Customer Reviews

Restless Spirits

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was very pleasantly surprised by this film.I was expecting the usual insulting kiddie fair but instead got a well-made, subtle and heart-felt ghost story.The cast in this is very good,with the excellant Marsha Mason turning in another fine performance,and the actors playing the spectral pilots are witty and convincing.Also Juliana Wimbles is a real find.The beautiful young actress finds the fiesty spirit and wounded heart of the girl who discovers the spirits of two missing pilots,and the relationship she develops with them,and how they eventually help each other find what they have always been searching for is surprisingly moving,but not in a bombastic way.This is a very small film,and could easily fall through the cracks,but give it a chance.I think this,along with "Fly Away Home" is a rare example of films that are ideal for kids,but can also be enjoyed by intelligent adults.

Some films never quite make it to the big time which is a shame because they have so much too offer but don't have the pulling power of a big name star behind them. "Restless Spirits" is such a film that has been overlooked and because of this many people are missing a treat of a film. Juliana Wimbles plays a young girl Katie traumatized by the death of her test pilot father. With her younger brother she is sent by her mother to stay with her Grandparents in Newfoundland. In trying to come to terms with the loss of her father she finds herself drawn into a 70-year-old mystery, the disappearance of two French aviators who were trying to beat Lindburgh on his epic journey across the Atlantic in 1927. The two pilots were killed when their plane crashed into a swamp one foggy night and their spirits are doomed to return whenever go reappears. Katie, sensitive to her own recent loss soon realizes that her two new ghostly friends will never find peace unless they can continue the journey that was so tragically cut short 70 years previously. Through shear determination Katie manages to retrieve most of the plane and put it back together with duct tape and tarpaulin. Unfortunately aviation historians are hot on the trail of the two missing pilots and whisk away the plane before Katie can decide how she is going to set her friends free. Aided by a skeptical young friend the young girl sets about helping the ghostly pilots make that one last journey that will free their restless spirits. The ending is a joy to watch, with wonderful special effects, a haunting musical score, and acting that brings a lump to your throat. Only watch this film if you want a gentle, slow moving plot about human nature, the strength of the human spirit and the dream that life after death just might be real. All in all, an excellent film for all the family.

This Showtime movie is available on video and we rented it from Blockbuster. The story is well-written and wraps up nicely at the end...just what the kids are looking for. I was intrigued by the overlap of time periods and weaving the father's interest in aviation and the impact of his death on his daughter. My kids watched it twice and were moved both times.

Aviation Buffs will enjoy this story of 2 aviators trying to make first Transatlantic flight from France to USA. After crash landing in Newfoundland the deceased aviators spirits are seen by a girl with *The Gift* of being able to see them. The girls deceased father, a test pilot, had same insight. When they tell her there story she decides to help them retrieve their crashed plane from lake and help them to assemble plane to so they can continue their journey. Superb storyline that whole family can enjoy. Excellent ending, Don't miss this one. AAAAAAA+++++++

This is a paste from my IMDB review of the VHS tape. I am *so* happy that this is now on DVD. After publication of my review I was contacted by a French fellow who was researching the flight:

Shown on Showtime as "Restless Spirits," this is a fine tale of a pair of aviators flying from France to Newfoundland trying to be the first to cross the Atlantic. They crash in an odd fog and every time that fog reappears they crash again with no memory of the previous crashes.

At the time of the story it is sixty years later and they don't know that Lindbergh won the prize for the first crossing and they don't know they are ghosts.

The protagonist is the 12-year-old Juliana Wimbles playing Katie who finds them and figures out both their problem and the solution while they help her come to terms with her father's death in a test plane crash and with her mother's new romance.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and expect to view it over and over just as I see such similar movies as "Groundhog Day," "Somewhere in Time," and "Time at the Top" over and over.

Restless Spirits is a nice Canadian movie, but it did not have an enormous budget or well-known cast (apart from Oscar-nominee Marsha Mason.)

Basically, a girl in 1997 discovers crash-landed French aviators from 1927 on a foggy night, and is the only one who can see them. She helps them recover and repair their airplane so they can continue the quest to be the first men to cross the Atlantic in a plane (their attempt was 2 weeks before Lindbergh's).

The actors playing the historical characters of French aviators Nungesser and Coli were very good and entertaining, and frankly, their interaction was the best part of the movie.

The other plot aspects of the movie (girl not getting along with mother, etc, and rocky friendship with a local boy) were OK. The lead actress, who was quite good as well, seemed a couple years older than her character's 12 years, but that is typical movie casting.

This is like a low-budget Disney movie (but not too sweet), so it is pretty safe for family viewing, though a young girl slips in one "S" word off camera, and a tee-shirt has an "E" logo and the word "Egotesticle" on it - which I found amusing.

My only "problems" were with the reality parts (such as 2 men lifting an engine weighing at least 350 lbs, etc, and some other "convenient" circumstances), but not the fantasy parts.

The movie is an interesting blend of drama, fantasy, and aviation history. Though I'm way past the Disney age group, I enjoyed it for what it was.

David Wellington's award winning "Restless Spirits" is a family film much on the order of "The Boy Who Could Fly". The restless spirits belong to an actual pair of 1927 French aviators who aviation historians believe made a successful transatlantic flight two weeks before Charles Lindbergh did in May, 1927. Their names were Charles Nungesser & Francois Coli (humorously played by Lothaire Bluteau & Michel Monty) and the prevailing theory is that they crashed in a isolated area of Newfoundland.

These two ghosts are tangible and approachable, even friendly although Nungesser works hard to give an unpleasant impression. Adults looking for gore, scares, and atmosphere will be disappointed although the film does succeed at developing a decent amount of tension.

Juliana Wimbles does a nice job as Katie, a twelve-year-old who has not yet accepted the death of her test pilot father and whose mother has parked her and her younger brother at their paternal grandmothers while playing around in Europe with a new romantic interest. Marsha Mason plays the grandmother who has had little contact with the two children prior to this visit. She happens to live near a haunted pond and in the tradition of "Sixth Sense" Katie soon discovers that only she and her brother can see the ghosts.

Because of her father's occupation Katie has a natural bond with the two French aviators and figures out why they have not passed on. In 1927 they became lost in the fog and crashed into the pond, on foggy days they must repeat the events that led to their deaths. Katie enlists the help of Andy (Ben Cook), a young neighbor who has a crush on her. They work to restore the wrecked plane so the ghost's can finally escape the pond. Suspense is generated by the interference of Andy's nasty sister, and by the competition of two archaeologists who are trying to unravel the unsolved mystery of the doomed flight.

In the process Katie is able to finally come to terms with the loss of her father. She gains an understanding of death from the disparate reactions of the two aviators to their ghostly situation. Nungesser, the pilot, is upset about losing out on the fame of the first transatlantic crossing and embarrassed at crashing. Coli, the navigator/mechanic is crushed by the realization that he will never see his family again. Katie begins to understand that her father was a mix of these two sets of motivations. Pay attention to Katie's interactions with the two aviators because it is in this substitute father/daughter dynamic that the film transcends the ordinary ghost story.

This is a well scripted and pleasant film with a very original premise that the whole family should enjoy, but don't expect shock and horror.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Marsha Mason (Goodbye Girl) plays the grandmother with an earthy, wise charm.

1927 Single engine biplane took off from France attempting to make first non-stop flight from Paris to New York.

Sex and death, two of the hardest topics to discuss with your children. This movie would open a discussion on either. Not that there is Any sex but there is a sweet puppy love attraction by preteens.

It is a very logical and well presented ghost story (not too scary). They (the dead pilots) can touch items from their time and ours such as the ground and trees. Fairly good special effects, what is better than fog for a ghost story? The young girl is smart and courageous, excellent female leed but not feminist. An inspired, uplifting ending which helps her deal with the untimely death of her father is wonderful and fulfilling.

very quick mailing,good quality product a movie i haven't seen in a very long time amazon has a huge amount of old and new videos.i advise all who read this to go to amazon.com and check out their products.

This is well worth the chance to see an unusual twist on past life experience made "real" for a young girl feeling displaced and deprived of her father's presence as she is given a chance to rescue two pilots and her own regrets at her last moments with her pilot father. A well thought out and endearlingly portrayed portrait.