Comments on: Fly Away Home

By: Nikeeta Sriram

Nikeeta Sriram — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:16:02 +0000

I would give the movie 1.5 out of 4 stars. I personally did not like the plot and script. I was not able to connect with the main characters and had trouble sympathizing with her predicament. It was interesting and contained enough twists and tension to hold my attention for a majority of the movie. However, its blatant subplot of politically correct environmentalism overshadowed an otherwise nice story. Even though it is based on a true story I did not think the extremes the main character went through to help the geese migrate was practical. It did a good job presenting the biological theme of imprinting throughout the novel, where a growing attachment between the geese and their “mother” Amy is shown. Outside of the biological sense I thought it could have used better character development in the relationship between Amy and her father and his girlfriend. All in all I thought it was a decent Disney movie.

Biological Terms: Migration, Imprinting, Conditioning, Instinct, Precautionary Principle, Habitat Decimation, Animal Behavior

By: Nathalie Musey

Nathalie Musey — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 01:11:53 +0000

I would rate this movie a 3 out of 4 stars. I remember watching it when I was little and wanting to imprint baby geese of my own!I thought it was a cute and touching story. I loved the character of Amy, she seemed relate able in many ways. The plot was simple and easy to follow while still incorporating important aspects of biology.I would recommend this movie for families to watch together. It is informative and entertaining for all ages. Some of the biological concepts were incubating eggs, imprinting, migration, and conditioning.

By: Sam Xu

Sam Xu — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:15:29 +0000

I missed the beginning, but I was captivated as Amy’s father was flying around laughing, and eventually crashing. and I thought the middle was sort of slow, and that some events were irrelevant to the plot of the story. Some of the other characters were introduced in strange and sudden ways. The best part of the movie though, was the inspirational and exhilirating flight, as Amy encountered several obstacles along the way, the alarmed and joyful reactions of different people, and she was finally deemed a hero. She started out simply caring for her geese, and ended up saving an entire habitat. I would rate the movie a 3 out of 4.

Biology connections include imprinting when Amy first saw the baby geese, and they would follow her around only, habituation, as the geese became used to staying in their cage, and conditioning, to cause the geese to follow Amy while she was on the plane.

By: Linda Gao

Linda Gao — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:19:49 +0000

I thought the movie could have been more interesting at first, but it got more engaging and dramatic near the end. Thus, I would give the movie 3 stars. While Fly Away Home wasn’t nearly as earth-shattering as movies can be, it was definitely a great biology movie, and I loved the way the geese followed the girl around. It’s definitely a good family movie, with important themes like creating strong familial relationships, defending the defenseless, and preserving the wildlife environment. It was so sad watching the geese get goose-napped, but I loved the scene where they break them out and fly away above the school.
Some biological concepts that were touched upon included imprinting, animal behavior, migration, and other things dealing with the care and lives of the geese.

By: angelena fiorito

angelena fiorito — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:16:07 +0000

This was my first time watching this movie and I would rate it at 3 out of 4 stars. I liked it a lot; often times I don’t like corny inspirational type movies but I enjoyed watching this with my fellow classmates. After we learned about imprinting in class I’ve wanted to try and have little duck followers of my own Amy’s relationship with her father was kind of weird, and the fact that her uncle fell asleep while he was watching her, but I liked the ending and how they created the airplane that looked like a mama goose. This is a movie I could watch with my family, good for anyone at any age. It was well my night back in school. Some biology concepts were imprinting, incubating the goose eggs, conditioning, migration, ecological impacts of development, and behavior.

By: James Sun

James Sun — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:38:42 +0000

I would rate this movie a 2/4, but considering it’s a biology movie, in which case it would score a 3/4, I’ll settle it at a respectable 2.5/4. While this movie focused on father-daughter relationships, death, and biology-related concepts such as wildlife preservation, its main purpose was supposed to be to inspire. In this aspect, the movie failed; Fly Away Home is no match for the likes of Remember the Titans or Braveheart. Then again, sports and violence in movies is much more appealing to me than little geese chasing an eight-year old girl. Despite its severe lack of suspense and nonexistent climax, I was really impressed with the cinematography and how the producers were able to film/train the geese. The military base scene was entertaining, though it seemed out of place. I would say that my favorite part of the movie was when Tom and Amy were wandering the woods after their crash and were confronted by an old lady with a shotgun. It took me totally by surprise. Overall, it’s a semi-decent family film and a pretty good bio movie. It’s definitely AP Bio Movie Night-worthy.
Some bio concepts: imprinting, conditioning, migration, behavior, and habitat destruction
~James Sun

By: Dana Neumann

Dana Neumann — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:20:18 +0000

This was the first time that I saw Fly Away Home. It was a very cute movie that I would recommend to any age. The movie made me want to have geese of my own, considering how adorable they were, especially as babies. The movie started out very sad with the mother’s death and the isolated father-daughter relationship. However, once Amy began taking care of the geese she not only saved them, but also saved her family. The movie had many important messages such as protection of wildlife and values of family. I would give the movie 2.5 stars. Some bio concepts were behavior of animals, such as how the geese imprinted to Amy, and the concept of migration.

By: Nina Luckman

Nina Luckman — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:51:35 +0000

I would give it 2.5 stars out of four. I’ve only seen this movie once before in elementary school, so I didn’t remember everything. Obviously the geese were adorable (especially Igor) and the whole overcoming-the-odds, and subtle defy-the-establishment message was good. The only strictly biological concepts I noticed were the imprinting and migration. The bulldozing of natural landscape and deforestation is more directly related to environmental science/preservation. I thought the film-makers could have integrated a little more action into it. The only real conflicts were the wing-clipping trooper and how to get the geese to follow the plane. I also thought it was interesting that when they went off course through the city airspace, they weren’t shot down. Since 9/11, if that were to happen today they probably would be.

By: Abby Singer

Abby Singer — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:41:04 +0000

I would rate this movie 3 out of 4 stars. I thought the movie was very cute and rather moving. It was quite inspirational with father daughter relationships. I thought it started out sad and didn’t really become happier until the movie was over and the final journey was complete. I thought ideas about ecology were conveyed well. Of course I thought the geese were adorable and you begin to see the true bond she had with them. It was the same bond that a person would have with their dog, just with a different animal. I thought it was all around a good movie and a great movie for families to watch over and over again. Some biology concepts that were in the movie included migration along with a large amount of imprinting. Also, it was explaining ecology conservation of wetlands and lakes for the animals to live in and also how wings are clipped of the birds to prevent hazardous situations.

By: Alex Lorenz

Alex Lorenz — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:49:16 +0000

This was my first time watching the movie since I was very young and therefore very interesting for me to compare my impression this time around to my first impression 7 years ago or so. Surprisingly my impression of it this time was very close to what it was the first time I saw it. I really like the beginning of the movie when the plot is set up by the car crash and the death of the mother. I think that it helped the viewers to empathize with Amy and to understand her point of view throughout the movie. Although the pace is a little slow through the middle I think that over all it is a touching story and that a lot of people understand the characters and why they feel the way they do (for example, Amy’s need to have a connection to something after she’s been forced into this strange, different situation.) Overall I would give the movie a 3 out of 4 because of the rather slow plot developement throughout the middle.

Biology Connection-
Imprinting-Konrad Lorenzo-Birds see Amy during the critical period after hatching and so see her as a mother figure.
Migration- the birds have an inner need to fly north for the winter-instinct