Free Willy

1993

Action / Adventure / Drama / Family

30
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 71% · 31 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 50% · 250K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.1/10 10 87904 87.9K

whale social worker freedom social work human animal relationship best friend

Director

Simon Wincer Photo
Simon Wincer

Top cast

Michael Madsen Photo
Michael Madsen as Glen Greenwood
Lori Petty Photo
Lori Petty as Rae Lindley
Jason James Richter Photo
Jason James Richter as Jesse
Mykelti Williamson Photo
Mykelti Williamson as Dwight Mercer
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
815.90 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 52 min
Seeds 12
1.65 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 52 min
Seeds 98

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by snoozejonc 7 / 10

Free room, free food, free swimming pool, free HBO. Ooh. Free Willy.

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.
Reviewed by ma-cortes 7 / 10

A sentimental and enjoyable movie with charming scenes and attractive messages

This is a good-looking family drama with marvellous scenes, natural ecologism , gorgeous outdoors and high sensibility . When a boy learns that a beloved killer whale is to be killed by the aquarium owners, the boy risks everything to free the whale . Willy is trapped and his family swims mournfully away . Cut to an angelic street-kid , Jesse (Jason James Richer) , caught graffiti-ing Willy's tank , the only way to escape baby jail he discovers is to go to well-meaning but stiff foster parents (Michael Madsen , Jayne Atkinson) and clean up the tank under the tutelage of Haida Indian Randolph (August Schellemberg) . A 12 year old street kid !. A 3 ton orca whale !. A friendship you could never imagine !. An adventure you'll never forget !. Make room in your heart for a six-ton Pet!!!He is the biggest hero in the whole wide world of adventure!. When You're Six Tons -- And They Call You Killer -- It's Hard To Make Friends...Agreeable and charming family tale made with sense , sensitivity and wonderful sea images. This is a good-natured family drama with emotion, ecologism, gorgeous outdoors and high sensibility . Many years before , this Orca saga was preceded by a similar film : ¨Namu , the Killer Whale¨ (1966) directed by Laslo Benedek with Robert Lansing . It contains ample and gorgeous sea vistas, being very well photographed the exterior scenes, as well as underwater images with the great Orca whale jumping and diving. This well acted movie has a straight-faced tone which is hard to resist . Including good messages : love for animals , environmentalism , fraternity , fight for survival , need for family coexistence friendship , while boy and whale get on because they are both looking for a family .Special mention for excellent musical score by magnificent composer Basil Poledouris , including sweeping strings accompanying the opening sequence of balletic whales cavorting in brilliant blue sea , changing abruptly to cacophony as the bad guys with nets chug up in their tugs . The motion picture was well directed by notorious filmmaker Simon Wincer . He is a Western expert , as he emigrated Hollywood from Australia and subsequently directed to Tom Selleck in ¨Monte Walsh¨ , ¨Crossfire trail¨ and ¨Quigley Down Under¨ to Paul Hogan in ¨Relampago Jack¨ and ¨Cocodrile Dundee in L. A.¨ and usually directs episodes for TV mini-series, such as ¨Into the West¨, ¨The Ponderosa¨ , ¨Lonesome Dove¨ and ¨The adventures of young Indiana Jones¨ , among others . Rating : good for the sensitive direction and proficient film-making ; the result is a sort of pacifist-ecological adventure for kiddies and adults. Worthwhile watching . The pic will appeal to animals enthusiasts .
Reviewed by IonicBreezeMachine 5 / 10

That 90s whale movie that is known by most people for its widely parodied ending, it's about on the level you expect

After 12-year-old orphaned delinquent Jesse (Jason James Richter) is arrested for vandalizing the Northwest Adventure Park in Portland, Oregon, Jesse is placed in the care of prospective foster parents Glen (Michael Madsen) and Annie Greenwood (Jayne Atkinson) who despite their best-efforts Jesse doesn't take too. While cleaning up the graffiti on the tank of Orca whale Willy (Keiko), Jesse forms a bond with the whale which has had behavioral problems due to being captured at an older age. Over the summer Jesse manages to train Willy and befriends Willy's caregiver Randolph (August Schellenberg) and vet Rae (Lori Petty) but after the park's unscrupulous owner Dial (Michael Ironside) determines Willy to worth more for the insurance, Jesse undertakes efforts to free Willy.Free Willy is a 1993 family drama directed by Simon Wincer and written by Keith A. Walker and Corey Blechman. Walker conceived the idea for the film while working with executive producer Richard Donner on The Goonies with the film eventually setting up for development at Regency Enterprises who had a deal with Warner Bros. Given a massive promotional push by Warner Bros, the film opened at a rather inauspicious fifth place during the Summer behind holdovers such as The Firm, Jurassic Park, and In the Line of Fire but thanks to positive word of mouth from audiences the movie managed to stay within the top five for many weeks and eventually amassed $75 million domestically against its $13 million budget and $150 million worldwide making the film a sleeper hit and leading to two theatrical sequels, a TV cartoon series, and a DTV sequel. Despite being a massive success in its day Free Willy hasn't really had much cultural staying power with the exception of its ending which is often subject to parody (and was spoiled by its theatrical release poster) because the movie itself is rather unexceptional.When you get down to brass tacks with Free Willy, the movie is yet another entry in the "Boy and his (blank)" sub-genre of family films where you team up a child actor with a dog, an alien, a bird, or some other creature and put them through standard paces usually in some kind of coming-of-age manner or adventure story. As far as how Free Willy's handling of it goes, it's largely thanks to the acting that the movie works as well as it does. Jason James Richter gives a committed performance as Jesse, Jayne Atkinson and Michael Madsen are likable as Jesse's foster parents, Lori Petty and August Schellenberg are good as Willy's caretakers and Jesse's eventual friends and the always reliable Michael Ironside manages to make the very stock villain of Dial kind of engaging despite there not being much to him. Willy the whale is brought to life nicely by real life whale Keiko (who was later returned to the wild) and a set of animatronic whales and there is a certain charm to the scenes between Jesse and Willy. Pretty much everything you can fault in Free Willy comes down to the script which is basic to a fault and makes Jesse way too unlikable to excuse some of things he puts people through. While it's understandable to a degree that Jesse would be distrustful of people since he was abandoned by his mother, Jesse never softens his abrasive edges towards his foster parents or even Rae and Randolph all that much and pretty much does everything he can to be awful to the Greenwood's. I'm not saying I want it to be completely positive, but when the only time the character says "sorry" in this movie is sarcastically and it's in regard to the graffiti he put on Willy's tank in the opening it shows that maybe the character was in need of another re-write before being committed to screen. There's never any scene where Jesse expresses guilt, remorse, or shame and the writers seem to think him wallowing in self-pity is a substitute for him making any kind of amends to the people he's casually cold and cruel towards and it just isn't.Free Willy is harmless when taken for what it is, but it's a movie that aims more for the heart than it does for the brain. There's a reason that what most people take away from this film is the iconic "jump" scene because everything surrounding that is competent but also unexceptional.
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