, and boat engines roaring. Dialogue is clear, and the sounds of boat engines tearing through the ocean gave my speakers a pretty decent workout. Once again, no real complaints on the audio presentation.

Menus:
A static DVD menu plays the movie's theme. Menu options include: "Play Movie", "Scene Selections", "Special Features", and "Languages."

Extras:
Warner Brothers went kind of skimpy extras here. The first is "Orca Wonders", which basically serves as trivia fodder for killer whales. Next is a Michael Jackson Music Video Montage set to the song "Childhood." After that, we get a "Behind the Scenes" featurette, Theatrical trailers for all three "Free Willy" movies, as well as trailers for the VHS/DVD releases of "Willy Wonka" and "Wizard of OZ."

Final Thoughts:
Overall, I'm on the fence in whether I should recommend this DVD or not. The Audio/Video is very good, but the movie is just decent. Therefore, if you are a fan of the film, then I would give this a "Recommended", otherwise, I would just suggest you "Rent It" and decide for yourself.