Hasta allá y de regreso

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.

In Oregon State, Jack (Jason Lee) is a struggling widower of three kids. The youngest, a girl Frankie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones), misses her mother every day and the bedtime reading of her favorite book, The Trumpet of the Swans. Dad, most times, only has time for a chapter. Also, Papa tries to keep his kids busy, making their own lunches and doing household chores, as he operates his door making carpentry business. Meanwhile, a bird-biologist, Jennie (Minka Kelly) nurses a swan back to health from a gun shot wound. All too soon, the kids favorite pair of Trumpeter swans come back to the pond near their home and lay eggs. Frankie and her middle brother row out to take a look but get too close. The swans, very protective and fierce, break her brother's arm. Then, tragedy happens. A power line kills the mother bird and Frankie takes the eggs to incubate at home. Realizing she is over her head, she eventually gets Jennie on the phone. Seemingly very disturbed, Jennie comes and confiscates the eggs, lecturing the children about the endangered species and her job to protect it. However, after this initially gruff meeting, Jennie does let the children come see the three hatched cygnets. Plus, the children are thrilled when Jennie comes to place them back in "their" pond, as father swan is still there. Its not a simple task and stretches into weeks. As Jennie lives in a trailer close to the family, romance and a new beginning may be in the offing. Then, Frankie comes up missing just as the swans are migrating. Will she be found? This lovely film has it all, lovely cast, scenery, script, direction, and gloriously lovely SWANS. Go away to the store and bring it BACK NOW.

2015 did see some good Hallmark films, as well as some bad ones and plenty in between. Had a good feeling that 'Away and Back' would work, with it having one of the most appealing premises of 2015's Hallmark batch and have always admired it when Hallmark tackle mature family themes (even when they don't always work). It was also interesting seeing Jason Lee against type, being someone who is more familiar with him in comedic roles and growing up watching and loving him in 'My Name is Earl'.

'Away and Back' is a lovely, sweet and well meaning film on the whole and a worthy Hallmark Hall of Fame entry (better than most films that are in that category). It is not perfect and feels somewhat underdeveloped at times, especially with Minka Kelly's character, but there is also a lot to like in 'Away and Back' and it does a nice job with its premise and relatable family themes. Seeing Lee excel in the gentler dramatic role he is in here was also a good surprise and would like to see this side more.

Beginning with what didn't quite come off, the film to me did go too far in making Kelly's character difficult to like or identify with. Her coldness was taken to extremes and it would have been nice if the film provided some kind of reason for her to act this way and how she came to be this way, but that didn't happen and it made it difficult for the viewer to understand her attitude. Or connect with her chemistry with Lee, which to begin with wasn't really there.

It is agreed that not doing much with everything with the oldest son was a missed opportunity, really liked the sound of that but it is agreed that his grievances are not gone into enough detail and are incredibly vague. As is whether there was any resolution, that felt very open ended and up in the air, maybe the film was trying to avoid ending a subplot too conveniently and patly but leaving it incomplete was not the right way to go about it.

That sounds as if this viewer disliked 'Away and Back'. Have already indicated that that is not the case, actually found a lot to admire. It is beautifully filmed and the scenery is stunning to look at. The music is not intrusive, and didn't feel too melodramatically loud, repetitive or too constant (all of which being common with Hallmark's music). The direction lets the drama breathe while not allowing it to drag. It is very well acted, Kelly starts off too cold but warms and relaxes into her role and does well making the character grow. Lee is charming and amiable while not playing his role too seriously.

The chemistry does become warmer the more the film goes on, but relationships wise the film works better in the heartfelt chemistry between Kelly and adorable yet sincere Maggie Elizabeth Jones. On the whole, the characters are written well and rootable, the most honestly written one being Jones'. The script is sincere and mature without being too melodramatic or too serious, while not sugar coating. The same goes for the gentle, charming and moving story, which is not always as fleshed out as it could have been but the good intentions and sincerity were to be admired all the way through as was the relatability of the themes. The swans are just adorable.

Overall, lovely film. 7/10.

Cool to see the trumpeter swans mentioned in Fly Away Home. This is a good, clean movie. But we're never told what Minka Kelly's problem was at the start. No focus is given to her bonding with the sons. And we're never told what the oldest son's problem is, or how it's resolved.

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.