Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home *** (1995, Jason James Richter, Michael Madsen, Jayne Atkinson, M Emmet Walsh, August Schellenberg) – Classic Movie Review 6422

Jason James Richter returns as Jesse, the appealing one-boy save-the-whale campaigner from Free Willy (1993), who this time sets off on a sailing trip with his argumentative half brother (Jon Tenny) and his foster parents (Michael Madsen and Jayne Atkinson), and meets up with Willy, the orca killer whale he saved in part one.

In this attractive Moby Dick meets Huckleberry Finn-style yarn, a Liberian tanker runs aground trailing an oil slick, while the boy saves the whales and stops shady oil company boss from selling Willy to a dodgy marine showman (M Emmet Walsh). The boy also meets up with his Native American coastguard friend and falls for his god-daughter.

Director Dwight H Little’s 1995 family film is a little pleasure – a notch up from the first movie – thanks to the smooth and highly professional handling of better tale with a more subtle balance of sentimentality and political correctness. Children should be well pleased, though for cynical adults there are perhaps too many clichés and too little reality.

This time, after the furore surrounding the health of the real whale used in part one, the whales appear largely courtesy of animatronic models, and these special effects are streamlined and seamless.

Also in the cast are August Schellenberg, Francis Capra, Elizabeth Peña, Mary Kate Schellhardt, Mykelti Wiliamson, Paul Tuerpe, John Considine and Steve Kahan.

It is written by Karen Janszen, Corey Blechman and John Mattson, based on the characters created by Keith A Walker and Corey Blechman, shot in Technicolor by Laszlo Kovacs, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Jennie Lew Tugend, scored by Basil Poledouris and designed by Paul Sylbert.

It was much less popular this time taking $30,077,111 in the US against the original’s $77,698,625.

Free Willy 3: The Rescue followed in 1997, also with Richter.

After a gap, Richter returned to acting in late 2008.

Eventually Free Willy: Escape from Pirate’s Cove followed in 2010, with Bindi Irwin as young heroine Kirra and Beau Bridges.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6422

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com