Away and Back

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.

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.

Bought it for Minka Kelly and wasn't surprised, she hit it out of the park again, she's always so nice and wholesome and likeable, been a fan of hers for a little minute, watched most of her movies and FNL in the last few months, and am a fan of hers now, there's not much she can't do, Searching For Sonny as the protagonist, The Roommate as the victim, Papa Hemingway as the quiet put upon girlfriend. She's great along with the whole cast of Friday Night Lights in her tv debut, hope Hallmark does a few more with her, I think she's looked over a little which is a shame, who doesn't like her? Have The Beach House with her and Andy McDowell to watch in the coming days, Hallmark is a nice surprise to enjoy as opposed to my usual thriller, drama, crime and film noir tastes.

Jason Lee did a decent job, every time I see him I think of Enemy of the State, Dreamcatcher, IT, he annoys me from time to time but does well here playing the father and widower, it doesn't get too deep or depressed, the story is pretty lightly done, simple and kept you interested for the most part, a nice family or safe bet for kids to watch on a quiet day and a nice happy ending as usual for Hallmark.

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.

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.