Stars: Michael Madsen, Lori Petty, Jason James Richter, Jayne Atkinson, August Schellenberg

Director: Simon Wincer

Summary: An abandoned boy in trouble with the police is placed with foster parents. There, he meets Willy, a twenty-two foot long Killer Whale. Together they plan Willy's escape.

Jesse, a homeless orphan who spends his days evading the police, finally gets caught spray painting a whale tank at a local park. Because he distrusts adults intensely, Jesse's not too happy when authorities place him in a foster home and sentence him to clean up the tank he vandalized. Unexpectedly, Willy, the whale who inhabits the tank, takes a liking to Jesse, and the animal and child develop a bond -- a bond that also helps Jesse open up to the adults in his life, including his new parents and the whale's caretakers. But then Jesse learns that Dial, who owns the park, only wants to keep Willy if he can be trained to perform for an audience. Can the boy find a way to save his beloved whale before Dial plays some dirty tricks of his own

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Some of us will never understand why this boy-and-his-whale tale became the hit family film of 1993 and one of the bestselling videos of all time. But it is easy to see how clever marketing and a tear-jerking story could touch the hearts of kids and parents the world over, especially because the endangered Orca whale named Willy is such a majestic creature. The story of Free Willycouldn't be more conventional--it's like Old Yellerand The Black Stallionwith a big sea mammal--but as the boy who comes to Willy's aid against the whale's exploitative owner, young Jason James Richter gives an appealing performance with which children can readily identify. After two sequels and an animated television series, this popular film also had a happy real-life ending: Keiko the whale (who plays Willy) recovered from failing health and was gradually trained to survive outside of captivity. --Jeff Shannon

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Interactive Menus, Scene Access
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish
Year:	1993
Release Date:	September 27, 1999
Runtime:	107 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 018000
Keywords:	Family, Willy, Free, General, Wide, Screen, Childrens
Genre:	Family