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Overrated.

I had heard many many good things about this film, and wanted to like it. Other than the central idea of leading the geese, however, I found the film to be highly formulaic. Additionally, I thought that Anna Paquin's character was very much the total brat with whom I found it very hard to sympathize.

A good film

You have to laugh when you read some the reviews that refer to this as an implausible
story. Hello, it's based on a true story.
There are no chase scenes, no special effects. Just a nice story, told well, and acted
better. Jeff Daniels does another great job. He never phones in his performances. If your looking for a film to get a break from all the action flicks this is a good one. Keep up the good work Jeff!!!

For dads and daughters

This is an absolutely wonderful movie about an excitingly surreal kind of real-world issue-- that of a father and daughter developing a shared dream of doing something good for nature. It is especially redeeming for the notion of a parent, long separated from his now-teenaged daughter, learning to expect adult-like responsibilities from her and finding that she can meet them as expected. He doesn't baby her-- the aeronautics lessons alone are enough to end that phase of her life. This relationship really makes it a 'role-model' film.

Then there is that delightful in-joke about Anna Paquin's nose-ring-- she'd found a FAKE one in a shop whilst filming and wore it onto the set, thinking everyone would make a stink over it... and no one did. They deliberately ignored it, both on the set and in the story line. So the filming proceeded and thus the audience gets let in on her joke... or gets to ignore it; either way it makes her character seem human and natural. This kind of understated, sly cleverness has become a hallmark of Miss Paquin's acting. It's no wonder why she won an Academy Award at age 11-- and delivered an ad-libbed speech for it into the bargain.

Stories and characters like this are too good to pass by. (And based on a true story!) See this one with your kids soon.

Two Thumbs Up, Way Up!

We agreed with Siskel and Ebert: Two Thumbs Up ... Way Up! Sorry it took us so long to watch this truly inspirational family movie. This proves that there are stories out there that are suitable for viewing by the whole family and are not sappy! Loved every minute of this film.

Wholesome, Modern, Joyous

In "Short Cuts," Robert Altman suggested, correctly perhaps, that the culture at large is coarse when it comes to caring for the young and innocent. All the more reason, then, to welcome a film like this one, which champions nature, nurtur(ing), and family--however constructed. It's the old hero's journey carried out on the fresh wings of a girl. Fly away home.

A Stupid Movie!

This is such a .... and sad movie. One time our class was meant to go on a St. Pat's Walk but we couldn't because it was raining outside. So our teacher rented this from Blockbuster. I felt like running out of the classroom. This is a sad movie with sad songs and I'm NEVER going to watch this movie AGAIN! I would've liked to rate this movie no stars but I had to rate this movie so I rated it 1 star.

One of the best coming of age family movies ever

I have watched this movie many times since it came out. It is one of those movies that just makes you feel really good about life.

Another Carroll Ballard Classic...Fly Away Home is stunning!

As a longtime admirer of Director Carroll Ballard, I was thrilled when the Special Edition of "Fly Away Home" was released on DVD. I wish Anchor Bay had done the same treatment to Never Cry Wolf. But this film is a classic for all ages. Its parallel story to the real life Bill Lishman is more than entertaining, it tugs at one's heart. And Anna Paquin is stunning as Amy as she is in every film.

FLY AWAY HOME is also an environmental manifesto because it calls attention to the need for less development and more care for our habitat. I've rarely seen any comments along these lines and if you watch the movie closely, you'll realize that this is a call for change in scraping the land off and piling up huge neighborhoods and industry. It is testimony to the need for conservation in all countries.

Finally, Fly Away Home is a family film that breaches the silliness that too many youth movies have evolved to. This movie treats younger viewers with intelligence, not like an etcha-sketch.

I believe anyone with heart and soul will enjoy this movie for it will touch both.

This is one you don't want to miss

In the world of DVD, it is quite fashionable to talk about "must-have" DVDs, mostly because of the disks' technological superiority. But the Special Edition DVD of Fly Away Home is a disk that does genuinely belong in every movie lover's collection. The disk is full of extras and is beautifully rendered, but it is the film itself that makes this DVD a true must-have. Fly Away Home tells the kind of story that could oh-so-easily become sentimental or melodramatic. "Young teenage girl loses her mother in a car accident and goes to live with her estranged father. They learn to connect to each other, and to their own hearts, by teaching a flock of orphaned wild geese to fly." But make no mistake: this film is a first-rate family classic. It's the kind of movie that you cannot stop watching. The acting is honest and understated; the cinematography is superb (just about every single shot in this film could be put up on the wall, that's how beautiful the pictures are); the music is spot-on, moving from romantic to quirky moods with grace and ease; and Carroll Ballard's direction is just perfection, simply because you never notice it: he lets the story tell itself in images, in all its simplicity and beauty -- only at the end do you stop to realize that, oh yes, someone must have directed this film. And then there's the geese, the real stars of the film. Every time you see them take to the sky in this film's gloriously beautiful sequences, following Amy in her flying machine, they tell us the simplest and most profound of thuths: that this world is beautiful, and that we must not let it go to waste. In an age when movies seem to be mostly about machines, explosions and violence, Fly Away Home comes as an eloquent reminder of what really matters: that we take good care of the people that we love, and that we must never lose the courage to dream.

love this movie

This is a great, heartwarming story - great for kids who are too old for most animated movie but too young for PG 13. The whole family will enjoy this movie!

Welcome to the Ballard Kingdom of Animals.

You know what the journey is going to be from the first few scenes but its how they get there that keeps your interest. A visual treat that left a tear in my eye. Only director Ballard could have pulled this off like he did with the other animal movie classic, THE BLACK STALLION.

Magical film for children AND adults.

I wanted to buy this movie as soon as I got my DVD player; but alas, I have to pass because someone decided not to put it in letterbox? Why O why O why? This film deserves to be seen in widescreen. I'll stick with the VHS version and save my money until a letterbox version comes along.

WONDERFULL MOVIE

I SAW THIS MOVIE AND IT JUST TOOK MY BREAT AWAY. A TRUE STORY ABOUT A GIRL LIVING IN NEW ZEALAND, AFTER LOOSING HER MOM IN A CAR ACCIDENT HAS TO GO BACK TO WHERE HER FATHER IS LIVING. BACK IN THE USA, NORTH CAROLINA. TRY TO MAKE THE BEST OF HER NEW LIFE AND TRY TO BUILT A BRIDGE BETWEEN HER AND HER DAD. A MAN SHE HAS NOT SEEN IN A LONG TIME.


IN THE MEAN TIME, THE GIRL MANAGE TO FIND 15 EGGS AND CARE FOR THEM AS IF THEY WERE HER CHILDREN. ONE DAY THEY ALL WAKE UP AND AS THEY TAKE A LOOK AT HER THEY THINK SHE IS THEIR MOM FOLLOWING HER ALL OVER. AND TO SAVE THEM SHE MUST TAKE THEM DOWN SOUTH WHERE THE GEESE MUST SPEND THEIR WINTER TIME.


IS INTERESTING HOW HER DAD MANAGE TO BUILT A PLANE FOR THEM TO GO TAKE THE FLOCK DOWN SOUTH. AND THAT IS WERE THEIR JOURNEY BEGINS. I THOUGHT IT WAS AN EMOTIONAL AND BEAUTIFULL MOVIE.


IS A FAMILY FILM AND IS A FILM YOU WONT BE DISSAPOINTED TO SEE IT.

Excellent movie

This movie depicts the relationship of a father and his daughter and how they find a common ground despite the sad circumstances of their reunion.
The geese provide the common ground, of course.
The flying scenes and the photography of the Canadian countryside are excellent.

A slow-starting but inspiring movie

My chief criticism of this movie is that it takes a while getting its feet under it, though it's understandable in light of the many personalities and situations that have to be established in the first half of the story: Thomas Alden (Daniels), an environmental activist and eccentric artist (mostly in metal) who lives in Southern Ontario; Amy (Paquin), his 13-year-old daughter, whom he hasn't seen in years, and who comes to live with him after her mother, a recording artist, is killed in a car crash in New Zealand; David (Kinney), Thomas's brother, and Susan Barnes (Delany), his lady friend; and assorted background information regarding the habits of Canada geese and the Dominion laws regarding them. Spurred by the threat that the local wildlife officers will clip the wings of the hatch of orphaned goslings she has adopted, rendering them unable to fly, if she tries to keep them as "domesticated," Amy resolves to find a way to help them migrate south each winter. It's Thomas's friend Strickland (Graham), a hobbyist in ultralight flying machines, who provides a possible solution, but it takes Thomas's inventive mind to make the final link: because the geese have imprinted on Amy, they will only follow *her*, so a plane must be built for her and she must be taught to fly it. ("You'll follow me," says Thomas, "the geese will follow you, and we'll get them there.") Complications are added by the fact that the wildlife sanctuary in Maryland where David and a professorial friend propose to settle the mini-flock is scheduled to undergo development if migratory birds aren't induced to go there within a very short timeframe.

The best sequences in the movie are those that show Amy interacting with her flock--dashing across the lawn or the nearby field (on an ATV) with the whole band galloping frantically after her, sitting quietly in their cage with them facing off against an invading wildlife officer--and, of course, the flight south. You'll gasp as Amy, Thomas, and their geese blunder into a downtown field of skyscrapers in a fog and go driving down the canyon between soaring high-rises, to the stunned amazement of office workers. You'll be on the edge of your seat as they unknowingly throw a USAF base into full alert by bearing down on it without making radio contact. The interpolated sequences featuring voiceovers and onscreens by assorted American newscasters add a sense of reality to the unfolding story. And then there's the triumphant climactic sequence when Amy, left to do the last part of the flight alone after Thomas crashes his plane and dislocates a shoulder, arrives at the sanctuary where birdwatchers and environmentalists are staging a sit-down strike in front of the threatening bulldozers. Besides sensitively addressing issues like divorce and parental death, "Fly Away Home" can also be seen as an allegory of growing up. Though not for audiences with a short attention span or a liking for non-stop action or suspense, it *is* an excellent family film and well worth seeing.

awesome!

I love this movie!Its an entertaining movie and it makes me cry everytime.I think its worth buying and you wont be dissapointed!

Fly

"Fly Away Home" tells the story of Amy, a girl from New Zealand who has to stay with her father in Canada after her mother dies. During her time there she finds some goose eggs that later hatch. As soon as the geese hatch the first thing they see is Amy and so they imprint on her, thinking she is their mother. Due to the geese natural instinct to fly south, and the fact that they don't have their real mother to lead the way, Amy with the help of her father attempt to lead the geese south in their own hang gliders.

This is a very simple story done well, helping to create a pretty much perfect family movie. Jeff Daniels as Amy's father and Oscar winning Anna Paquin as Amy are equally fantastic, and I'd also like to give a shout out to Terry Kinney as Amy's uncle who is really quite funny. The directing by Carroll Ballard is brilliant and the cinematography is breathtaking and makes you feel like you are flying with Amy, her Dad and the geese. Not to mention the truly inspirational score by Mark Isham that is helping us along on our journey.

The DVD special features which although not necessarily entertaining are appropriately informative. And also, "Fly Away Home" has been digitally remastered and is presented in widescreen, so it's the best you'll see this movie. I suggest you fly to the store or internet terminal so you can buy this, before it flies off the shelves.

A pleasing, at home movie

I think that this movie has very much the same type of public output opinion as movies like "The Next Karate Kid" (1994), and "Flash" (1997), and a few others like them because they take a little bit of time to like. On the Disney Channel, they show this movie as "Flying Wild", then I saw this movie on a channel like ABC or something and it was called "Fly Away Home". So I did not understand why it has two different names after the movie had already been finished. Usually the movie may have numerous names when it is in the film making process, but usually after the movie is finished it establishes a root name which I thought was "Fly Away Home". But now I understand that it just had two names. The reason I like this movie is because it has a very sweet plot to it. It tells a story about a girl trying to fly birds South. Usually movies with birds in them are not scary films, but touching ones. Except for "The Birds". That isn't all that touching. But, anyway, this is a movie with a point to the story and has some good lead characters. I would give it a 9 out of 10 because it took me awhile to get to like this movie and appreciate what it has to tell. I do recommend this.

fly away ...: A must see

I loved this movie so much I bought copies and sent them to youth shelters and to neighbor kids. It is especially good for teaching girls' empowerment but all ages and genders enjoy this movie.

Simply Sensational!

As a New Zealander, I am extremely proud of what our homegrown Anna Paquin has accomplished. Her portrayal as Amy in this film is just brilliant, particularly for an actress of her age. She managed her 'Kiwi' accent very well, although she has been mainly living in the USA. I also admire the way the two countries (New Zealand & Canada) have been linked, as not only are they both countries with gorgeous scenery, the people are linked too, and you don't see this in a movie everyday. Jeff Daniels does spectacular as Amy's father, and is obviously suited to this genre of film. The plot is so incredibly original. Kudos to the writers and producers for creating such a heart-warming, touching plot that will leave you on tenterhooks.