Free Willy

FREE WILLY (U)

D: Simon Wincer

Warner Bros./Canal/Regency/Alcor (Jennie Lew Tugend & Lauren Shuler-Donner)

USA 🇺🇸 1993

112 mins

Adventure/Drama

W: Keith A. Walker & Corey Blechman

DP: Robbie Greenberg

Ed: O. Nicholas Brown

Mus: Basil Poledouris

Jason James Richter (Jesse), Keiko (Willy), Lori Petty (Rae), Jayne Atkinson (Annie), August Schellenberg (Randolph), Michael Madsen (Glen), Michael Ironside (Dial)

Ecological-minded animal story about a young boy who forms a friendship with a killer whale threatened with extinction. The sentimental story captivitated audiences at the time and had a lot of appeal with a young target market, but it's really just an aquatic spin on Lassie with a rather cheesy ending (given away on the film poster) which has been parodied countless times. A couple of sequels followed, all of which used the exact same formula.

6/10