''Fly Away Home'' ( ''Flying Wild'' and ''Father Goose'') is a 1996

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

Carroll Ballard Carroll Ballard (born October 14, 1937) is a retired American film director. He has directed six feature films, including ''The Black Stallion (film), The Black Stallion'' (1979), ''Never Cry Wolf (film), Never Cry Wolf'' (1983), and ''Fly Away ...

. The film stars

Anna Paquin Anna Hélène Paquin ( ; born 24 July 1982) is a New Zealand actress. Born in Winnipeg and raised in Wellington, Paquin made her acting debut portraying Flora McGrath in the romantic drama film ''The Piano'' (1993), for which she won the Aca ...

, Jeff Daniels, and

Dana Delany Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American actress. After appearing in small roles early in her career, Delany received her breakthrough role as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television drama '' China Beach'' (1988–1991), for whic ...

. ''Fly Away Home'' was released on September 13, 1996, by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

. ''Fly Away Home'' dramatizes the actual experiences of

Bill Lishman William Lishman (February 12, 1939 – December 30, 2017) was a Canadian sculptor, filmmaker, inventor, naturalist and public speaker, president of William Lishman & Associates Limited, Vice President of Paula Lishman Limited and Chair Emeritu ...

who, in 1986, started training

Canada geese The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), or Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is o ...

to follow his ultralight aircraft, and succeeded in leading their migration in 1993 through his program "Operation Migration". The film is also based on the experience of Dr. William J. L. Sladen, a British-born zoologist and adventurer, who aided Lishman with the migration.

Plot

After her mother Aliane dies in a car accident, 13-year-old Amy Alden is brought from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, by her estranged father Thomas Alden, a sculptor and inventor, to live with him and his girlfriend Susan. When a construction crew destroys a small wilderness area near the Alden home, Amy finds an abandoned nest of 16

goose A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the ...

eggs. Without Thomas, Susan, or her uncle David knowing, she takes the eggs and keeps them in a dresser in her father's old barn to incubate. When the eggs hatch, she is allowed to keep the goslings as pets. Thomas asks for help from local Animal Regulation officer Glen Seifert on how to care for the geese. Seifert comes over to the Alden house, and explains that the geese have imprinted on Amy as their mother. He explains that geese learn everything from their parents including migratory routes, but also warns Thomas that a private ordinance dictates that all

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes c ...

geese must have their wings pinioned (clipped) to render them flightless. He promptly tries to demonstrate the process with one of the goslings, which upsets Amy. Thomas throws Seifert off his property, only for Seifert to threaten the Aldens that if the birds start flying, he will have to confiscate them. Thomas decides to use an

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

aircraft he had been constructing to teach the birds to fly and show them their migratory routes, but quickly realizes the birds will only follow Amy. Aided by his friend Barry, Thomas teaches Amy how to fly an ultralight aircraft of her own. David knows someone running a

bird sanctuary An animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are brought to live and to be protected for the rest of their lives. Pattrice Jones, co-founder of VINE Sanctuary defines an animal sanctuary as "a safe-enough place or relationship within the cont ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, and arranges for the geese to go to the sanctuary. The birds have to arrive before November 1, or the sanctuary will be torn down by developers who plan to turn it into a coastal housing development. Amy and Thomas practice flying the aircraft, but Igor, the weakest of the geese, who has a limp, accidentally hits the front of Amy's aircraft and lands in an isolated forest. While the group goes off to search for the bird, Glen Seifert returns to the Alden farm and confiscates the other geese. The next day, the Aldens free the geese, and Amy leads them on their migration to North Carolina. Making an emergency landing at

Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station (Niagara Falls Air Force Base -1971) is an Air Force Reserve Command military installation operationally-gained by the Air Mobility Command. It is located adjacent to Niagara Falls International Airport, Ne ...

in western New York on the south shore of Lake Ontario, Amy and Thomas almost get arrested. They become national news, with residents cheering them on. Thomas and Amy meet an old woman with a vendetta against goose shooting, and she invites them to stay the night at her house. That night Amy asks Thomas why he seldom visited her and her mother. From her mother, she knows that her parents were artists, who tend to be selfish, and that her mother left for both of their sakes. Thomas tells her that he was afraid and angry at himself for letting them leave, so he spent the next ten years buried in his work. He apologizes to Amy. Thirty miles before reaching the bird sanctuary, Thomas's aircraft suffers a structural failure and crashes in a cornfield; having suffered a dislocated shoulder he tells Amy to finish the journey by herself. Thomas hitchhikes to the bird sanctuary. While waiting for the geese, Thomas, Susan, David, Barry, and many animal enthusiasts stand up to developers who are waiting to start the excavation of the site. Amy eventually appears with the geese, much to the joy of the townspeople and Amy's family, and to the dismay of the developers. The townspeople and the Aldens celebrate their victory. During the end credits, a note reveals that all 16 geese - including Igor - return to the Aldens' farm on their own in the following spring.

Cast

* Jeff Daniels as Thomas Alden *

as Amy Alden *

as Susan Barnes *

Terry Kinney Terry Kinney (born January 29, 1954) is an American actor and theater director, and is a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Sinise, and Jeff Perry. Kinney is best known for his role as ...

as David Alden *

Holter Graham Holter Ford Graham (born February 11, 1972) is an American actor and voice actor and the son of historian Hugh Davis Graham. He appeared in his first film, Stephen King’s '' Maximum Overdrive'', at age thirteen. He is best known for his fil ...

as Barry Stickland *

Jeremy Ratchford Jeremy Ratchford (born August 6, 1965) is a Canadian actor. He starred as Nick Vera on the TV series ''Cold Case''. Career While in Canada, Ratchford played Marvel Comic book character Banshee in the live action TV super hero film ''Generati ...

as Glen Seifert * Deborah Verginella as Aliane Alden * Michael J. Reynolds as General Hatfield *

David Hemblen David Hemblen (16 September 1941 – 16 November 2020) was an English actor who frequently worked in Canadian film, television and theatre who grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He is known for his role as George in '' La Femme Nikita'', Customs insp ...

as Dr. Killian * Ken James as Developer * Nora Ballard as Jackie * Sarena Paton as Laura * Chris Benson as Farmer *

Gladys O'Connor Gladys O'Connor (28 November 1903 – 21 February 2012) was a British-born Canadian character actress. Born in London, O'Connor moved with her family to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1912, eventually settling in Toronto. After several decades ...

as Farm Woman

Songs

*" 10,000 Miles" performed by

Mary Chapin Carpenter Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

*"Wherever You Are" (End titles) performed by Mary Chapin Carpenter

Production

To recreate the Alden home, principal photography took place in 1995, at two farms near Lindsay in southeastern Ontario. The township had also been the setting for ''

A Christmas Story ''A Christmas Story'' is a 1983 Christmas comedy film directed by Bob Clark and based on Jean Shepherd's semi-fictional anecdotes in his 1966 book '' In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash'', with some elements from his 1971 book ''Wanda Hickey's ...

'' (1983), and later '' A Cool Dry Place'' (1998). The blacksmith shop constructed onsite for the filming of ''The Last Buffalo'' at Purple Hill, Ontario was re-used as part of the Alden homestead. Two gliders were featured in the film: The

UFM Easy Riser The UFM Easy Riser is an American swept wing biplane hang glider that was first powered in 1975, becoming the first modern ultralight aircraft. The Easy Riser was still in production as an unpowered glider in 2002 by Ultralight Flying Machin ...

and the Cosmos Trike. The Easy Riser first appears as a foot-launched biplane hang glider. True to Lishman's real-life saga, modifications were made to improve the design including the addition of a motor and seat. Anna Paquin's character instead flies an A-frame Cosmos Trike with a mock goose head mounted to the noseplate of the airframe and a fabric wing covering painted to resemble feathers. The Cosmos Trike was reportedly chosen for its safety, superior engine power, and increased wing size (a feature that was needed to fly slow enough for the birds)."Ultralight Aircraft."
''williamlishman.com''. Retrieved: March 20, 2010. The four-day trip home for the geese that would take them to Lake Ontario, over the Appalachians to Pennsylvania, Maryland, finally settling on the North Carolina Shores, had principal photography actually filmed nearly entirely at

Port Perry Port Perry is a community located in Scugog, Ontario, Canada. The town is located northeast of central Toronto and north of Oshawa and Whitby. Port Perry has a population of 9,453 as of 2016. Port Perry serves as the administrative and commerc ...

and

Sandbanks Provincial Park Sandbanks Provincial Park is a provincial park located on Lake Ontario in Prince Edward County near Picton, Ontario, Canada. The park is considered one of the best sandy beaches in Ontario and contains the largest bay-mouth barrier dune f ...

, Ontario, Canada. Additional location shots were the city-fly-through in Toronto, Ontario, standing in for Baltimore, Maryland (CGI aircraft). "'Fly Away Home': Leading the Flock."
''HBO special'', airdate: August 1996. At the conclusion of the production, Lishman led the 60 imprinted "actor-geese" in migration, to winter at the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center off the coast of

Georgetown, South Carolina Georgetown is the third oldest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina and the county seat of Georgetown County, South Carolina, Georgetown County, in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census ...

. While in production, the film was at first titled ''Flying Wild'', but was changed to ''Fly Away Home'' just weeks before its release in movie theaters. The original trailer has the title ''Flying Wild'', and can be found on certain VHS copies of ''

Jumanji ''Jumanji'' is a 1995 American fantasy adventure film directed by Joe Johnston from a screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor, and Jim Strain. Loosely based on Chris Van Allsburg's picture book of the same name, the film is the first i ...

'' from

Columbia TriStar Home Video Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...

;Maslin, Janet
"Overview: 'Fly Away Home' (1996), Alternate title: 'Flying Wild, Father Goose'."
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', September 13, 1996. the French version title (''L'Envolée sauvage'') is the translated version of this title. Director Carroll Ballard and cinematographer

Caleb Deschanel Joseph Caleb Deschanel, (born September 21, 1944) is an American cinematographer and director of film and television. He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography six times. He is a member of the National Film Preservatio ...

previously collaborated on ''The Black Stallion'' and ''Never Cry Wolf'' with ''Fly Away Home'' being their third family film. Anna Paquin, who plays daughter to Jeff Daniels in ''Fly Away Home'', would later play a love interest in ''

The Squid and the Whale ''The Squid and the Whale'' is a 2005 American independent comedy-drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach and produced by Wes Anderson. It tells the semi-autobiographical story of two boys in Brooklyn dealing with their parents' divorc ...

'' (

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

). Upon the release of the ''Squid and the Whale'', Jeff Daniels said that having had the previous experience made the filming a bit awkward for both of them.

Reception

Box office

Filmed on a modest budget, ''Fly Away Home'' returned US$25 million in the U.S. box office and US$31 million internationally.

Critical reception

Audiences and critics enjoyed the evocative, uplifting family-oriented film which also received critical acclaim.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

noted: "There are individual shots here almost worth the price of admission... ncludinga stunning shot in which the towers of Baltimore materialize from the mist, and office workers see the little girl and her geese flying past their windows."

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

from ''The New York Times'' was similarly effusive, "Mr. Ballard turns a potentially treacly children's film into an exhilarating 90's fable."Maslin, Janet
"Fly Away Home (1996)."
''The New York Times'', September 13, 1996.

Gene Shalit Eugene Shalit (born March 25, 1926) is an American retired journalist, television personality, Film criticism, film and Literary criticism, book critic and author. After starting to work part-time on NBC's ''Today (American TV program), The Toda ...

on the ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It w ...

'' called the film "a must see movie". The uplifting theme of the film was often cited; Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat stated, "The movie adds excitement and emotion, turning into a celebration of the creative ways human beings and animals can serve, assist, and love one another." ''Fly Away Home'' received an 88% approval rating from

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The site's consensus states: "Well-acted and beautifully filmed, ''Fly Away Home'' offers heartwarming entertainment for moviegoers of all ages.""Fly Away Home (1996)."
''rottentomatoes.com''. Retrieved: May 20, 2021.

Awards

Caleb Deschanel's visuals received notice and resulted in Best Cinematography nominations for the 1996 Academy Awards and from the

American Society of Cinematographers The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), founded in Hollywood in 1919, is a cultural, educational, and professional organization that is neither a labor union nor a guild. The society was organized to advance the science and art of cinem ...

. Although unsuccessful in both competitions, ''Fly Away Home'' went on to win the 1997 Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics Choice Award as the Best Family Film, the 1997 Christopher Award (for family films), 1997 Young Artist Award in the category of Best Family Feature – Drama, and the 1997 Genesis Award for Feature Films. Anna Paquin was also nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress (the film was also nominated as Best Family Feature – Drama) and the 1997 YoungStar Award for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film.

Home media

''Fly Away Home'' was more successful on

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

than in theaters. , the studio sold an estimated $32 million on video, receiving 75% of revenue. The film was originally released to VHS in December 1996. A DVD release in July 2002, included the exclusive featurette by Bill Lishman, ''Operation Migration: Birds of a Feather'', along with two documentaries: ''The Ultra Geese'' and the HBO special ''Leading the Flock''. The DVD also provided a link to Lishman's "Operation Migration" website. A companion CD audio recording of the music featured in the soundtrack was released in 1996."Fly Away Records FLY-CD 79258."
''Soundtrack Collector''. Retrieved: May 9, 2011. A

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

edition of ''Fly Away Home'' was released on April 7, 2009.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* ''Fly Away Home'' (Special Edition DVD). Culver City, California: Columbia/Tristar Home Video, 2001. * Hermes, Patricia. ''Fly Away Home: The Novelization and Story Behind the Film''. New York: Newmarket, 2005. . * Lishman, Bill (as stated). ''Father Goose & His Goslings'' (Light Up the Mind of a Child Series). St. Louis, Missouri: San Val, 1992. . * Lishman, William Alwyn. ''Father Goose: One Man, a Gaggle of Geese, and Their Real Life Incredible Journey South''. New York: Crown, 1996. .

External links

* * * {{Carroll Ballard 1990s coming-of-age drama films 1990s teen drama films 1996 drama films 1996 films American aviation films American coming-of-age drama films American teen drama films Canadian aviation films Canadian coming-of-age drama films Columbia Pictures films Coming-of-age films based on actual events Drama films based on actual events Films about birds Films about families Films about friendship Films based on biographies Films directed by Carroll Ballard Films scored by Mark Isham Films set in New Zealand Films set in Ontario Films set in New York (state) Films set in Pennsylvania Films set in Baltimore Films set in Virginia Films set in North Carolina Films shot in New Zealand Films shot in Toronto New Zealand coming-of-age drama films Films about father–daughter relationships 1990s English-language films 1990s American films 1990s Canadian films