Fly Away Home

A thirteen year old who has lost her mother in a crash moves to her estranged father's farm in Canada. In the woods she finds abandoned goose eggs. The goslings take her for their mother and do not know how to migrate. Her father develops the idea of her leading them south in a light aircraft. The film ties this openly to her grief without ever saying so. Carroll Ballard directed, with Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels. It draws on the work of Bill Lishman, who really did fly with birds, and the flight scenes were shot with real geese rather than effects. Who it's for: families looking for a film about animals and the outdoors. Who it's not for: younger viewers coming unprepared to the crash at the opening; the rest is far gentler.