Movie #1: Free Willy

Week One and I start out with a Family Friendly picture from the 90s. Free Willy, the story about a troubled child (teen?) bonding with a captive orca. This movie is chocked full of Whimsy and Magical moments of whales swimming which to be honest, didn’t really think it diserved a Victory Score.

Because the movie REALLY wants to hammer in that Willy is a majestic creature because there is a LOT of nature Orca shots. I timed it, the end credits has 5 uninterrupted minutes of orcas swimming. Double that for the beginning and you have 10 minutes of an orca documentary. Plus, they have this weird inspirational music going on in the background to I guess make you Feel with Wonder and Aw! Except the footage was the same thing over and over, and I watch nature documentaries all my life I’m immune to this.

The movie also wants to hammer in that Willy is sad because as the evil redneck fishmen capture Willy with nets, you see the other orca longingly look at each other from the other side. And like..I get the intent, but try looking at an orca’s face and see if it’s sad. It felt more scripted than natural for “orca crying”.

So while Willy is being shipped to Not Sea World, we meet Jesse, a boy who I don’t know his age living on the streets and who I didn’t know his name until he gets into his new foster family. I want to point out that Jesse was stealing food and he literally grabbed the breadsticks and run. Anyway, while running from the cops he got caught graffiti-ing the whale pool (pen? Tank?) and as punishment has to clean it up.

Insert Orca bonding time here. Which, is pretty good. Granted I’m terrified for the child actor being that close to an animal like that, but in the movie it was nice. Jesse talks to Willy, buys him fish with his own allowance, plays with him. Like they are some genuinely nice moments here and you care that the kid cares. Which is good when you center a movie around an animal, the audience needs to care for said animal.

I still have concerns for the well being of this kid though, potential whale injury aside. This kid is left alone constantly. Seriously, his foster dad drops him off at the entrance of the Not Sea World and expects the kid to search around the park for the guy he needs to go himself? No one is watching him as he cleans the tank?? I get giving Jesse like space and respect, but what happens if Jesse decides to just decides to run out again or, I don’t know, gets fucking injured while on the job (Which, guess what guys! It happens!)

The 90s were a wild time.

Then there’s the other adults of this movie. First is Randolph, a guy who works at the sea world park who is from the Haida Tribe. Originally, I wasn’t sure about the character, because I was afraid they were going into the “Native Tribe Mentor To Protag” trope. And while it does play a little into it, it wasn’t anything disrespectful. He shares stories about whales to Jesse who loves them so much. He’s a good guy who takes a little bit to warm up to, just like Jess and Willy (you see the theme here yet?)

Then there are the foster parents and Jesse’s mom. Jesse’s birth mom, not his foster mom. Foster mom is cool and listens to Jesse. Jesse’s birth mom never appears in the movie, and it is made a big deal that she basically abandoned Jesse to Foster Care. But Jesse doesn’t give up hope for her. And everyone else is basically telling him to give up hope for her. Like??? The fuck??? Who tells a kid that??? Point blank aggressively that his mom isn’t fucking coming back and abandoned him?? You ass you’re a case worker you Don’t talk to a child like that! The kid was abandoned when he was 4-6, of course he is still going to be attached to the idea she is coming back! You don’t just push away trauma like that!

And then we get Glen. Fucking Glen. The Foster-mom, Annie, she’s chill and fun, but I do not like Glen. When the social worker came to drop off the paperwork for Jesse to stay in their care, Glen said it was more like “leasing” instead of “buying.” And yeah, Glen did try to bond with Jesse, like play catch and junk, but not good enough. In one full scene he implied that Jesse’s mom is never coming back (you don’t say casual shit like that to the kid), then got mad when Jesse came home late (gee I wonder fucking why), incorrectly told his wife why the hell Jesse was made (“I don’t know why the kid doesn’t like me” bullshit he got scared because of what you said), then they start fucking fighting about Jesse while Jesse overhears upstairs, and to add the nail to the coffin Jesse hears that Glen wished it was just back to him and his wife without Jesse. Like Fuck Off. I get you may be new at parenting, but the fact that you said so many bad shit so fast in one go, god you are such an asshole.

Back to the plot, of you know, protecting the whale. I thought that it would be, you know, environmental reasons or “protect the whales” reason. Not to say that the Other Sea World was perfect, they kept the orca in a dolphin tank for crying out loud. So it would be reasonable to think that they need to free Willy because he was slowly dying of depression or need to reunite with his family or something.

But nope, insurance fraud.

They need to save the Orca, and have their bond tested, because of Insurance Fraud.

Which weird, but also realistic?

I have no complains about the climatic end. It was fun, stressful, had heartfelt moments. My favorite line is the fact that there is no Theft Insurance on Willy, because it is something I specifically asked about literally 2 minutes before I got the answer.

And…this might be a moot point, but the movie cover is a pretty big fucking spoiler, if you think about it.

Final Thoughts: I liked the movie. Granted I was eyeing some of the tropes they did with caution and just Glen overall, but it was pretty wholesome. The kid is a troubled kid trying to find acceptance, there are good whale bonding moments which, while sometimes over-dramatic as hell, can pull at your heartstrings, and there was some decent emotions and acting here. It’s a good family film and something that I would recommend checking out.