Willy (Keiko) and his sidekick, Jesse (Jason James Richter) are
back. This time their show is entitled FREE WILLY 2: THE ADVENTURE
HOME. What has changed you ask? Well, the whales are as gorgeous and
as inspiring as ever so no change there. Jesse, now 14, has discovered
girls, especially Nadine (Mary Kate Schellhart), but given a choice
between kissing a human girl and a whale, he would go for the whale
every time. Also, in this sequel, they figured they needed a younger
actor to improve the demographics of the audience so voila, an instance
new 8 year old, street tough, lying, half-brother, Elvis (Francis
Capra), that Jesse never knew he had.
Lets play guess the plot. Do you think Willy might get in danger?
Do you think he might get trapped again? Did you get those right? If
not, I'll give you the easiest ones of all. Who is the new villain and
who the new hero? Capitalism in the form of an oil tanker, can't get
more cliched that than, represents evil and environmentalism represents
salvation.
Are you old enough to remember movies where worship meant God and
not the environment? Oh well, every kid in school now comes home
chanting his environmental mantras that the teacher has taught him.
God, of course, is illegal subject matter in public schools, but
environmental dogmas are not only legal but almost obligatory. This
movie, therefore, only follows a safe trend, it is not responsible for
setting it.
FREE WILLY 2: THE ADVENTURE HOME does have a lot going for it, but
after you get tired of watching whales swim and frolic, you realize
that you have just seen all of the good parts. I recommend the
Discovery Channel instead of this movie. The original FREE WILLY
already said it all and much better. This picture added nothing
although I will confess I only gave the original FREE WILLY a mild
thumbs up.
The writers (Karen Janszen, Corey Blechman, and John Mattson)
should have all been fired by the producers (Lauren Shuler-Donner and
Jennie Lew Tugend) and the movie not launched until they had a script
that had something fresh to say. I am sure they were moving at
breakneck speed so that they could get out a sequel and cash in on the
popularity of the original movie. The quality of the script was
secondary to meeting the prime market window with their follow on
product.
FREE WILLY 2: THE ADVENTURE HOME runs 1:38. Adults may fall
asleep before the first excruciatingly long hour has lapsed. Go for
major coffee before entering the theater; you do not want to fall
asleep in your son's lap. The movie is rated PG for animal
endangerment. It has a single human to human kiss and that is actually
the best and most natural scene in the show. Jeffrey, age 6, has been
waiting and waiting for this sequel, and he gave it a thumbs up. If
you son or daughter insists on going, I recommend trying to con your
spouse into going in your place. Avoid this snoozer if you can. I do
award it a single star but solely for the orca footage.
Copyright © 1995 Steve Rhodes
out of 4
