Away and Back - Der Weg der Schwäne

Like a lot of fellows, I became a fan of Minka Kelly when she played a high school cheer leader on the TV series Friday Night Lights. The good news is that she is just as convincing and attractive in this film, and the story line is something that the whole family will enjoy. In fact, the quality of the acting, and the great production values combine to make this one of Hallmark's best productions. Jason Lee plays the widowed father of three with just the right blend of manly resolve tempered by personal loss, and the knowledge that his children really need a mother. His youngest child, "Frankie" is played to perfection by ten-year-old Maggie Elizabeth Jones, and his son "Kyle" played by Jaren Lewison is very good in a lesser role. My only quibble with this film is its confusing geography, which traces an established migratory bird flyway south from Cheney, Washington to Wallowa Lake in north-eastern Oregon, but was mostly filmed in Alberta, Canada.

This is not the kind of movie I would normally take time for because I find made for TV movies to be heavy on message, slanted and cliche ridden. The acting is usually hit and miss. But being a Jason Lee fan and slowly becoming a Minka Kelly fan I wanted to give it a try. This one was none of those things I feared, even though a film about a motherly woman temporarily joining a motherless family would usually be filled with lines like "you can't bond with kids for awhile and then leave them." Minka Kelly does just that but without the same cliche-ridden drama. A big reason to watch this is a love of nature and many people understand human devotion to birds that fill the world with song and color and endless fascinating behaviors. The fact that they came from dinosaurs is incredible to think about. The director uses real film so the colors and photography are endlessly gorgeous. The locales really lend themselves to film. Even though the inevitable romance was a no-brainer, it was realistic and engaging. Both characters are strong and independent, but they blend out of necessity and natural moments of commonality. The tension-filled drama toward the end was believable and easy to handle. The ending was great and I felt like the score added a lot to all of the scenes.

This is not the usual Hallmark Saturday Night romance. It seems to be a Hall of Fame movie so that's not surprising. There is some romance, but as is often the case with a cute precocious kid, the female lead and the kid are the real relationship focus. And add the swans.

Jennie was a real witch to everyone at first but quickly softened. Minka Kelly worked well with both Jason Lee as Jack and Maggie Elizabeth Jones as Frankie. The kids lost their mom a couple years ago to cancer so Jack wants to protect them from further losses in real life and nature, despite seeming to fall for Jennie.

There's some drama towards the end. I didn't expect it to play out this way, so that's another plus in the fresh story column.

Nice story for the whole family. Kids will probably like this because of the Swans.

Animal lover Jennie Newsom (Minka Kelly) runs a wildlife station. Widower farmer Jack Peterson (Jason Lee) has three kids; Frankie, Kyle, and Stretch. Frankie is sadden upon finding a dead swan until the kids find the nest. Jack is not happy and Frankie calls Jennie from the yellow pages. It turns out the dead swan was tagged by Jennie and is part of a research project. She has to reintroduce the three chicks into the wild on the Peterson farm.

It's a functional family film for Hallmark but oddly, it's not much as a romance. They try to spice it up by making Jennie initially cold and bitter. Her relationship with the little girl is more compelling. I was expecting a little girl with little chicks following her like Fly Away Home. This is not that which does limit the cuteness factor. There isn't much in terms of drama and the only action is little Maggie Elizabeth Jones driving an ATV. Is that legal? Are there no union rules? I am still uncertain about the acting prowess of cheerleader Minka and Jason in more serious roles. The little girl is cute but it's not enough.

My wife and I enjoy movies that relate to life, have some serious content and some humor. This movie has all three. The characters don't blow up anything and there are no shoot outs, state of the art weapons or robots set on death and destruction. In spite of this, the story is captivating, the characters very well done and the storyline realistic. I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a good movie. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 3/16/2021