Fly Away Home

An inspirational movie from the director of The Black Stallion. The shock opening, however, sets a tone of emotional realism unusual for a children's film. (A car crash leaves 13-year-old Amy traumatised and her mother dead.) The ostensible (true-life) adventure - Amy is shipped to backwoods Canada to live with her eccentric sculptor/inventor father (Daniels), learns to fly a micro-light aircraft in order to reach the breeding grounds of the orphaned geese she's raised - is made a metaphor for the girl's empowerment thanks to the enabling support of her parent. It's a common enough image, but it's realised here without strain. Caleb Deschanel's cinematography is as arresting as Mark Isham's score is discreet. But the performances are key: as Amy, Anna Paquin proves again what an expressive, soulful actress she is, and Daniels' madcap dad is a winning study in hippy ingenuity and indefatigability.