During the first 20 minutes of FLY AWAY HOME, I felt deja vu. I saw a mother (who works in show biz) die in an auto accident, leaving her child to live in an unfamiliar place with a long estranged relative... It wasn't hard to put my finger on where I'd seen the scenario before -- it's the same as BOGUS which I reviewed last night.

In FLY AWAY HOME, just as in BOGUS, the transplanted child has to find something to ease the loss and disorientation. The 7-year-old boy in BOGUS finds an imaginary friend. The 13-year-old girl in FLY AWAY HOME finds an abandoned clutch of goose eggs.

Here the similarity between the movies end. The stories are different, the goals are different, and the overall quality (thank goodness) is different. BOGUS is fake, but FLY AWAY HOME is real. BOGUS is passable, FLY AWAY HOME is an enjoyable view.

The bereft child is Amy Alden, played by Anna Paquin. Recognize that name -- Anna Paquin? She's the little girl who nabbed Best Supporting Actress a few years ago for THE PIANO. She's not quite so little anymore. Her character, Amy Alden grew up in New Zealand (the same place Paquin is from, and the same place THE PIANO is set). After the crash that kills her mother, Amy's dad, Tom Alden (played by Jeff Daniels), takes her to his farm in Ontario, Canada.

Tom Alden is an artist and inventor, big and furry, idealistic and -- in Amy's eyes -- a bit of a weirdo. Tom loves his daughter, but has not been in her life for 10 years. They start to draw closer together when Amy finds and incubates some abandoned Canadian goose eggs. And they form a team when they resolve to save the geese from mandatory pinioning by teaching them how to migrate for the winter.

The script flows well and the performances are convincing. Emotions are seldom spelled out in melodramatic scenes. Rather, they're borne out of ordinary actions of the characters toward each other and the geese. The scene in which Amy sees the hatchlings for the first time is an example -- it's quiet, deeply meaningful and very beautiful.

FLY AWAY HOME is a gorgeous motion picture, a joy to the eyes. Not surprising given its director and cinematographer. Director Carroll Ballard also directed the visually captivating films NEVER CRY WOLF and WIND. Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel shot THE NATURAL and THE RIGHT STUFF. The two teamed up once before to create THE BLACK STALLION. Kind of makes sense, doesn't it?

The images of FLY AWAY HOME are truly rich -- fields and hills, old barns and forges, blankets and goose feathers. Many shots of the Alden farm look like Andrew Wyeth paintings. In fact, there's a shot that seems modeled directly upon Wyeth's "Christina's World" (you know, the painting of the woman waking in the wheat field with the old barn on top of the hill in the distance). I'd be surprised if the similarity were unintentional.

FLY AWAY HOME is nice to *listen* to, as well. The sound design is pleasing and Mark Isham's score both fits into the movie and enhances it. I generally like Mark Isham. He has worked with Ballard before, too, creating the score for NEVER CRY WOLF. An added Isham bonus is a song he collaborated on that is sung by Mary Chapin Carpenter. The song bookends the movie and is critical to its sense of closure.

FLY AWAY HOME isn't without its flaws. For one, it's a bit too long. The last 1/3 of the movie, involving the migratory flight from Ontario to North Carolina, just isn't as engaging as what preceded it. The flight is supposed to be the big payoff, but the drama isn't there. The obstacles along the way are mostly logistical speed bumps. There's some silly mucking around with bad guy developers in North Carolina. But there's no character growth, no learning of new things. The script resorts to stock melodrama scenes and the emotional core that built the movie is lost.

Another thing that bothered me: I know that Tom Alden is an artist and he can put aside his projects to train the geese. But what about his girlfriend and his two buddies who hop onto the project? None of them are getting paid for their help, yet they're on the field with the walkie talkies, in the forest looking for the lost goose, on the highway with the support truck, and in deep trouble when they infiltrate the Parks Department compound.

To be honest, I probably would not have chosen to see FLY AWAY HOME had I not been invited to this screening. I'm glad I went, though. Much like THE FAN, it's good for the kind of movie that it is, albeit not super-great. It's a treat to look at, especially for this time of year (in the Northern hemisphere). I had mourned the closing of Summer, but after FLY AWAY HOME, I'm excited for Fall.

And I'll tell you, a dozen baby geese are a *lot* cuter than Gerard Depardieu as BOGUS.

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