Product Details

• Actors: Jeff Daniels
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: April 7, 2009
• Run Time: 108 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001QMCJ1Y
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,800 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

There are some filmmaking teams that invariably bring out the best in each other, and that's definitely the case with director Carroll Ballard and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. They previously collaborated on The Black Stallion and Never Cry Wolf, and Fly Away Home is their third family film that deserves to be called a classic. Inspired by Bill Lishman's autobiography, the movie tells the story of a 13-year-old girl (Anna Paquin) who goes to live with her estranged, eccentric father (Jeff Daniels) following the death of her mother. At first she's withdrawn and reclusive, but finds renewed happiness when she adopts an orphaned flock of baby geese and, later, teaches them to migrate using an ultralight. Sensitively directed and stunningly photographed, the movie has flying sequences that are nothing short of astonishing, and Daniels and Paquin (Oscar winner for The Piano) make a delightful father-daughter duo. (Ironically, the digital video disc is not available in widescreen format, but the image quality is brilliant.) --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

The soaring adventure of a 13-year-old girl and her estranged father, who learn what family is all about when they adopt an orphaned flock of geese and teach them to fly!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yet must I not give Nature all, thy Art?, February 25, 2003

By	Chris K. Wilson "Chris Kent" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Fly Away Home (Special Edition) (DVD)

The multiple chords struck by Carrol Ballard's heartbreaking work "Fly Away Home" are so universal, it is difficult to imagine a person of any gender or any age not being touched in some way by this genuine family film. Make no doubt, "Fly Away Home" is a true classic, timeless in beauty yet timely in theme. So many subjects are tackled, from estranged family dynamics to environmental messages, it is difficult to fully grasp this film's important impact from just one viewing. Each time I view this movie, I come away with new ideas, and a new hope for our common man and woman.

Film director Carrol Ballard has achieved such lofty heights before with his debut film "The Black Stallion" and his stunning follow-up "Never Cry Wolf." Amazingly, he has once again climbed to the top of a very high mountain with "Fly Away Home." The story is anything but simple, but its a tale of a mother, lost in a car accident, thereby forcing the reunion of a daughter and estranged father. He's an eccentric Canadian, living in the country, working on multiple sculptures and experimenting with flying machines. She's a lost soul, seemingly homeless without the guidance of her late mother. Yes, father (Jeff Daniels) and daughter (Anna Paquin) bond, but it's due to the nature which surrounds their rural homestead. In this case, an orphaned flock of geese Paquin raises from birth after the destruction of their natural habitat by encroaching development.

Paquin's character becomes a surrogate mother for these geese, and eventually she must learn to fly to enable the lost birds to travel south for the winter. Daniels accompanies his daughter out of love, and eventually understanding that this has become a rite of passage for his budding, maturing teenage girl. And somewhere along the way, a girl becomes a woman, and a father becomes a man.

Much of the credit for "Fly Away Home" goes to the brilliant cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, who also worked with Ballard on "The Black Stallion" and "Never Cry Wolf." Certainly the musical selection of Mary Chapin Carpenter's haunting "10,000 Miles" is an inspirational if not brilliant choice. But the story is the key, and during a time of changing family dynamics amidst a society of shrinking nature, I can't imagine a film utilizing both themes with such skilled and relevant ease.

"Fly Away Home" is such an important film, not only because a female protagonist breaks away from traditional bonds to find herself (no boy and his dog here), but because a self-centered man/father overcomes his weaknesses to find not only himself, but the person/daughter/child who defines his soul. "Fly Away Home" is about us finding our spirit during a trying time of divorce and misguided independent values. By bonding with the land, and as importantly with our family, we find our true spirit.

And finally, "Fly Away Home" will bring a tear to the most hardened spirit, causing us to hug the ones we love, human or animal. Is that not the purpose of art - film, book, music or otherwise? I have applauded Carroll Ballard before. After "Fly Away Home," I not only applaud this extraordinarily gifted director, I salute him.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ya gotta love it. Instant classic, December 1, 2003

By	Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Fly Away Home (Special Edition) (DVD)

There's not a bad character in this movie, except for the animal control official who persists in locking up the geese. And Anna Paquin just keeps getting better and better and better. She's definitely a child actress who will NOT fade away as she matures.
Story (inspired by an autobiography) is based on a girl who, recently left motherless, is shopped to live with the eccentric dad (Jeff Daniels) she hasn't seen in years. And then she becomes surrogate mother to a flock of motherless goslings who insist on growing up into a flock of geese. Comes time for them to migrate south, and they won't go. The rest of the movie is the harebrained scheme of how the geese are taught to follow `Mom' in an ultralight. Beautifully and astonishingly photographed, this movie is an all around delight, a coming-of-age, a father-daughter bonding, a feel good story that is way more than the sum of its parts.
Ya gotta see it.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fly, April 28, 2003

By	Lee Neville "Lee" (London, ENGLAND) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fly Away Home (Special Edition) (DVD)

"Fly Away Home" tells the story of Amy, a girl from New Zealand who has to stay with her father in Canada after her mother dies. During her time there she finds some goose eggs that later hatch. As soon as the geese hatch the first thing they see is Amy and so they imprint on her, thinking she is their mother. Due to the geese natural instinct to fly south, and the fact that they don't have their real mother to lead the way, Amy with the help of her father attempt to lead the geese south in their own hang gliders.

This is a very simple story done well, helping to create a pretty much perfect family movie. Jeff Daniels as Amy's father and Oscar winning Anna Paquin as Amy are equally fantastic, and I'd also like to give a shout out to Terry Kinney as Amy's uncle who is really quite funny. The directing by Carroll Ballard is brilliant and the cinematography is breathtaking and makes you feel like you are flying with Amy, her Dad and the geese. Not to mention the truly inspirational score by Mark Isham that is helping us along on our journey.

The DVD special features which although not necessarily entertaining are appropriately informative. And also, "Fly Away Home" has been digitally remastered and is presented in widescreen, so it's the best you'll see this movie. I suggest you fly to the store or internet terminal so you can buy this, before it flies off the shelves.