Product Details

• Actors: Paddle to the Sea
• Directors: Bill Mason
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Criterion Collection
• DVD Release Date: April 29, 2008
• Run Time: 30 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0012Z362G
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,620 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Paddle to the Sea, the short film named after the carved wooden toy boat it tracks through various waterways from Canada to the Atlantic Ocean, is Canadian director William Mason's sweet homage to the 1940s children's book. Like The Red Balloon, Paddle To The Sea folklorically portrays a toy's journey, with a bit of added personification since the whittled boat contains a stoic Native American man carved into its seat. The film begins in a Nipogon log cabin, where a boy laments releasing his newly crafted artwork but soon realizes that setting his toy free is the only way to enliven it. After pouring molten lead into the boat's base to encourage its floating upright, and writing "I am Paddle to the Sea: Please Put Me Back in the Water" on the boat's underside, he drops the boat into a snowy stream and hopes someday it will reach the ocean. Beyond the film's wise message of non-attachment, wonderment is sustained throughout while trying to guess how Mason managed to track this swift-sailing canoe down river rapids, through industrially polluted waterways, and even over Niagara Falls. Fortuitous shots of animals investigating the boat as if to eat it seem almost pre-planned. Cameras strapped onto rafts, lowered down cliffs by rope, and more enabled the director to follow the toy in close-up, as if he were filming a wildlife documentary. Narrated from an omniscient point of view by a man with a soothing storyteller's voice, Paddle to the Sea is a lullaby to tranquility that entertains with simple charm and clever wit. --Trinie Dalton

Product Description
Based on Holling C. Holling s beloved Caldecott-awarded children s book, William Mason s stunning film follows the adventures of a tiny, wood-carved canoe as it forges its own path from Lake Superior through the Great Lakes and down to the Atlantic Ocean. Buoyed by beautiful photography and a sense of true wonder about the sun, Earth, and water, the Academy Award nominated Paddle to the Sea is an unforgettable tribute to the forces of the natural world, as well as a thrilling journey across the waves and rapids of North America.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holling Hollingsworth and Paddle to the Sea, November 22, 2001

By	nanne lynn (Indio, ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paddle to the Sea [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As an English teacher, I am so sorry to read the negative reviews of the two young people. I am in awe of Hollingsworth's ability to tell a good story for students. I own his books, albeit worn and well-read, and I am buying this film for my grandson, so I hope it is the one I saw when I was doing my PHD in children's literature in the early 1970. I have never forgotten the story. Perhaps our young people today are used to blood and guts, and fail to understand there is sweetness in life, too. I love Paddle to the Sea.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not to be missed, February 12, 2008

By	Roland Chrisjohn "wwqlcw" (Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Paddle to the Sea" is the story of a carving of an Indian in a canoe that is placed in the snows of upper Lake Superior, and which has as its goal reaching the Atlantic ocean. A legend written on the carving asks that anyone who finds him please put him back in the water. His passage through lakes, locks, and rivers is depicted in scenes of great beauty alternating with scenes of industrialization and pollution. Whether or not Paddle to the Sea will make it keeps arising as an issue, and the original beauty of the carving degrades as it traverses seemingly insurmountable barriers. This is a movie that MOVES you... an emotional experience as gripping as any, done with simplicity and without dialogue. It should not be missed.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully-restored children's classic., March 1, 2008

By	G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Janus films is releasing three newly-restored classic children's films: The Red Balloon, White Mane, and Paddle to the Sea. Based on Holling Clancy Holling's wildly-popular 1941 children's book, Paddle-to-the-Sea, William Mason's Oscar-nominated film follows the adventures of a boy who carves a wooden model of an Indian canoe and sets it free at Lake Nipigon, Canada, to travel the five Great Lakes to the Atlantic ocean. As the canoe makes its journey from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean, Mason's film captures the wonder and beauty of nature along the the way. This film rivals The Red Balloon and White Mane in its universal appeal to children of all ages. Highly recommended.

G. Merritt