Friday, March 21, 2008

Birdy movie review: Fly Away Home

Last night, Em and I watched one of our favorite movies, Fly Away Home. In the movie, 13-year-old Amy discovers a nest of Canada goose eggs, abandoned when developers come into a marsh and start mowing down trees. She raises the geese, and then she and her father attempt to lead them southward for fall migration.

There are lots of cute shots of the goslings following the actress who plays Amy (Anna Paquin, whom I like a lot), bathing with her, and just being sweet baby geese. The cinematography and the music are beautiful, and it’s a great film for anyone who loves birds and feel-good movies. The movie also stars Jeff Daniels and Dana Delany (whom I've had a crush on since her work on China Beach).

I had always thought that the movie plot was pretty much all true, complete with cute kid befriending and leading the geese, but it's actually based on the efforts of an artist-inventor-pilot named Bill Lishman, who first taught geese and then whooping cranes and trumpeter swans to follow a migratory path by flying with the birds in an ultra-light aircraft. He's a lot like the Jeff Daniels character in the movie, but there is no teenage daughter in real life, which means that the tale I heard a few years ago, that the girl had died in a ultra-light accident, wasn’t true! (I'm kinda relieved about that.) Lishman started Operation Migration to continue his efforts to help endangered birds. Check out his efforts by following that link. Pretty cool.

12 comments:

Fran said...

That sounds great- I have not seen this movie, but I bet DaughterSheIs would like it too.

That's great that Em is there!

Enjoy life beautiful birdies of PA- Kat, Em and D!

Unknown said...

I loved every minute of this movie. Great review!

Dr. Zaius said...

That sounds interesting! I love heartwarming cute animal movies. Then again, I also love scary giant monster movies too!

dguzman said...

Fran-It's a great movie; I always watch it when I'm feeling down, and it makes it all better.

Welcome to BTB, Birdfreak!

Dr. Z--this one would definitely warm your little ape heart.

Susan Gets Native said...

Why haven't I seen this movie? I will have to just go buy it, since you like it. You can't lose with cute geese and little girls.

DK & The Fluffies said...

I love that movie and the little babies!

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

I keep meaning to watch this one day and now that I know Dana delaney is in it I'll make dang sure I'll see it soon.

Mary said...

I'd love it. Feel-good is good. Thanks for the good review, Delia!

Susan said...

I loved that movie, too. Been a long time since I've seen it - I think I'll rent it again. Another movie you & Em might like is "Hoot" - a cute movie about some teens fighting greedy developers to save some Burrowing Owls.

Earl Cootie said...

Oh, my, Jeff Daniels is looking way hippieish and cute there. Okay, I'll check out the movie. (For the feel-goodness and story, not for the hippie Daniels. Of course.)

Mel said...

I haven't seen this movie in a looong time, something tells me it's on my near future..

dguzman said...

SusanGN--you'll love it, and so will the girls.

DK--exactly!

Dr M--I hear ya.

Mary--definitely worth it.

Susan--I've never heard of "Hoot"--I'll have to check that one out.

Earl--of course.

Mel--it's on regular rotation at the Marsh House.