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Free Willy

Free Willy (1993)

July. 16,1993
|
6
|
PG
| Adventure Drama Family

When maladjusted orphan Jesse vandalizes a theme park, he is placed with foster parents and must work at the park to make amends. There he meets Willy, a young Orca whale who has been separated from his family. Sensing kinship, they form a bond and, with the help of kindly whale trainer Rae Lindley, develop a routine of tricks. However, greedy park owner Dial soon catches wind of the duo and makes plans to profit from them.

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kalnganmarvin
1993/07/16

I watched this movie before, I'm not sure if during the 90's or early 2000's. It's good. It is very touching. This movie is not just for kids but for the family as a whole. The true meaning of friendship can be seen. We must love animals because they are our friends. Today is year 2018 and I am still watching this movie.Cheers!Sorry for my bad english

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ironhorse_iv
1993/07/17

Whale! Whale! Whale! What do we have here? It's Free Willy and I love blubbering about Free Willy. It's a whale of a tail. It's one of my favorite nostalgia, early 1990s kid films. Directed by Simon Wincer, Free Willy tells the story of a delinquent boy, Jesse (Jason James Richter) who become friends with a captive killer whale, Willy (Keiko). Seeing that Willy was upset due to the absence of his family and the fact, that Willy didn't like his small living conditions; Jesse set up a plan to kidnap Willy, and tries to set him free in the wild. Can Jesse and Willy escape from the cruel owners of aquarium or will Willy end up, being fish food? Watch the movie to find out! Without spoiling the movie, too much; I found the movie to be a bit predictable. After all, the title of the movie, kinda gives it, away. It's not like the movie posters, DVD covers, and trailers, pretty much spoils the outrageous end of the movie, as well. The film's ending has been spoofed several times in popular culture, due to how over the top, it was. It was a bit unrealistic. The movie also suffers from overused clichés. I really didn't like the sub-plot of Jesse's handling of his new foster parents. It seem a bit forced and underdevelopment. I really didn't buy into the whole surviving on his own, as a runaway bit. Around thing that was hard to believe, was the chemistry between the whale and the main actor. It was too similar to previous movies of a child bonding with a wild animal like 1966's Namu. I really found the whole idea of Willy connecting with the child, a little impractical. For a creature that been left alone in a small dark tanks for hours, I would have, thought the orca would be a little more aggressed and bite Jesse's head off or try to drown him. It's seem a bit, off. After all, they are killer whales! I guess, Keiko was just that well-trained. While, the film does make a good persuasive case against keeping these creatures in captivity for the purposes of human entertainment by highlighting incidents that Willy has. The movie is a little one-sided argument about whales being in captivity. I find it a tad odd that this movie is basically condemning the very thing it is exploiting which is using captive wild animals for entertainment purposes. The movie also fails to tells how important, some aquariums are, for sick killer whales. Now, every aquarium seem a bit evil. Like the 2013's documentary, Blackfish; viewers of this movie, might not understand, that some places, like SeaWorld honestly, tries hard to keep whales, healthy, enough to return to the wild. Still, when this movie did came out, I was one of those, who really believe that the whale that play Willy should have been free. At least the filmmakers followed their own preaching, and campaigned for the freeing of Keiko, the actual killer whale who stands in for an animatronic Willy in many scenes. The plan for Keiko to return to the wild was a topic of much controversy at the time. Some critics felt that a return to the wild, was somewhat impossible, because of the years of him being in captivity. They were somewhat right, most of the attempts of him going back into the wild were mostly unsuccessful, due to the fact, that he often return, seeking contact with human beings and allowing children to ride on his back. He was so dependent on humans that he really couldn't connection with other whales. In 2003, Keiko sadly die in one last attempt in the wild at the young age of 26 due to Pneumonia. He will be miss. Despite, him, not living long in the wild, I still came out from this movie learning more than I came into the film. I love the fact that this movie help spark the Save the Whales Foundation into a success organization. I love the fact that this movie had singer Michael Jackson produced and performed "Will You Be There", as one of the theme songs for the film, which can be heard during the film's credits. The song won the MTV Movie Award for "Best Song in a Movie" in 1994. It was also included in Michael Jackson's Dangerous album. It's one of his best songs, ever. It really help the save the whales program. The main theme by Basil Poledouris was also amazing and majestic. Even the harmonica music that Jesse plays, wasn't that bad. While, the music was good. The acting, not so much. While, some of the characters strongly express of human emotion like James Jason Richter who work well, on-screen with Keiko. Others were kinda one dimensional. The worst, had to be the over the top money hungry, villain played by Michael Ironsides. He was really hammy. The movie made great use of stock footage of whales. It was really nice, seeing them, in their natural habitat. The movie was followed by three sequels 1995's Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, 1997's Free Willy 3: The Rescue, and 2010's Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove, and a short-lived animated television series. I don't recommended watching the sequels, but I do want you to check out 2010's Keiko: The Untold story. It's a documentary film about Keiko that is worth seeing. Overall: Despite its cheesy nature, Free Willy is great movie for fans of Marine life. I really enjoy this film.

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Matthew_Capitano
1993/07/18

Sardine oil about a little punk kid who befriends a big whale named 'Willy'.Jesse is a troubled boy who is compelled to do things like goofing off on his summer job, kicking a public trash can off of its mooring, and throwing a baseball through his foster parents' window. But this is only because Jesse is scared since he doesn't understand his feelings. Maybe he'll understand if I put my foot up his butt.Meanwhile, hot Lori Petty is an animal trainer who spends her time working with Willy by riding around on his back all day long.... lucky Willy.The best moment in the film never arrives. That would be when Jesse tries to pet Willy. Go ahead, Jesse. Stick your whole head in his mouth, he won't bite you.... heh-heh-heh.

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Electrified_Voltage
1993/07/19

This renowned PG-rated family flick was released when I was around seven years old. I didn't see it in the theatre, but I don't think it was too long afterwards when I saw some of it in the VHS format. I don't recall ever seeing the whole thing during my childhood, though I did see the first of the two sequels, "Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home", from start to finish one time. When I rented the original "Free Willy" just yesterday, I could only remember a little bit of it from what I saw back in the 90's. After all these years, I've finally seen the entire film. However, as much as a fair number of other people seem to like it, I definitely didn't find it as entertaining and touching as many have made it out to be, which didn't surprise me after seeing its mediocre rating here first.Jesse is a troubled 12 year old boy who was abandoned by his mother years ago. One night, while getting into mischief with a group of friends, he is caught by the police after vandalizing an aquatic park. His social worker, Dwight Mercer, manages to get him off the hook, provided he cleans up the mess he has made at the park. As Jesse works at the park, he looks in the tank and sees an orca whale named Willy, who was sadly separated from his family in the ocean recently and brought here. The 12 year old boy befriends this whale, and manages to teach him tricks, which nobody else has succeeded in doing. However, it turns out that Willy won't do these tricks in front of a big audience, with kids banging on the tank windows. Dial, the park owner, has an evil plan, and the homesick orca whale's life is in danger! The beginning of the film, showing whales in the ocean, may not be that bad at first, but it's a little too long. After the capture, we are introduced to Jesse, played by Jason James Richter, and it doesn't exactly improve here, which leads me to another slight problem I have with this movie. This problem is the characters. This includes the main kid. At the beginning, he's one rotten little brat, but I guess that can easily happen with the kind of childhood he's had. Yes, much of the film is supposed to be extremely touching, and clearly is to some people, but to me, it just seemed a little too phony. The story may have some occasional mildly touching moments, but they are very brief. There may be a bit of excitement as well, but in the end, despite the fact that I wasn't completely bored throughout, I was still left with indifference. Nothing too overwhelming. I know this is a film about saving whales, and I assure you, I do not approve of the captivity of marine animals. They're meant to live in the ocean, not chlorinated tanks. Still, this movie just didn't quite do it for me. I also know I'm writing this just a couple days after the death of Michael Jackson, who sang the closing theme, "Will You Be There", for this movie, but that is of mere coincidence. I didn't know he sang the theme song, nor did I even know what this movie's theme song was, before I rented it yesterday! If I had seen the entire film from start to finish during my childhood, it just might have been a more entertaining and memorable experience than it was for me watching it after growing up. "Free Willy" should be a nice, moving family drama, but somehow, it fails. Many kids might like it, and adults as well, but in my opinion, it's far from the perfect, heartwarming family film it seems to have often been considered.

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