Plot
The film takes place at prestigious private school, Dartmoor Academy, where the uptight principal, Morgan Brinway (B.D. Wong) is forcing the second-graders to study opera appreciation. Five feisty kids (leader Sonny, contraption making Loaf, movie loving Domino, sympathetic albeit tough Lucy, and the reluctant participating Witz), nicknamed the "Stinkers" by Mr. Brinway, are secretly skipping class to create chaos on the school grounds, such as making an artificial flying "death chair" with a leaf-blower that goes horribly wrong. Although they get a warning from Mr. Brinway (that if they mess up one more time, they get expelled), they soon rebel while trying to keep a low profile and are involved in even more zany misadventures.
When the kids discover sea lion Slappy during an aquarium field trip, Sonny and the others decide to free him (like Willy from Free Willy) by smuggling him back onto the school bus and hide him in Mr. Brinway's hot tub; as a form of celebrating their success, they order fish and chips and have a little party. After Mr. Brinway arrives home earlier than usual, the Stinkers quickly retrieve Slappy unbeknownst to Mr. Brinway and hide Slappy at Witz's house. During this time, Groundskeeper Roy (Bronson Pinchot) mistakes the sea lion for a giant gopher and sets out to kill him, but to no avail. Animal thief Anthony Boccoli (Sam McMurray) plans to make off with Slappy so he could to sell him to a Bulgarian circus, but before he could do that he must capture the sea lion after originally trying to buy it from a corrupt aquarium employee.
The next day, the Stinkers take Slappy with them to the beach so they can set him free, but Slappy refuses to leave. After trying numerous attempts to get the sea lion in the water, the kids discover that there was an orca swimming nearby and, since orcas eat sea lions, that's why Slappy didn't want to go in the water and refuses to leave them. Sonny then decides they should return Slappy back to the aquarium after they attend a festival for parents and their kids back at Dartmoor. After Roy discovers Slappy, he tries to dispose of him which causes the festival attractions to get ruined almost immediately. Assuming this was caused by the Stinkers, Mr. Brinway expels them. The Stinkers then discover that Boccoli kidnapped Slappy and his plans to do with him, which prompts the kids to set off on a rescue mission.
The group finds Boccoli's hideout and quickly dispose of him, but not for long; after saving Slappy, the Stinkers get chased by Boccoli who plans to kill them all. Meanwhile, Mr. Brinway and the class go on a hiking field trip to look at birds, which gets interrupted when the Stinkers crash through and Mr. Brinway becomes part of the getaway. After being chased to a log flume, the Stinkers and Mr. Brinway escape Boccoli by going down it; Boccoli tries to drown the group by turning on the flume, but the water is blocked by a beaver's nest and once he removes it (while getting bit by a beaver in the process), the water splashes him and he slides down the spillway. The Stinkers, Slappy, and Mr. Brinway safely land into the lake below, whereas Boccoli falls onto a floating log. Roy, who is also the school bus driver, ties a rope around Boccoli, whom the latter presumably gets arrested. Slappy is returned to the aquarium, Mr. Brinway withdraws the Stinkers' expulsion, and the Stinkers themselves become heroes.
Read more about this topic: Slappy And The Stinkers
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