In 1962, a little girl, Toni Whitney, is spending time with her animals on her family’s ranch. She is unpopular at school and has no friends. But she has a sweet relationship with her father, Harry.

At some point, a seal pup is orphaned thanks to fisherman, Billy Baker. It eventually ends up with Harry, who hides it from his wife and Toni’s strict mother, Thalice. Toni decides to name the seal pup Andre after a famous animal trainor.

Harry also creates an artificial mother for Andre, which nurses him. Toni develops a bond with Andre. They have a lot of fun times together. She even takes him to school for show and tell.

However, at some point, the Whitneys are visited by a man from the local legal department, Jack Adams. He informs them about how it’s illegal to keep a seal as a pet. But he has grown attached to the family and would have a tough time surviving without them.

Andre spends more time with the Whitneys, especially Toni. But he misbehaves at times. Yet he improves himself later.

At some point, though, he has to be taken away from the Whitneys. This is especially difficult for Toni.

This movie had a lot of memorable moments, including a lot of side plots involving Toni’s older siblings, Steve and Paula. I will admit that those side plots made the film a bit hard to follow.

But then again, this movie was based on a true story. A lot of the details from the film are true – although some are fictionalized. For example, Andre was played by a California sea lion instead of an actual seal.

I particularly loved Toni’s relationship with Andre. It was so sweet.

One scene that stands out to me was when Toni, Harry, and their animals gathered together to celebrate Andre’s birthday. They also sang, “He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” because at that time, “Happy Birthday to You” was under copyright protection by Time Warner.

I am impressed by the sea lion who played Andre. It could blow out birthday candles, do raspberry blows, and much more.

Overall, I enjoyed Andre. It is a fast-paced, heartwarming movie that people of all ages can enjoy.

Note that there are not a lot of platforms online where it’s available to stream. This could be due to the fact that it actually did not perform very well. Luckily, I was able to watch it for free on YouTube.

Regardless of its performance, I would still recommend Andre. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.