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Free Willy is a 1993 Warner Brothers film about a boy who befriends an orca (killer whale).
Plot When fishermen separate a young orca named Willy from his parents, he ends up in a glorified fishbowl at a marina in the Seattle area. Meanwhile, a street kid named Jesse (Jason James Richter) gets caught vandalizing the marina, but his social worker, Dwight (Mykelti Williamson), helps him avoid legal consequences, provided he cleans up his mess at the marina. While there, Jesse befriends the orca and teaches him tricks, something the trainer, Rae (Lori Petty), had failed to do. However, when Willy is unable to perform effectively in front of the audience, the owner of the marina plans to kill Willy for the insurance money. Thus, Jesse and his friends, including an Indian shaman named Randolph (August Schellenberg), must free Willy. Commentary The aquatic star of this film was an orca named Keiko. The huge national and international success of this movie inspired a letter writing campaign to get Keiko released from his captivity as an attraction in the amusement park Reino Aventura in Mexico City. The film managed to improve the image of orcas, which were previously depicted as shark-like maneaters in popular culture. In fact, they pose little threat to humans unless attacked. Sequels and Spin-offs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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