Amy Alden (Anna Paquin) survives a car crash where her mother is killed. She leaves New Zealand to live with her father Thomas (Jeff Daniels) in his ramshackle house in Ontario, Canada. She has no memories of her Canadian home and feels isolated. He's an eccentric inventor artist who flies his homemade glider. Susan Barnes (Dana Delany) is his girlfriend. After a land developer tears down some trees, Amy finds an abandoned nest of goose eggs. She raises the chicks but when the time comes, she has to teach them to fly south.

This is a fine family movie. Anna Paquin is adorable and so are the chicks. The story is gentle feel good. Jeff Daniels is great as the eccentric dad. There is a real free feeling that comes from watching people run around with these geese. There is a minor drama with a wildlife officer and a main one with a land developer. In the end, the drama isn't too high but it's good for the whole family.

Based on a true story, this is a cute and cuddly film for both the kids and the grown-ups. Basically after the death of her mother in New Zealand, 13-year-old Amy Alden (Anna Paquin) goes to Canada to live with her eccentric inventor father Thomas 'Tom' (Jeff Daniels) who she barely knows. Amy is pretty miserable for a while, but after some developers had been tearing down the local forest, she finds a nest of orphaned goose eggs, and she is determined to look after them. When they hatch, they obviously see the first person they see, Amy, as "Mother Goose", and with the help of her Dad, they are determined to preserve, parent, and eventually prepare them to migrate. It is when Tom invents a working microlight and small plane that they can really progress with helping them fly, and the most spectacular journey south begins. Also starring Superman - The Animated Series' Dana Delany as Susan Barnes, Terry Kinney as David Alden, Holter Graham as Barry Stickland, Jeremy Ratchford as DNR Officer Glen Seifert, Deborah Verginella as Amy's Mother and Michael J. Reynolds as General. Daniels and young Paquin both give very appealing performances, and the geese are of course the most cute and cuddly, well, feathery and fun, sight to see, a very heartwarming story. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Cinematography. It was number 95 on The 100 Greatest Family Films. Very good!

I never expected Fly Away Home to be so good, it is a truly extraordinary, poignant and completely lovable family film. Who cares if it starts off slowly? There is so much to redeem this movie, that the pros completely outweigh the minor con.

Fly Away is exquisitely filmed, with breathtaking settings and stunning cinematography. I do think the the film's overall look is its main merit, as well as the truly lovely music score. The script is beautiful, more poignant above all else. And I almost forgot to mention the heartwarming story.

I thought also the performances were outstanding. Jeff Daniels is a revelation as the father, in one of his best performances, and Anna Paquin is just superb in the title role. Of course the scene stealers are the adorable baby geese, but Paquin's chemistry with them, so motherly she was, reduced me to tears on several occasions.

This movie shouldn't be dismissed as an overly sentimental, bittersweet bit of eye candy. It is to me and my entire family, a truly beautiful, well meaning and poignant film for the entire family to treasure for a very long time. I am 17, and I really can't think of anything else to add other than a 10/10. (one of the easiest perfect scores I have given recently) Bethany Cox