Blast from the Past: Free Willy (1993)

[odog]

Driving a tour bus I often pass the area where they shot most of Free Willy 3: The Rescue.

So after I point that out I tell people they just finished filming the next one: Willy's Revenge.

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

thanks for bringing up good memories bro

 

[DoomPatrol]

Haven't seen all of the follow up movies, but the first one is a classic. It's simply a great movie that's family friendly. Who doesn't love orcas? They are such phenomenal creatures with incredibly intelligent brains.

 

[mb23100]

I've got all the sequels downloading. I'm curious to see what they're all about and to see how the series evolves.

 

[Guestx]

View attachment 311093

LOL.

What can I say, whenever I start a series and enjoy the first film, I always feel compelled to keep going and see what the filmmakers did with the sequels.

It's the same reason why I've watched all the Resident Evil movies, all the Underworld movies, and all the Fast and the Furious movies.

 

[Guestx]

If nothing else, bad sequels tend to have a certain quality of charming ridiculousness going for them. Like The Neverending Story sequels. Or The 3 Ninjas? Remember High Noon at Mega Mountain featuring Hulk Hogan? Maybe I'll give in and watch Home Alone 6 tonight...

What, in your opinion, is the best Disney movie sequel? Aladdin and the King of Thieves was pretty solid.

LOL, I tried watching High Noon at Mega Mountain back in the day and couldn't get through it. I did kind of like 3 Ninjas Kick Back though.

Regarding the Disney sequels, I have to say, I haven't seen a single one. Though I have considered watching the Lady and the Tramp sequel just because I enjoyed the first one so much. I've heard it's not very good, though.

 

[CrimsonFan]

trying to think of a good Disney sequel, drawing a blank

 

[TheRuthlessOne]

Was born in 91, have probably seen 1&2 50 times each lmao

lol I seen the first one about 50 times

Good movie

 

[rocketskates]

Thank God you let us know. I have been anxiously waiting your response all day and you finally let the world know how you felt. I will now be able to sleep easy tonight knowing that Free Willy isn’t your thing.

Hell yeah, get his ass!

 

[The Diplomat]

I remember seeing it in theaters as a kid, then a whole bunch on VHS.

 

[blaseblah]

Lol shadow at it again. Downloading the Free Willy sequels instead of watching the Lethal Weapon series.

 

[Guestx]

Lol shadow at it again. Downloading the Free Willy sequels instead of watching the Lethal Weapon series.

If it makes you feel any better, I have the LW sequels downloaded as well.

 

[Madmick]

The real whale got released but ended up dying within a year.

12:01AM GMT 14 Dec 2003

Keiko, the killer whale that starred in the film Free Willy, died yesterday, a year after being released into the wild where it remained dependent on humans until the end.

The 35ft-long, six-ton orca became too ill to eat and died of pneumonia, bringing to a sad conclusion a five-year, $20 million (£12.5 million) attempt to help Keiko to adapt to life back at sea.

Dane Richards, Keiko's animal care specialist, announced the whale's death in a Norwegian fjord yesterday, saying that disease had struck the 27-year-old orca quickly.

"Two days ago he began to be a bit lethargic and wouldn't accept food. We suspect he came down with a bit of pneumonia. We checked his respiration rate and it was a little irregular. He wasn't doing too well. Early in the evening, he passed away," he said.

Keiko became the centre of worldwide attention after the release of Free Willy in 1993. In the film, a killer whale is coaxed by a young boy to jump over a sea park wall to freedom. Reality proved more difficult.

The grand lesson was not to capture them and hold them in captivity in the first place. Thankfully, Blackfish did much more to get us there.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I've got all the sequels downloading. I'm curious to see what they're all about and to see how the series evolves.

I still can't believe there are four of those motherfuckers.

 

[Pugilistic]

Loved the shit out of it as a kid.

 

[gspieler]

 

[Adamant]

I've got all the sequels downloading. I'm curious to see what they're all about and to see how the series evolves.

I still can't believe there are four of those motherfuckers.

I never saw the Bindi one.


Another thing to consider, the first two were both theatrical releases while the third was a direct to video movie.

 

[pookiyama]

The best Disney sequels are Mulan 2, Johnny Tsunami 2, & Brink. Though technically Brink was a pre-quel to Point Break.

 

[equus]

Oh yeah, I was actually surprised by the cast.

Michael Madsen, Michael Ironside and Lori Petty all show up in this thing. I did not expect all that.

i watched it about 6 months ago with my kids. they loved it. i forgot the foster mom is Catherine Durant on house of cards.

 

[BARNUM]

Last night I was drunk and was looking around on Netflix for something to watch and ran across Free Willy. I saw the movie once, way back when it first came out, but remembered almost nothing about it sans the basic concept and the shot where Willy jumps over the rocks.

So I was like, fuck it, let me watch Free Willy. It should be interesting to revisit it after all these years.

I have to say, I did kind of enjoy it. I was thinking that as I watched it my memory of the film might come back, but no, not really, it was pretty much like watching it for the first time. I'd say it's a fairly enjoyable and heartwarming family film that doubles as a "save the whales" public service announcement. In fact, there's even a phone number at the end of the movie that you can call to donate to the actual Save The Whales campaign and, according to the IMDB trivia, so many people called that the film resulted in $20 million in donations.

I also learned that--holy fucking shit!--there are THREE sequels to this motherfucker! I had no idea. The most recent one stars Bindi Irwin.

Who here remembers Free Willy? Thoughts on it? Any fond childhood memories of watching this film?

Was my favorite movie for a few years. Michael Jackson on the soundtrack made it for me. Fond memories but would be hard to sit through now.