Rufus From "Dolphin Tale" Dominates a Shark

A possible plot development for "Dolphin Tale 3"?

Ansel is very much looking forward to the next "Dolphin Tale" installment opening this weekend. His older brother, who is mostly interested in movies that feature murderous aliens, technologically advanced weapons or at least a high body count, could not be less sympathetic.

I thought perhaps if there were more conflict in the storyline, Archer might be willing to sit through a dolphin movie.  However, I was rather traumatized by "The Day of the Dolphin" when I was around Ansel's age (a million years ago in the mid 70's).

I decided therefore to keep the dolphins out of any potential conflict and go for comic relief with the Rufus the pelican 'with issues."

Rufus the Pelican From "Dolphin Tale 2"

Through the magic of advertising, Ansel has been eagerly looking forward to the opening of "Dolphin Tale 2."  He enjoyed the first movie, and recently subjected his much afflicted older brother to viewing it again on TV.

We and I did had a bit of an argument last week about Winter's gender. Ansel was convinced that the famous dolphin was a boy, because, well...in the minds of 7 year old boys, all meaningful protagonists are probably male. Cranky geriatric feminist that I am, I was determined to rain on his parade and went to the trouble of finding proof online that Winter definitely does not have a Y chromosome.

Rufus, the annoying pelican who is featured prominently as comic relief in the movie's trailers, however, is likely a boy.

I debated briefly about drawing Rufus in a more interesting way.... say, clutching a machine gun, or perched on top of a defeated foe (maybe a chainsaw shark?)  In the end, I decided to just keep it simple, and made his bill big since he seems to be poking it places where it does not belong in the movie.  Unfortunately, this perspective rendered him somewhat unrecognizable, and I used some girly colors. Ansel seemed less than impressed this morning.

Winter from Dolphin Tale for Ansel