April 14, 2008
As uplifting a film as you could ever hope to see, Fly Away Home is simply wonderful.
Striking an immediate note of tragedy, a girl's mother is killed in a road accident. Injured, the thirteen year old Amy is taken by her estranged father to live in his Canadian outback home. Traumatised and uncommunicative, Amy can't relate to her flight-obsessed dad, whose own foolhardy attempts to invent a flying machine almost end in disaster.
But when Amy saves some canadian geese eggs from their threatened habitat, she sets about rearing her new-found fluffy friends - and, with the aid of a micro-lite aircraft, teaches them to escape their environment and fly away home.
Funny and poignant, this film works a magical spell, melting the hardest of hearts. Side-stepping sentimentalism, this fly-away film is grounded in a surprising realism. And young Anna Paquin delivers a lovely performance as the troubled teen finding her own wings.
Beautifully shot, Fly Away Home plays out like a nature documentary cum action drama - and deserves to be seen on the big screen. A film for girls and boys, young and old, it's a truly exhilarating experience.
Striking an immediate note of tragedy, a girl's mother is killed in a road accident. Injured, the thirteen year old Amy is taken by her estranged father to live in his Canadian outback home. Traumatised and uncommunicative, Amy can't relate to her flight-obsessed dad, whose own foolhardy attempts to invent a flying machine almost end in disaster.
But when Amy saves some canadian geese eggs from their threatened habitat, she sets about rearing her new-found fluffy friends - and, with the aid of a micro-lite aircraft, teaches them to escape their environment and fly away home.
Funny and poignant, this film works a magical spell, melting the hardest of hearts. Side-stepping sentimentalism, this fly-away film is grounded in a surprising realism. And young Anna Paquin delivers a lovely performance as the troubled teen finding her own wings.
Beautifully shot, Fly Away Home plays out like a nature documentary cum action drama - and deserves to be seen on the big screen. A film for girls and boys, young and old, it's a truly exhilarating experience.