Free Willy 3: The Rescue

"A new friend. A new threat. A new adventure that will capture your heart."

1997 1h 26m EN

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 399

FamilyAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Willy the whale is back, this time threatened by illegal whalers making money off sushi. Jesse, now 16, has taken a job on an orca-researching ship, along with old friend Randolph and a sarcastic scientist, Drew. On the whaler's ship is captain John Wesley and his son, Max, who isn't really pleased about his father's job, but doesn't have the gut to say so. Along the way, Willy reunites with Jesse.

“A new friend. A new threat. A new adventure that will capture your heart.”

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Cast

Jason James Richter
Jesse
August Schellenberg
Randolph Johnson
Annie Corley
Drew Halbert
Vincent Berry
Max Wesley
Patrick Kilpatrick
John Wesley
Tasha Simms
Mary Wesley
Peter LaCroix
Sanderson
Stephen E. Miller
Dineen

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sam Pillsbury
Writers: John Mattson
Languages: English, Hungarian
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

86 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 10% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Hungarian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Free Willy Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sam Pillsbury, shot by Tobias A. Schliessler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Cliff Eidelman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Margaret Goodspeed shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sam Pillsbury directs. Tobias A. Schliessler behind the camera. Cliff Eidelman scores. Margaret Goodspeed cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Hungarian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

186 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Earned back only 10% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
329 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Hungarian.
5Part of the "Free Willy Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Sam Pillsbury, shot by Tobias A. Schliessler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Cliff Eidelman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Margaret Goodspeed shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Jason James Richter and August Schellenberg and Annie Corley carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "A new friend. A new threat. A new adventure that will capture your heart.".
11IMDB entry: tt0119152 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Tobias A. Schliessler
Original score: Cliff Eidelman
Editing: Margaret Goodspeed
Production design: Brent Thomas
Costume design: Maya Mani
Makeup / hair: Lisa Leonard
Stunt coordinator: Dan Bradley
Runtime: 86 min · 1h 26m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $35,000,000
Box office: $3,446,539
Return: 10% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Free Willy 3: The Rescue (1997)

Part of

Free Willy Collection

The series primarily follows an orphan boy named Jesse who befriends a killer whale named Willy, and eventually develops a strong connection. While trying to juggle his newly found life, he and Willy are challenged with overcoming or defeating various hazards to the ocean or Willy himself including corporate greed, hunters, poachers and oil disasters.

Also by

Sam Pillsbury

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2022-12-25
★ 2/10
After two films with a lot of good things, this film shows signs of fatigue and wear. If I can say that I really enjoyed the first film in this trilogy, I can't say the same for any of the sequels. The first film, even with all the flaws, was quite good and was so enjoyable that it became a milestone for many people's childhood and adolescence. The second film managed to retain many of the first's qualities, but lacked a credible and intelligent script. This film, in turn, is not able to learn from the mistakes of its predecessor and ends up sounding like more of the same, in a tired and worn recipe. The action of the film takes place several years after the second and first. If for Jesse time passed, for Willy time would pass even faster, since these animals usually have an average lifespan of twenty to twenty-five years in human age. So, if Willy would still be young in the first film, in this film he would be a much more mature animal, and the probability of being able to answer his old partner's call of circus skills would be, to say the least, a house-sized absurdity. Even so, the script brings the two together again, and this time to face an illegal whaling ship willing to hunt as many orcas as it can, to make good money with them. Keeping what we've been used to since the beginning, the film seeks to raise public awareness of important issues for the preservation of marine life, and this time nothing seems better than showing the cruelty of illegal hunting of whales and other cetaceans. However, the weakness of the film itself somewhat undermines such noble intentions, and I have no doubt that the Chinese would abhor the idea, given that China is one of the rare countries that still sanctions the hunting of these animals. It is quite evident that the film has lost all the freshness and shine of the first two, and that we also do not have a quality direction that knows how to squeeze the few qualities that still remain in the franchise. And although the villains are quite impressive, the film is predictable, all the material is tired and does not hold our attention. The film is saved, “in extremis”, by the fast pace and by the fact that it doesn't take long to finish. Back to the usual characters, Jason James Ritcher and August Schellenberg return to be present, but if Ritcher still manages reasonably with the task, Schellenberg seems a shadow of what he was in the previous films, even if it is a return that is more than positive and well-received. coming. With the rest of the previous cast declining the chance of returning, we are left with the positive and interesting addition of Patrick Kalpatrick, who offers us a very satisfactory job. Vincent Berry also deserves a good grade, but there's not much for him to do, really. Technically, the film continues to bet on good cinematography and the choice of beautiful filming locations. As with its predecessor, it's a film that doesn't look its age: if you watch it without knowing when it was made, you don't give it more than ten years. Good sound effects, good special effects and a realistic animatronic whale are some of the values that the film presents to us. The soundtrack is pleasant, but it's a recycling of previous material.

Production companies