Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home
| Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Dwight H. Little |
| Written by | Karen Janszen Corey Blechman John Mattson |
| Produced by | Jennie Lew Tugend Lauren Shuler Donner Richard Donner (executive producer) |
| Starring | Jason James Richter Keiko the Orca Francis Capra August Schellenberg Mary Kate Schellhardt Michael Madsen Jayne Atkinson Jon Tenney |
| Cinematography | László Kovács |
| Edited by | Robert Brown Dallas Puett |
| Music by | Basil Poledouris |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 95 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home is a 1995 family film, directed Dwight H. Little, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment banner. It is a sequel to the 1993 film Free Willy, also starring Jason James Richter and August Schellenberg. A third film, Free Willy 3: The Rescue, was released in 1997, and a fourth film, Free Willy 4: Escape from Pirate's Cove was released on DVD in Spring 2010.
Plot
Jesse, the boy who freed Willy the orca two years ago, has been adopted by his foster parents, Glen and Annie Greenwood. They have come to the San Juan Island Environmental Institute from which they will embark toward Willy's new habitat. Before they leave town, however, Jesse's counselor informs him that his birth mother, who abandoned him eight years before, has died in New York City. To add to his dismay, Jesse has to contend with the sudden presence of his overly talkative and mischievous younger half-brother, Elvis (Francis Capra), who is a virtual stranger to him. Elvis is prone to telling lies and easily gets on Jesse's nerves. He is invited on their long camping trip so that he and Jesse might get to know one another.
On this trip, Jesse reunites with his old Native American friend Randolph Johnson (August Schellenberg), a shaman, and quickly becomes smitten by Randolph's goddaughter, Nadine (Mary Kate Schellhardt). As the youngsters grow closer, Jesse helps Nadine befriend Willy and his whale siblings, Luna and Little Spot.
As they continue to enjoy their camping trip, an oil tanker runs aground and spills oil into the ocean, trapping the three young whales in a small cove. When word gets out that the whales are trapped and Luna is dying from the oil in her lungs, the president of the oil company (Jon Tenney) arrives with a great plan to move the whales into captivity where they can recover from their injuries. His real plan, however, is to sell the whales to marine mammal parks and have them perform in shows.
Jesse, Nadine and Elvis get the whales away from the cove by stealing the boat belonging to Glen, Jesse's adopted father, and leading them out of the cove to safety, but aren't able to save themselves when the tanker explodes and the oil in the water catches fire. Their boat hits a rock and starts to sink while Glen, Annie, and Randolph set out to find them in Randolph's boat while calling for help. Nadine and Elvis are lifted into a rescue helicopter summoned by Randolph's distress signals, but Jesse slips out of the harness when reaching for the rescue helper's hand and crashes into the water below. Nadine and Elvis scream for Jesse and beg the helicopter to go back down, but the pilot says there's too much smoke and it's choking the engine and flies the chopper away. Jesse surfaces as the chopper leaves, but is unable to stay above water. He goes back underwater and sees Willy swimming towards him. He grabs onto his dorsal fin and Willy brings Jesse to surface. However, they are trapped in the middle of the flames, but Willy is able to swim under them, taking Jesse with him. Once they surface, they come upon Randolph's boat. Glen and Annie pull Jesse aboard and they thank Willy for saving his life. Willy doesn't want to leave, but Jesse tells him he's okay so he can go. Willy still doesn't budge and Jesse looks to Randolph for help who gives him a signal. Jesse understands what it means and pets Willy one last time before giving him a signal to swim away. Willy does and is later reunited with his family again. Later, the rescue workers bring Nadine and Elvis to the boat where they are happy to see Jesse alive. Jesse and Nadine and then Jesse acknowledges Elvis. Elvis tells him he has something for him and hands him a battered, folded up picture which Jesse unfolds and sees that it's a picture of him and his mother. Jesse is stunned and Elvis tells him that he had ripped the picture out of anger, but taped it back together for him. Elvis starts to cry as he tells Jesse that their mother always felt bad about abandoning Jesse, something Jesse never knew. He thanks Elvis for the picture and for finally allowing him to put the past behind him and hugs him. When they part, Elvis asks where Willy, Little Spot, and Luna are and Jesse tells him that they are reunited with their mother again. Elvis asks him how he knows that and Jesse grasps the orca necklace Randolph gave him and tells him that he knows. Jesse then starts whispering the prayer Randolph taught him two years before as the screen fades in on Willy and his family swimming and jumping in the sea.
Cast
- Jason James Richter as Jesse
- Keiko the Orca as Willy
- Francis Capra as Elvis
- August Schellenberg as Randolph
- Mary Kate Schellhardt as Nadine
- Michael Madsen as Glenn Greenwood
- Jayne Atkinson as Annie Greenwood
- Jon Tenney as John Milner
- Mykelti Williamson as Dwight
- Elizabeth Peña as Kate Haley
- Paul Tuerpe as Milner's assistant
- M. Emmet Walsh as Bill Wilcox
- John Considine as Commander Blake
- Steve Kahan as Captain Nilson
- Neal Matarazzo as Helmsman Kelly
Reception
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home received poorly by critics, and currently holds a score of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 reviews.
Music
- Michael Jackson continued his affiliation with the Free Willy franchise, producing and performing the song "Childhood" for this movie.
- The Pretenders performed "Forever Young", heard at the end of the movie when the orcas finally are released in the ocean.