Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Owen Ogletree I've always enjoyed "Free Willy." In general, I am just a sucker for these kinds of movies. As usual, it's the friendship between the main character and the animal that makes this one work.Jason James Richter is great as Jesse, a character who has been having a really rough life and wants to reunite with his mother someday. Randolph is an awesome ing character, and I also like Jesse's adoptive parents and Rae.The story is very good with Jesse having to clean up his messes and straighten up his life, forming a bond with a whale named Willy along the way. Willy, played by Keiko the Orca, is a lovable character who has the most charming Bond with Jesse.I really like the feel of the film and the locales in the Pacific Northwest. The climax with the gang trying to get Willy back to the water kept me in suspense, and the ending scene with Willy jumping over the seawall always gives me chills.The villains weren't anything special; they were just your typical greedy, shallow businessmen who don't care about animals. Also, the scene with Willy refusing to perform at the show because the children were scaring him felt like a plot device; it seems unlikely that they would allow children to tap on the glass repeatedly because everyone knows it makes animals nervous.However, this is still a fantastic movie overall. This is a movie I recommend to any families who like movies with a lot of heart.RATING: A-

SnoopyStyle Willy is a wild orca that was trapped and separated from his parents. He is sent to an aquarium. Jesse (Jason James Richter) is a street kid who gets caught vandalizing the tank. He still believes his mom will come back. His social worker Dwight gets him off as long as he cleans up his mess. He's placed with Glen (Michael Madsen) and Annie Greenwood. Jesse is guarded and Glen is reluctant also. At the aquarium, he befriends Willy who saves his life one night. Willy won't perform for trainer Rae Lindley (Lori Petty) but he's willing to do it for Jesse. The owner Dial (Michael Ironside) is under pressure from the non-performing whale.It's a reasonable family picture. It has a whale and the little kids may find it fascinating. The story is compelling enough that the older kids will also like it. It's very much following a try and true formula. The young lead is acceptable even when he doesn't have the whale. He has some good drama to play off against. It's important to note that Keiko the whale was eventually freed. If that's all the movie achieves, that's plenty.

Richmond Sim Although we could not deny that there are many other films that feature aquatic animals, what makes Free Willy different from other related films are its twists, distorted character profiles, and exciting plot.Why would the director or the writer even think of having Jesse's mind baffled instead of just making it smoother by having Jesse focused on what he is doing? But those flabbergasting twists are what makes Free Willy a good movie. It never ran out of good ideas to convolute the screen portrayal so that the audience may be stimulated. In fact, boredom seldom touched me, being an audience and a critic.There were just some scenes that irritates me because I believe that the producers could have intensified these sequences even more by adding some action scenes so that they may be able to add a greater tension on the viewers and that the audience may really feel and take in what is happening on screen.The animatronic stand-in that was used in most close-up scenes of Willy also was quite good. There was never a time when the CGIs (Computer Generated Effects) failed. They really looked like real and natural. And the stunts made, although was created with the extensive use of CGI, was perfect and was pleasing to the eyes.The screen portrayal of the actors and actresses also were quite good and was enough to please the audience.The musical scoring of the movie was satisfactory, nevertheless. It was good especially during the crises of the movie, but I was expecting for more since musical scoring are a great factor to catch the audience.I guess there's not much to say about this movie because I believe that its succeeding sequels are enough to prove how successful the movie is and that couldn't have been achieved if the quality was poor. All in all, congratulations to the movie and the people behind its production.8 out of 10 for you guys!

TheUnknown837-1 As a child, having visited Sea World and experienced the beauty and awe of the all-too-famous sea creature that resides down there, orcas (or killer whales) had always fascinated me. Like their kin the dolphins, there was just something magical and awesome about them just in their very presence that displays their astounding intellect and friendliness. So the movie "Free Willy" was right up my alley as a kid. Now nearing adulthood, and still fascinated with orcas, the movie does not strike with the same impact, but most of it is still remains and thus, I still thoroughly enjoy "Free Willy." For those not familiar with the story, mainly meaning those who did not grow up in the 1990s, the film is about a boy in foster care (Jason James Richter) who upon committing vandalism at a local aquatic park near the coast is given the task of cleaning up his act. And during his visits, he befriends a captured and neglected killer whale (Keiko), whom he soon realizes is planning to be destroyed as a failure attraction. And before long, the story unfolds into just what the title hints: an effort to free Willy.Looking again on "Free Willy" years after I saw it for the first time, I can still see the charm and majesty that had fascinated me in my youth. Director Simon Wincer's major achievement in this film is not trying to make it spectacular, but trying to make it cute and harmless and magical and although my opinion is merely divided amongst the rest of the moviegoers, I say he succeeded in all regards. I thought it was a very moving and touching story about friendship between this boy and this whale, both of whom are troubled, and the way that they struggle to save not only themselves, but also each other. And it doesn't carry away to the point where it seems like Willy the whale has become super-intelligent, but bases all of his motives on instincts. And at the same time, we feel sympathy for this six-ton, sharp-toothed denizen of the sea especially when we compare his massive size to the relatively small container that he's placed in, the rough treatment he's given, and when he cries for companionship.In regards to Willy, it's quite an achievement. As many know, in a lot of scenes, the whale was represented by Keiko, a real-life orca who actually shared many of his character's situations during his lifetime, and this adds to the genuine realism and the touching moments of the film. In other scenes, such as the rescue, Willy is portrayed by a well-realized animatronic and the two blend so well together it's impossible to tell which one is which. There is only once lapse in the special effects and that regards to the CGI whale that was used for the final scene in the movie and people familiar with the film should know what I'm talking about. The computer graphics in that shot, which was thankfully brief, was detailed but not convincing. Nevertheless, that's a minor fault in an otherwise impeccable special effects effort for an entire motion picture.What's also commendable is how the whale does not become the only interesting character or aspect in the film. "Free Willy" also has a great human drama story subplot to boast, to keep us interested during the scenes where the boy and the whale do not share the same shot. I liked Jason James Richter as the boy, and I especially liked Michael Madsen as the foster parent trying to serve as a father figure and also August Schellenberg and Lori Petty as some of the few friends that the boy and his aquatic friend have around them.Again, looking back on "Free Willy" and having read some of the criticisms leveled against it, the movie does not fascinate me with the same power that it once did some years ago. But it's still a sweet, charming story with a warm heart and it still works for me.