Warner Bros. | 2009 | 101 mins. | Rated PG
Free Willy: Escape from Pirate’s Cove got a direct-to-DVD release in March, and it’s a film that likely deserved a better fate. The movie is charming enough to have found a sizable family-centric audience had it been released theatrically. The fourth in the Free Willy series of films, this one stars Bindi Irwin—yes, that Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, and the star of her own show, Bindi the Jungle Girl. Since we all know Bindi grew up around animals, having her star in a movie alongside a killer whale seems like a natural career move.
Irwin plays a girl of about ten or eleven named Kirra Cooper, whose father (Kevin Otto), a veterinarian, falls and breaks his arm. Hospitalized for six weeks, he sends young Kirra off to live with her grandfather, Gus (Beau Bridges), for a while. Gus lives on the coast of South Africa, where he runs a broken-down, seaside amusement park called “Pirate’s Lair.”
During a terrible storm at sea, a young orca becomes separated from his pod and winds up trapped in the cove in front of Gus’s park. Naturally, Gus thinks the animal could be a boom to his floundering business; he figures people will line up to see this huge whale. Kirra sees a poor, endangered creature and wants to reunite it with its pod. Meanwhile, an unscrupulous rival amusement-park owner (Stephen Jennings) wants the orca for himself. So we have everything in place for a kid friendly, predictable plot.
As with many kids’ films, Escape from Pirate’s Cove offers cuteness at nearly every turn. There are cuddly animals everywhere you look. In what seems like one day after the orca arrives, Kirra has named it “Willy,” and the grandfather is selling tickets to see it, along with stuffed orca dolls and T-shirts with the name “Willy” emblazoned on them. As I said, there isn’t much plot, and things seem to happen quickly. However, most young children I know aren’t that interested in the finer points of how to create a good script; they’d rather look at cute, cuddly animals.
Children get a bit of a lesson on echolocation, which is a good thing. Also, Bridges character is a disillusioned fellow who has squandered his life and his money away and become the black sheep of the family. Yet he is extremely charismatic and should appeal to most young viewers. And, needless to say, Bindi Irwin is as cute, charming and at ease with the animals, so what more could a young person want?
The Warner video engineers use a VC-1 codec to transfer the movie to disc in its original aspect ratio, 1.85:1. The high-definition color and object delineation vary quite a bit throughout the film, but it’s never less than OK. Some shots are clear as a bell, sharp and detailed, while others are soft and light. Colors outdoors are usually bright, while colors indoors can seem as though they were shot with natural lighting, slightly veiled.
The soundtrack comes via lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 but it doesn’t always have a lot to do. While scenes like the storm at sea show us what the soundtrack can do, with deep bass and excellent surround activity, most of the film dialogue driven.
The disc includes English and French spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Free Willy: Escape from Pirate’s Cove offers the following special features:
• Meet My Wild Co-Stars (HD, 3:10) Showing all the living animals used to make the film. Kids will love this, and wish the movie featured more of these animals.
• Bindi’s First Movie Video Diary (HD, 4:28) Home video that follows Bindi around during film.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 2:08) One short scene and one expanded scene. One could understand why they were cut, as they aren’t very funny, nor do they advance the plot.
• Outtake (HD 1:30) With an intro from Bindi. An interesting look at some of the improvising she was asked to do.
• Free Willy Pop-up Fun Track Runs the length of the movie. Occasional tidbits about marine life, making the movie, and the stars.
• A Standard-Definition DVD and a Standard-Definition Digital Copy for iTunes and Windows Media (the offer expiring March 21, 2011).
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