The Journey of Natty Gann (1985)

With so many movies around, "The Journey of Natty Gann" is worth its while. The 1930's is a tough time in some places. The Great Depression is happening, work is out in the Western part of the U.S. And being stuck at home with a hot-headed guardian is the pits. For Natty Gann(Meredith Salenger) she makes a quest to go find him. She goes to all different places, have no troubles finding food, rides along different trains, and gets herself a non-human companion: a full-blooded wolf that's been used in dogfights. Atfer she freed him they would meet again following a storm. When the weather lets up, she was sleeping on a friend; The Wolf. He would return the favor by giving her a rabbit, for food. Then there's the mis-adventures when she failed to getaway from the law, put in reform school. But that didn't stop her. She would later meet Harry(John Cusack), who tags along with her. There's listening to the rails, Harry's soon departure, and finally meeting her father, burned and happy to see her. Very heart-warming, and very endearing, I enjoyed this movie well! 5 stars!

The Journey of Natty Gann follows teenage Natalie Sue Gann (Meredith Salenger) as she travels from Chicago to Seattle in search of her father.After Natty's father Sol Gann (Ray Wise) was offered a job in Washington state he had to take it, leaving Natty in the less than tender care of Connie, their landlady (Lainie Kazan). However, after hearing Connie call the police for an 'abandoned girl' Natty runs away, unable to wait until Sol sends for her.Over the course of her journey, Natty meets up with a knowledgeable young man by name of Harry (John Cusak), a group of rag-tag misfits with a rather mafia-esque 'you take care of us, we take care of you' motto, and a loyal 'Wolf' (which may or may not be a Husky, since everyone but Natty refers to it as a dog, and it is played by the dog of 'White Fang' fame) that seems to have a sixth-sense when it comes to danger.Despite being made by Disney, Natty Gann is a cute movie without suffering the candy-coated sweetness of most recent Disney films. Overall, the good acting, great scenery and decent script make for an enjoyable film that everyone in the family can enjoy.Hey, the star even swears four times!

This is a nice movie about a courageous girl just trying to get to her father, with a little help from friends, and even more enemies. Meredith Salenger was perfect for the part of Natty Gann. She's cute, tough, and just a good actress. (So, how then did shwe go into movies such as Dream a Little Dream?) John Cusack, as always is a doll. This is a good movie for eveybody. 7.2 out of 10.

I saw this film for the first time recently and was stunned at first by the language and situations in it. I'm not a prude, but I was amazed because the film bears the Disney imprimatur. Don't misunderstand me, this is a good film - a depression-era story of a young girl traveling across country to re-unite with her father - but I guess I didn't expect to hear "hell", "g*d d**n", "s**t", "son of a b***h", etc. in a PG film from Disney. Nor did I expect a fairly violent dog-fight, or a scene where a man tries to molest the young girl. Again, don't misunderstand... I liked the film and its language and situations were not out of place, nor excessive... just a shock coming from Disney. Parents of young children be aware, while this is an entertaining film, you may want to preview it before showing it to your kids.