Zeus and Roxanne

Plot synopsis:
One morning, a dog named Zeus goes to the pier, spots a dolphin, and becomes fascinated by its movements. Afterwards, he returns home to his owner, Terry Barnett, an aspiring musician, and his son, Jordan, who appears to be taking care of him. Later that morning, Zeus chases a cat and subsequently destroys the outdoor garden of Mary Beth Dunhill, a marine biologist and the Barnetts' next-door neighbor. Terry calms Zeus down and apologizes to Mary Beth, although she is agitated by him.
Mary Beth later goes to her workplace and is followed by Zeus, who notices her photo of the same dolphin from earlier. Upon arriving, she is met by her research partner, Becky, and her rival, Claude Carver. Mary Beth and Becky travel out to the ocean on a boat to follow the dolphin they are researching, whom they name Roxanne, and Zeus stows away with them. However, while in the middle of the ocean, he slips off. Roxanne saves him from a shark and gives him a ride back to the boat on her back, which surprises and fascinates Mary Beth and Becky, who find that Zeus and Roxanne can do "inter-species communication". While stopping over on the way home with Zeus, Mary Beth spots her two impossible daughters, Judith and Nora, skating against her wishes. Arriving home, she asks Jordan if she could borrow Zeus for her research on Roxanne, who she hopes to release back into the wild. Jordan agrees, and he and Terry accompany her on her research.
During the following days, Terry begins to fall in love with Mary Beth as he manages to find inspiration for his music, while Jordan bonds with Judith and Nora. After Terry saves Judith and Nora while they are skating in a factory, Mary Beth asks him out on a date. After spending the night at a local beachside resort, they awkwardly kiss. Meanwhile, Claude, wanting research grant money to come to his research and not Mary Beth's, tries to steal hers, but winds up getting comically thwarted by Zeus. Then, he tries gaining the lead in her interspecies communication study, although his attempts to have one of his research dolphins bond with another animal fail one after another.
Through the conniving of Jordan, Judith, and Nora, Terry decides to move into Mary Beth's house with Jordan and Zeus, but after seeing a photo of his late wife, he decides to pursue his original plan of traveling to another town to continue writing his music. This causes both Zeus and Roxanne distress. While staying at a hotel with his owners, Zeus runs away back to Mary Beth's research center. Noticing his disappearance and realizing where he was going, Terry and Jordan return to town, while Mary Beth uses a submersible to go down and investigate the seabed after Claude claims Roxanne was caught in an illegal fishing net and killed. Zeus returns to the research center, where he is captured by Claude, who intends to use him as bait to lure out Roxanne, who is in fact alive, and capture her. However, Zeus and Roxanne work together to trap him and his assistant in a net, where they are arrested by police.
While exploring the seabed, Mary Beth's submersible's propeller is tangled in the fishing nets, and when she opens the main hatch thinking she'd escape through it, water begins flooding the interior. Roxanne leads Terry to Mary Beth, and he manages to free her from the trapped submersible. Afterwards, Jordan, Judith, and Nora convince him to marry her. During the wedding, she is given a grant for her research on Zeus and Roxanne. Immediately afterwards, a pod of dolphins appears, and Zeus convinces Roxanne to join them. Zeus watches happily with Terry, Mary Beth, Jordan, Judith, and Nora as Roxanne leaps into the air with the pod.

Tags: romantic

Review:
A fun movie for the family with great animal antics.
I got "hooked" on this movie while I was waiting to pay for a clock radio at my local electronics show.
They had "Zeus and Roxanne" playing on a big screen tv by the cashier's area.
The movie had just started and I watched a great scene of animal antics where Zeus the dog creates mayhem in the neighborhood through his obsession with chasing a cat.
I've always been a sucker for movies featuring animal antics, and this one is chock full of them.
It reminded me of the old "Flipper" tv shows, only with a somewhat more exotic locale.The story line is that a widowed composer and his son and dog (the aforementioned Zeus) move into a house on some Florida Key (actually filmed in the Bahamas).
By chance their neighbor is a marine biologist and has two daughters.
Anyway, Zeus and the cat bring father and mother together, which leads to Zeus discovering Roxanne, a dolphin raised in captivity that the mother biologist is trying to re-introduce into a dolphin "pod."  Zeus and Roxanne can "talk" with each other, leading to attempts by a nasty "animal-unfriendly" scientist to want to use Roxanne for his own selfish ends.Sure the plot is contrived and filled with obvious gags, etc.
but at least it has an interesting and environmentally correct theme, and the animals do a great job of keeping the movie visually interesting.
I particularly enjoyed the way the camera shots were laid out so that viewers get an "animal's eye view" throughout the movie.Unlike many "art" films, this story at least makes sense, shows people (including children) doing worthwhile things and being nice to each other.
Another plus is the use of minority actors in non-stereotype roles..
Lots of clean fun for the whole family.
You are never too old or too young to be cheered up by Zeus and Roxanne.
Steve Guttenberg and Kathleen Quinlan have surprisingly electric chemistry together.
But Roxanne the dolphin and Zeus the dog light up the sky with their fireworks.
The kids are great too.
But, a movie like this needs a worthy villain.
Although I never heard of Arnold Vosloo before, he does a marvelous job playing Oil Can Harry to Steve Guttenberg's Mighty Mouse.
Sure, it's far-fetched.
It's supposed to be.
Just relax and have fun..
Very sweet movie, definitely a feel good one.
I first saw this on a bus returning from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
Unfortunately, by the time the guide got it going we only saw about 45 minutes of it before we got back to Orlando.
I had enjoyed it immensely and wanted to see how it turned out.
Fortunately over 12 months later Sky got around to showing it and I was delighted that it was as sweet as I remembered.
I'm usually a bit of a cynic with "family" movies, but, this had such a nice feel about it and on a miserable British winter day it was a great tonic.
I had often wondered what had happened to Steve Guttenburg and he turned in a nice performance as did Kathleen Quinlan.
The kids were good too, not sickly sweet and nauseating as some movie kids are.
As for the comment about the kid with the Goth look, you have no clue about teenagers, she came across as a typical one.
The animals were good too and all in all it was a nice easy to watch movie and I'd rather watch it 10 times than have to sit through "Big Momma's House 2" and it's ilk just the once.
Delightful fun for the kid in all of us.
I was depressed when I saw it, and it cheered me up.
Silly - in the best possible sense of the word.
Guttenbuurg and Arquette are ideal as the parents; the kids are perfect; the villain is fun; and the dolphin is beautiful - but Zeus, the dog, really steals the film.
Watch and enjoy with any kid you know - especially your boyfriend (tee-hee)..
Just for Fun & a Good Mood.
There are very few movies that I can heartily recommend to others, but I have no reservations about suggesting "Zeus and Roxanne".
If I had grandchildren, I would buy this one for them; we could watch it together without any awkward moments.
That alone makes this movie a gem.
The characters are pleasant and appear to be normal people who behave respectably.
There is no degrading language which so often spoils other movies that I might otherwise have liked to recommend to others.
I am not ordinarily an "animal" person, but I do tend to smile where dolphins are concerned.
This is probably because they exhibit traits that I would like to see in myself.
They present a totally positive image and are therefore a significant part of this good-feeling cinema work.
Even the canine in this movie is not annoying, but very appealing.
I usually watch mysteries, but "Zeus and Roxanne" is a very pleasant change of entertainment atmosphere.
I wish that I had the ability to personally thank all who are responsible for bringing this film into my home today on TV!
Since I can't, I'll just ask God to bless each of you in a special way..
Light romantic comedy.
I should say a Very Light Romantic comedy, this is pretty much a kids picture that some adults might enjoy.
Guttenberg is getting some down time in the tropics from his musical career, Quinlan is there on her marine work, they flirt with each other as dog Zeus plays with Quinlan's dolphin subject Roxanne.
I'll watch Quinlan in any light comedy, I think she's just great, and with a nice tan she's even more gorgeous.
Guttenberg plays his role well also but of course the real stars are the animals which steal what show there is.
The bad guy is just a little too bad for me (but might amuse the kids), for which this gets docked some but the scenery is wonderful and I can think of worse movies to waste my time on..
A waste of blank tapes.
This is the worst movie I have seen starring Steve Guttenberg.
It was released in early 1997, The Spice Girls had just made their first American hit, Hanson was months away and this film was all that was salvaged from the horrible over teenie bopping that year.
It has Marilyn Manson goth wannabes written all over it.
Steve dresses fully in black through most of the movie, the adolescent girl wears black lipstick and only uses her soon to be stepfather for his DBBS satellite dish.
The dog does that stupid growl thing every five minutes and the dolphin deserved better..
This movie will brighten up any cloudy day, any foul play, any hint of dismay, any tooth decay, in every which way..
I really like this movie because 1) it reminds me of being 7 years old and 2) because dolphins and dogs should always shout out their love to the world.
The setting is gorgeous, Florida Keys and sometimes the Bahamas I hear...Perfect for this comedy.
It's a family comedy, that's what it is.
A perfect one.
I really recommend it if you have kids, and if you live in a cold place.
It'll instantly brighten up your day.
Plus, it makes sense.
And that's what a movie should do.
I really enjoyed the romance-aspect.
The double plot of romance was surprising to find in a movie that was marketed to a young audience.
A double plot is hard to pull off.
I got it when I was 7 and I get it now.
This is a great movie.