…………………………………………………

Fly Away Home Movie Review

Fly Away Home is a 1996 family drama film directed by Carroll Ballard and starring Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels. It’s a predictable and cheesy, but undeniably endearing kid flick.

………………………………………………….

“Broken promises are the worst.

Better not to promise anything“

…………………………………………………..

Amy moves to Ontario to live with her father after the death of her mother. Her father, an aviation expert, helps Amy lead a flock of orphaned geese south for the winters. This is a very sweet tale of a teenage girl bonding with her father through these crazy, nigh impossible flying adventures. It was supposedly based on a true story, but I found that hard to believe myself.

Anna Paquin was obviously wonderful in the role of Amy. She was cast here off of her famous turn in ‘The Piano’ and she delivered another terrific child performance that steals the show from Jeff Daniels himself, who is also great and likable, but the girl is the main focus here. It was also interesting seeing Dana Delany of Desperate Housewives fame in an early role for her.

Fly Away Home is at its best when it’s focusing on the dynamic between father and daughter. The two are lovely together and utterly believable as this crazy, but wonderful family. It was also a great watch in the geese storyline. The geese, especially the goslings were just so adorable and all the scenes with them were just incredible.

I wanted more of that animal storyline and less of the aircraft sections as those flying scenes were fun and cinematic, but definitely overly unrealistic and way too cheesy in the final act where you get all the typical kid flick triumphs and escalations.

…………………………………………………..

The movie is just gorgeously shot with such a beautiful cinematography and imagery that evokes tenderness and a lot of warmth. The score is also very moving and the movie is overall superbly crafted in all of its technicalities. I just wish that the third act was less clichéd and more truly inspiring than cheesy.