Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dwight Little
Written by	Karen Janszen Corey Blechman John Mattson
Based on	Characters by Keith A. Walker
Produced by	Lauren Shuler Donner Jennie Lew Tugend
Starring	Jason James Richter August Schellenberg Jayne Atkinson Jon Tenney Elizabeth Peña Michael Madsen
Cinematography	László Kovács
Edited by	Robert Brown Dallas Puett
Music by	Basil Poledouris
Production companies	Le Studio Canal+ Regency Enterprises Alcor Films Shuler-Donner/Donner
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	July 19, 1995 (1995-07-19)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$31 million[1]
Box office	$68 million[2]

Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (also known as Free Willy 2) is a 1995 American family adventure drama film directed by Dwight Little from a screenplay by Karen Janszen, Corey Blechman and John Mattson. It is the sequel to the 1993 film Free Willy and second installment in the Free Willy film series distributed by Warner Bros. under their Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label. Jason James Richter, Jayne Atkinson, August Schellenberg, Michael Madsen and Mykelti Williamson reprise their roles from the first film. New cast members include Jon Tenney and Elizabeth Peña. Unlike the previous film where Keiko played Willy, a robotic double created by Edge Innovations was used to play the eponymous whale while the Free Willy Keiko Foundation devised a plan to bring Keiko to the Oregon Coast Aquarium where he would be rehabilitated from poor health. However, Keiko did make an uncredited appearance, reprising his role as Willy through an archival clip shown in the movie. The plot, taking place two years after Jesse freed his orca friend Willy whose now reunited with his family which includes sister Luna, brother Littlespot and mother Catspaw, follows Jesse in a race against time after an oil spill separated Willy and his siblings from their mother and it's up to him to get them back home before the oil traps them in the cove for good.

Filming commenced in Astoria, Oregon and the San Juan Islands between April and August 1994 with additional filming taking place in California.

The film opened on July 19, 1995 to mixed reviews from critics. Despite underperforming at the box office, a third film Free Willy 3: The Rescue was subsequently released in 1997.

Plot

The Greenwoods are planning a trip to the San Juan Islands to visit Randolph while camping at Camp Nor'Wester. Before they leave, Jesse discovers from Dwight through Annie that his mother was found dead in New York City and left behind another son. The news devastates him after many attempts at finding her, but comes to terms after talking his feelings out with Glen. Jesse's half-brother Elvis is morose, overly talkative and mischievous, and he is also prone to telling lies and easily gets on Jesse's nerves. To make matters even worse for Jesse, Elvis is invited so that they can get to know each other. At the environmental institute, Jesse reunites with Randolph, quickly becomes smitten with his goddaughter, Nadine, and is introduced to Willy's family during a day of whale watching. He tracks and later reunites with Willy that night.

As the Greenwoods continue to enjoy their camping trip, Liberian oil tanker the Dakar runs aground on Lawson Reef and spills oil due to an engine malfunction, trapping Willy, Luna and Littlespot at the campsite. Luna gets oil in her lungs having swum through it, and beaches herself. Jesse and the adults are able to get her back in the water, but realize they'll need further assistance. Benbrook Oil CEO John Milner arrives and announces a plan to move the whales into captivity until further notice. Jesse challenges this, making him promise to do whatever he can to get them safely back to their mom Catspaw or else he'll be blamed for Luna's death, to which John seemingly agrees. Luna's condition worsens the day after Kate Haley treated her. Jesse and Randolph eventually use an old Indian remedy that helped Luna recover.

With the oil spill reaching dangerous proximity to the cove, Benbrook Oil and the whalers boom it off despite Jesse, Randolph and Nadine's objections and begin extracting the whales. Elvis, who ran away after Annie accidentally broke a promise in allowing him to get involve more, was at a donut shop where he overheard John and Wilcox's real plan to sell the whales, and rushes back to camp to warn Jesse and Nadine. They confront John which led to him and his assistant getting knocked into the water for breaking his promise. Willy manages to rescue Littlespot from the extraction. Jesse hijacks the Little Dipper to lead the whales to safety. On Jesse's signal, Willy is able to break the boom and leads his siblings away. The Dakar explodes due to fuel vapors igniting after engineers tried to start the generator, resulting in crude oil to catch fire.

Randolph picks up Glen and Annie, who just spotted Elvis after returning from their unsuccessful search for him, and the three follow the kids' path as Randolph sends a distress call. The whales were able to swim under the flaming oil to safety. The kids fall into danger when they head into another cove, but the fogginess from the smoke caused Jesse to hit a rock and the Little Dipper begins to sink while the flames seal off the cove. A search and rescue helicopter locates them, and Elvis and Nadine are pulled to safety. However, Jesse slips out of the harness, only inches away from the helicopter, and due to smoke choking the engine, it is forced to leave him behind. Jesse nearly drowns, but Willy returns for his friend and is able to carry him safely under the fire in time for the adults to retrieve Jesse. Though Jesse was curious as to why Willy won't leave, Randolph reveals the signal must be performed. Jesse does it, and he, Glen and Annie say goodbye to Willy.

Shortly after the Coastal Marine Patrol deliver Elvis and Nadine, Elvis gives Jesse a picture of him and their mother that was taped back together and also tells Jesse that she talked about him, and felt bad about everything. Glen approves Annie's proposal of adopting Elvis. When asked by Elvis about his knowledge of the whales' whereabouts, Jesse replies "I know."

Sometime later, Willy, Luna and Littlespot reunite with Catspaw and their pod.

Cast

• Jason James Richter as Jesse
• Francis Capra as Elvis
• Mary Kate Schellhardt as Nadine
• August Schellenberg as Randolph Johnson
• Michael Madsen as Glen Greenwood (credited as "Glenn")
• Jayne Atkinson as Annie Greenwood
• Mykelti Williamson as Dwight Mercer
• Elizabeth Peña as Dr. Kate Haley
• Jon Tenney as John Milner
• 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
• Al Sapienza as Engineer
• Basil Wallace as Reporter
• Marguerite Moreau as Julie
• Scott Stuber as Policeman
• Joan Lunden as herself

Production

In November 1993, it was announced that producer Lauren Shuler Donner and her husband and co-executive producer Richard Donner were pursuing active development of a sequel to Free Willy following the breakout success of the first film, however unlike the first film the whale would be fully animatronic.^[3] Jason James Richter was announced to reprise his role as Jesse after renogtiatiating the original sequel option from the first film from $150,000 to $1.5 million with an option for a third sequel.^[4]

Reception

Free Willy 2 grossed $30 million in the United States and Canada^[5] and $68 million worldwide^[2] on a $31 million budget.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, though many were impressed with the film's subtle approach to pollution and other environmental issues, while focusing on family values.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 50% of 26 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Good-natured yet utterly unsurprising, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home will strike all but the youngest of viewers as a poorly orca-strated sequel."^[11] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.^[12]

Accolades

The movie was nominated for Worst Sequel and The Sequel Nobody Was Clamoring For at the 1995 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, but lost to Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers, respectively. Willy won Favorite Animal Star at the 1996 Kids' Choice Awards.

Soundtrack

Released through MJJ Music in association with 550 Music and Epic Soundtrax in 1995, the soundtrack contained most of the songs from the film plus two additional tracks from Brownstone, whose song "Sometimes Dancin'" first appeared on their debut album From the Bottom Up, and 3T. The only song not included is "My Spirit Calls Out" that Randolph performed when he treated Luna.

Basil Poledouris returned to compose new music and also incorporated several scoring elements from the previous film.

Michael Jackson continued his affiliation with the Free Willy franchise when "Childhood" from his greatest hits/ninth album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I served as the main theme around Elvis while the instrumental version is played when he looks at a photo of the Greenwoods with Jesse while spending the night alone.

An instrumental version of Nathan Cavaleri's song "Lou's Blues" was used to dub Jesse's offscreen guitar playing.

Additionally, two renditions of Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" are also featured in the movie. One from Michael Jackson's sister Rebbie can be heard inside the donut shop Elvis and Wilcox attended while the end credits wildlife montage used The Pretenders' version the band previously recorded for the film With Honors and was later included on their album Last of the Independents.

Title

On early UK home video promotions, the movie was titled simply "Willy 2: The Adventure Home", presumably because the film's premise, unlike its predecessor's, does not involve Willy being freed.

References

External links

• Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home at IMDb