Free Willy - Un amico da salvare

Free Willy is the quintessential 90s family film along the lines of Home Alone - innocent, schmaltzy and full of cloying sentimentality. It contains everything you've seen before and has passed into cliché - misunderstood kid who just wants to prove himself, heartfelt friendship with a precious animal, plot to thwart secret bad guys and so on - but it does so with such determined idealism that you can't help but feel a sheer, overwhelming joy. Free Willy is the family movie to end all family movies, a condensation of so many feelgood tropes that it collapses under its own gravity to form a singularity of Hollywood magic.

While the plot is quite hackneyed, it's fine that we have movie like this. The news is out on the treatment of Orcas by places like Sea World. These magnificent creatures are kept in tight quarters and made to perform at shows. Willy is one of those whales, and a young boy, who has had a checkered past, and his friend decide it is time to put him back in the open sea. The movie has to do with the logistics of getting this done. As is usually the case, there are some bad people determined to stop this. While it's lightweight and pretty hard to believe, it's a nice movie with a good heart. I'm happy that my children enjoyed this and developed a good attitude about the treatment of animals.

It was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. I had followed Keiko ever since. I was happy that he was finally free, but I was very sad that he ended up with a tragic story because of people's mistakes. As for the movie, its impressive music and the scenes where Keiko played with Jesse were enjoyable and beautiful. I wish that amazing final scene on the poster looked like that in the movie. Instead, a phenomenon called animatronics was implemented. Yes, such a scene with an orca may have seemed impossible at that time, but it did not look as good as the poster. It could be worth more. It's a production with some messages.

Oh, this one is underrated here. The story of Jason James Richter's character trying to escape from a life of crime and missing prospects is way beyond the average. The growing affection for Willy is not even stereotyped or clichéd. It's a genuine bond that focuses on two outcast characters who slowly but surely come to experience true friendship and the value of trust. Jason's performance really appealed to me when I saw this movie as a kid. It is a sincere depiction of friendship, of a way out, of fighting for your values against all odds and of never giving up. Right, I'm grown up now, but this is one of the movies of my childhood I'd like to watch again, and I'm sure I'd enjoy it almost as much as back then. Jason James had very few acting appearances, but the Free Willy series assured him his place in movie history. His entire performance in here is sincere and straight, he doesn't laugh nor smile if it wasn't just natural in the specific sequences. His facial expressions and body language fit into the total frame as well. The story has some profoundly human themes to it. I can't help it, I think this one is both entertaining and deep, dealing with emotions and prospects of life, with integrity and courage in the face of danger.

Free Willy is one that passed me by as a young teenager on its initial release, but I recently saw it with my two young daughters who both took a lot from it.

The visual storytelling is strong throughout as the filmmakers almost seamlessly blend the captive Keiko, animatronics and open water cinematography in a plausible way to tell the story of the titular orca. His scenes of interaction with human characters are very well done and all lead to a famous and cinematic conclusion that was largely spoiled by the movie posters and trailers of the time. Great use is made of the different locations to make it all seem like it's all happening in Oregon.

There is no denying the movie has a simple yet powerful message about captive animals and their exploitation for financial gain. If it went some way to deter children from visiting zoos, circuses and aquariums, that has to be a positive. That being said I find the use of a captive animal in a sentimental story about a captive animal longing for freedom (for commercial gain) quite ironic. Saying that it was a movie that raised awareness about the plight of captive orcas and resulted in people taking action, regardless of its financial motives.

Where it falters slightly is in the clichéd characters, contrived aspects of the plot and exploitative emotional moments. It is however aimed at families with children so there is only so harsh I can be, particularly when my own children enjoyed it.