User Reviews

Sentimental and enjoyable entry about the friendly teen who befriends a giant whale , including impressivr marine acrobatics. 16-year-old Jesse (Jason James Richer) and old friend Randolph (August Schellenberg) try to foil an illegal whaler threatening Willy and his pregnant mate. This time around an illegal operation threatens Willie and his orca pod . Willy the whale is back, this time threatened by illegal whalers making money off sushi. On the whaler's ship is captain John Wesley and his 10-year-old son, Max (Berry) , who isn't really pleased about his father's job , but he's horrified to discover his commercial fisherman father (Patrick Kilpatrick) is one of the whalers . A new friend. A new threat. A new adventure that will capture your heart.

Heartwarming and delightful story that follows the previous premises about the young Jesse , now 16 years old, has taken a job on an orca-researching ship, and , along with old friend Randolph and a sarcastic scientist called Drew face off a whale ship captained by a nasty captain , all of them determined to rescue the giant orca. Again an electronically operated stand-in whale was used for far-off shots and a domesticated performing whale named Keiko for the close-ups animatronics and digital effects were used to replicate the real Willy . Director was known known to grumble about temperamental Keiko during shooting. It contains colorful and spectacular cinematography by Tobias A. Schliessler shot on various filming locations from Squamish, Howe Sound, Britannia Beach, British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada . Adding a stirring and breathtaking musical score by Cliff Eidelman who uses adequately the classic leitmotif composed by Basil Poledouris from previous entries. The motion picture was competently directed by Sam Pillsbury , though with no originality because copies the same former elements.

The trilogy is formed as follows : Free Willy (1993) by Simon Wincer with Jason James Richer , August Schellenberg , Michael Madsen , Jane Atkynson, . Free Willy 2 The adventure Home (1995) by Dwight Little with Michael Madsen Jane Atkynson , John Tenney , Elizabeth Peña , M Emmett Walsh . Free Willy 3 : The Rescue (1997) by Sam Pillsbury with Jason Jmes Richer , August Schellenberg, Patrick Kilpatrick , Anne Corley . Proof that family films can make money , Free Willy trilogy placed hight boxoffice as US as around the world.

The first FREE WILLY was very good. The second was not as good. The third, however, just plain bores. Expect nothing new and spectacular here because it's the same as the other two, with the exception of the weak dialogue and Jesse becoming more intelligent. The producers seemed to have been stuck with the same old ideas from the first film only to make another sequel. Nothing is more fun in the world than saving endangered species from sudden harm, which has always been the environmental message in FREE WILLY, but still, this series is in drastic need of a tune-up, FAST! Too many of you have given this lackluster sequel a big "10"! Wise up, folks! Nothing is THAT perfect in the real world!

Free Willy 3 is primarily about Max, an intelligent, inquisitive ten-year-old who accompanies his father on a whaling expedition. His conscience bothers him about his father's career, but instead of taking the usual route of performing a string of silly pranks (like you would see in a lot of children's shows), he tries reasoning with his dad. He also asks question after question -- not just about the technical aspects of whaling, but he also delves deeper into the more important questions of life ("Do you always have to do the right thing, even if it hurts?").

One of the things I liked best about Free Willy 3 was the realistic and sympathetic portrayal of the father, even though he was the "villain" of the story. He was a man doing a job that has been in his family for years, and without it he wasn't sure who he was. Despite having a career others disagreed with, he was a caring, compassionate person who loved his son. Other characters are drawn out nicely as well -- Jesse and Randolph, from the first two films, and their new co-workers on the sea -- showing their tempers as well as their more positive sides.

Couple all these features with stunning cinematography and a beautiful score, and you have one fine film!

this is the worst of the Free Willy movies,in my opinion.this thing just plodded along,slower than a snail's pace.i found it tedious,to say the least.it has the shortest running time of all three movies,but it felt longer than the other two.the story was also thin and uninteresting.there is virtually no excitement in this film.there are also very few scenes with the whales.the title makes it sound like it could be a movie with some adventure,but it sure isn't.i nearly turned this one off before it was over.i stuck with it,in the hope it would get better.it didn't,and i wish i had stopped watching.for me,Free Willy 3 is a 3/10.

Sam Pillsbury (who, incidently, was born in the US but raised in NZ despite what this database says) left these shores to direct the excellent "Eerie, Indiana" series and a number of thrillers. I don't think this film will feature prominently on his CV. Basically the script keeps to a format and the format has become so stale everyone performs in a by-the-numbers fashion. I get the feeling this movie was made for profit rather than love of the characters. It focuses on a simplistic "message" rather than the more complex problem of looking at "issues".

In 1998, a man named Steinar Bastesen publicly declared his opinion that the money spent on training the captive orca Keiko should instead be spent on grinding the poor animal into six tons of meatballs as foreign aid for the starving people in Africa. This coming from the same man who would probably encourage families with more than a single pet to grind up one of their cats for the villages of China. Well, Mr. Bastesen would have probably been—and just might have been, depending if he saw the movie or not—just as infuriated by the content of the last movie that Keiko had starred in. The movie is "Free Willy 3: The Rescue," and it takes a politically correct hand holding a politically correct spear and jabs it into the guts of people like Mr. Bastesen. I support the cause all the way. I just wish I could support the movie for its dramatic content. Again, this is a review of the movie, not the movie's cause.

"Free Willy 3: The Rescue" is a prime example of an underwritten kids' movie sequel: something we unfortunately get too much of these days. It is the third and—until just recently—last installment in the popular franchise about a young boy (Jason James Richter) and his friendship with a six-ton whale (Keiko). In the previous two movies, Mr. Richter saved Keiko first from a neglectful theme park owner and then later from oil-infested waters. Now the threat comes from a band of poachers, the leader of whom is taking his son along on the hunt for the very first time. As one would expect, the son (Vincent Berry) doesn't conform to his father's illicit way of making a living and ends up siding with Mr. Richter to save Willy and his family.

There are good elements to "Free Willy 3." One of the promising dynamic between Mr. Berry and the superb actor Patrick Kilpatrick as his father. The latter does a particularly good job portraying a man who devotedly loves his family and blindly does what he does partially out of the desire to support his loved ones and partially because his family tree essentially demands it of him. His grandfather harpooned sperm whales so he feels he should harpoon orcas. I also appreciated how well Mr. Berry displayed enthusiasm at the beginning—going on a big event with his father—and then the horror when he first sees an innocent animal getting run clean through with a harpoon. The emotion in this sequence doubles the emotion—and lessens the gimmicky disturbance—from a similar scene in Michael Anderson's pretentious 1977 film "Orca." I also enjoyed Mr. Richter's third-time-around performance. The only other returning character is August Schellenberg; he's reliable as well. Apart from that, I did enjoy some of the scenery when the characters on land; there's something magnetic about looking at a coastal village: the docks, the boats, the water shoreline, the coastal trees. It's the sort of place one thinks about retiring to someday.

However, the screenplay to "Free Willy 3" follows its politically correct formula without a whole lot of style. Now the first "Free Willy" movie, released in 1993, did not say anything we didn't already know about the issue of whales in captivity, but it approached the subject with a great deal of heart. Hence why it won over the hearts of many children, myself included. But John Mattson's script for the third movie does not have very much of this, and there is zero sense of friendship between Jason James Richter and the whale. As far as the movie is concerned, these two just met for the first time and Mr. Richter is merely fascinated by the whale. And even the whale is not given much to do. The movie might as well be about a trivial whale, not one that starred in two previous pictures. The animatronic stand-ins for Keiko are utilized too often now, and the jaws open and close with too much hectic speed to convince that it's flesh and blood. A scene where the protagonist feed Willy and his mate oranges is very revealing. There's no sensation from past events, such as the time Willy saved Mr. Richter from drowning in the tank in the first film. And although Vincent Berry does have some cute scenes between him and the whale (at one point they start to play volleyball with the whale launching the ball back onto the decks of the boat), there are not enough of them.

The movie overall is a lazy effort with a rushed mindset. It ironically comes alive mostly when it is on land and is not so exciting when on the water. And even the usually interesting concluding shots of the whales swimming and leaping freely through the frigid North Pacific waters is disappointing this time around, as they are merely reusing stock shots from the previous two pictures. It's really jarring when at one point the whales are moving behind a blue sky, then a red-laced dusk setting, and then a blue one again.

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.

I am going to start off by saying I really like the first two Free Willy movies. I would hardly call them the best movies ever, but they are very nice movies and I think underrated. This sequel is a worthy one. While there is a predictable story, some weak spots in the script and a lacklustre ending Free Willy 3:The Rescue is a nice and worthy sequel, that could have been so much worse.

Flaws aside, Free Willy 3 does have some stunning cinematography, and I loved the scene when Randolph throws the oranges in the water. I also loved the scenes between Nikki and Willy, and the one when Nikki gives birth which was brilliantly done. The score is absolutely beautiful, the pacing is brisk and the direction is amiable. And the characters are appealing especially Willy and Nikki, while Jesse and Max are great characters and the father is a sympathetic figure even for the villain of the piece, except I don't see him as a proper villain, just someone who means well but doesn't know exactly what he wants. The acting is good too, Jason James Richter and Vincent Berry are very likable, August Schellenberg makes a welcome return as Randolph and Patrick Kalpatrick does a great job with his character.

All in all, a pleasant family film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This one was awful I didn't like it at all 21 years later this movie still sucks

Okay guys, the fact that this movie got such a low rating really makes my blood boil! If you can't appreciate such a touching film as Free Willy 3: The Rescue, I'd like to see what you guys watch. This movie really touched me, so did the other two movies in the trilogy. I'll admit, this movie may not have been as good as the other two, which is why I'm only giving it a 9 out of 10, but it still is quite the masterpiece. It's better than any of those other bullshit movies about animals, like air bud or MVP! Those movies were garbage and have absolutely nothing on free Willy. Free Willy 3: The Rescue, has, and always will have, a special place in my heart. I grew up with this trilogy and I hold it very dear to my heart. If you're a parent and you want your child to see some quality film making, I advise you to rent Free Willy 3. This movie doesn't have any violence or anything that'll warp your child's mind into growing up to be some crack-head, animal beating criminal, which is what most movies tend to be doing these days. No, this movie will inspire your kid to do good with his life, it'll make your child appreciate the beauty of animal life. If you haven't seen this movie, I recommend you watch it asap. It will appeal to people of all ages.

This movie is quite an oddity. It's the only one in the series to not be shot in anamorphic Panavision, the only one to not have a score by Basil Poledouris, the only one to not have a Michael Jackson song (thank you!), the only one to not feature the meanest of the Reservoir Dogs, the only one to not be shot in Astoria, Oregon, the only one to make absolutely zero money at the box office, and the only one to come in at less than 90 minutes.

Oddly enough, I liked this one the best.

Jesse, now an independent adult, is working exclusively in whales now (whatever that means) and is overjoyed to find that Willy has come back again, with a now pregnant mate. But this time we actually have a real bad guy (who is given real development) in the form of Patrick Kilpatrick, he who has played the dangerous henchmen in a zillion movies from Eraser to Last Man Standing as well as being the mercenary who unwisely questioned Penn's leadership in Under Siege 2. He plays a whaler, with an adoring son and wife, who murders one of Willy's pod and sights his sights on harpooning the rest of them. "Whales were put here by God for us to hunt," he proclaims, attempting to brainwash his sceptical son.

The kid soon befriends Jesse (or is it a teenage David Hasselhoff? I can't tell) and learns what whales are really all about. Can he convince his bloodthirsty dad though? It's the best conflict in all of the movies and it has a quiet, dreamy tone that is radically different from the other two. It seems that, at this point, Warner/Regency were just letting the director do whatever he wanted, and thus Free Willy 3 feels more like a director's movie than a cash-in or something assembled by a committee.

It's mad that the first movie did such huge business, only for the better sequel to barely make back its budget, then this third entry, the best of the series, barely makes it past the impossibly low $3 million mark. I can't explain it, but this easily wins hands-down.

We who rule the pit of Sidcup are not amused. They should have learned, but no. I tried to warn them. I even sent twenty armed henchmen to chop their arms and legs off, but no. Jason James Richter, besides having a stupid name, is too old for this thing! Send him to the graveyard with Macaulay Culkin. If they bring out a fourth, I will personally rain fire and brimstone on all those responsible. At least they ditched Francis Capra. Perhaps they should try 'FREE BIDDY', where there's an old woman swimming about, and they chuck fish at her, or feed the latest annoying little kid to her. It would sell a lot more! So now I must take my ship to sea, and personally slaughter as many whales as possible. Why don't you come and get me, suckers?

Well, here we go again. The blonde dude is getting older and so it Willy time for one more adventure I think. This film wouldn't be so down rated it it maybe had been the second instalment. By now we have seen enough of the same stuff. In Willy 1 it was kind of boring and in 2 it was a little better but nothing too exciting, apart front he exploding boat of oil. So I would suggest watching number 1 (If you like wales) and number 2 (If you really love wales). But if you don't pass on by the whole lot of them. This is the final instalment, if your desperate for Willy watch, if not... Watch Spykids. Not saying thats any better either.

"Free Willy 3: The Rescue" is an Adventure - Drama movie and the third movie of the "Free Willy" franchise in which we watch teenager Jesse trying to protect Will and his pregnant mate by an illegal whaler threatening them both.

Since I had watched the two previous movies I knew what to expect but I hoped from this movie to be better than the second. Unfortunately, it followed the path of the second movie and it was equally bad. I believe that "Free Willy" franchise has to stop with this movie because it does not have anything more to give. The direction which was made by Sam Pillsbury followed the footsteps of the previous movie without having any suspense and being a bit boring at some points of it. All in all, I have to say that "Free Willy 3: The Rescue" is another average family movie that I do not recommend anyone to watch because I am sure that you can find better family movies than this to watch.

The final movie free willy 3. For me I actually enjoyed watching this movies. I would say this movies is one of my favorites of all times since childhood. The 3rd movie I didn't really captured it that much. Yes I was paying attention. Maybe it could be another view from the movie into the essence of the first movie

Now sixteen years old, Jesse (Jason James Richter) becomes a research assistant to his mentor Randolph (August Schellenberg) who continues working with the Orca Institute under the direction of Drew Halbert (Annie Corely). As the institute has noticed a 10% decline in the Orca population in the area, the team sets to work on board the Noah using a computerized version of Jesse's harmonica playing he produced to find Willy who has since taken a mate who is now pregnant with a calf. Meanwhile, young boy Max Wesley (Vincent Berry) is excited to join his father John (Patrick Kilpatrick) on his job on board the Botany Bay which operates as a whaling ship despite being registered for salmon fishing. As Max witnesses the true nature of the orcas, he finds himself torn between loyalty to his father and the moral quandary presented by whaling.

While Free Willy 2 did see a noticeable dip in box office gross in comparison to its predecessor, the film did do enough international business to break even and most likely earned a sizable profit on the home video market which was still in full swing with the hefty demand for family films. The fact that Free Willy 3 was a theatrical effort rather than a DTV one probably comes down to the push from executive producers Richard and Lauren Shuler Donner with Richard having been a mainstay of Warner Bros. For several years and with the two being staunch advocates for preservation of Whales the production of Free Willy 3 was most likely a case of "keeping the talent happy". Released in August of 1997 with significantly less of a promotional push than the prior entries and in less than half the theater count Free Willy 2 had at its widest distribution, Free Willy 3 opened far outside the top 10 in fifteenth place and on the same day as bigger budget and Richard Donner directed Conspiracy Theory which opened in first place. While budget numbers for the film are unavailable, the film only managed to accumulate $3.4 million from its box office run which was most likely just a formality in a way to give it more weight for its home video release. Critical reception tended to be mixed with audiences and critics having since gotten burnt out on the series, but it did receive praise from Siskel and Ebert who called it the best film in the series and honestly I'm inclined to agree with them.

This is probably Richter's best turn as Jesse over the course of the series, and it's really a credit to the writing which feels like it's added more emotional maturity to Jesse as a character and grown up alongside Richter and adjusted as need be. The rapport between Richeter and Schellenberg as Randolph is still very good and there's a strong sense of history between the two. But despite Jesse still being the headliner of the film, the emotional core this time around is in Max Wesley played by Vincent Berry and despite being quite young and usually a trap for the worst aspects of these kinds of films, the character is approached with more nuance and subtlety than I was expecting. The relationship between Max and his father John played by Patrick Kilpatrick is very good because John at his core is a good father in that he's attentive to his son and teaches him skills, but at the same time there's a conflict in the relationship with John engaging in illicit activity but it's not because he wants to but because of the economic pressures that make it too lucrative to pass on and the conflict between Max's love for his father and his discovery about the true nature of the orcas is what makes the conflict especially rich. This easily makes John the best human antagonist the series has had because the prior antagonists have all been two dimensional business archetypes who despite being played by good actors had the depth of mud puddles and were more satires of unrestricted failures of capitalist excess rather than fully defined characters. John feels like an elaboration where although he's still meant to embody indifference and apathy of environmental degradation, there is an earnest attempt at understanding the "why" even if the movie doesn't give closure as to what happens next for the character.

Free Willy 3 honestly surprised me with how much better it was than the prior entries and it's honestly kind of a shame it was allowed to "die" at the box office simply to usher it to home video. In terms of the core theme of this franchise, this entry feels like the one where they managed to tackle the core issue with the most maturity and nuance and it honestly did impress me.

I liked two previous Free Willy movies when original was completely a perfect masterpiece while the first sequel was also pretty good. . Now, I watched the third movie and I found it excellent, almost as great as the original, though the first Free Willy movie is without a doubt the best in the trilogy. In this movie our main hero Jesse is now 16 and he begins to work with his old friend Randolph on a scientific researching ship. This summer new danger threatens his relations with giant whale Willy - illegal whalers. Jesse meets young boy, who is son of the captain of whaler's ship and he tries to convince him that whales are living creatures and not just a food for expensive restaurants. The relations and dialogs between captain of whaler's ship and his son Max (played by two newcomers Patrick Kilpatrick and Vincent Berry) and dialogs between them are the strongest parts of the movie. Acting is still pretty good and young Vincent Berry who was much better than slightly annoying Fransis Capra is the second movie created an excellent and memorable performance as Max, young and innocent kid, who learns that his father is involved in illegal fishing. Jason James Richter one more time (to my great sadness the last time) showed his acting abilities with strong performance as almost grown-up Jesse. Free Willy 3 is beautifully shot movie with gorgeous cinematography which is as good as in first movie but here we can entire ocean instead of small pool. With such a good cinematography, great scenery, well written and poignant story and good soundtrack the last Free Willy 3 is an excellent example how good can be a family movie. Sweet and innocent, bright and entertained and that's the most important to me without any sign of vulgarity and typical rude humor it easily became to all-time family classic. Anyone must realize that whales (and others animals) can be more human than people.

My rating 9,5 out of 10. The movie is dedicated to memory of Keith A.Walker (the man who brought two great characters Willy and Jesse into our life). IMDb is a great source for any movie lover but some ratings can be exceptionally misleading.

In comparison with the first film or even the second, Free Willy 3 seems dark and lackluster. But for some reason, I liked it as much, if not more, than its prequels. The film had a purpose and it accomplished the purpose. Some people who have seen the film are annoyed with Jesse's sudden seriousness. Here's a hint: He grew up, as most people usually do over the course of four years. Why do you think that there was a new discontented kid? I enjoyed how the movie stands for change and reformation, and how it states that even as old stories are lost, new ones begin.

This was a VERY entertaining family film. I had not seen either previous Willy flics, yet I was into it from beginning to end (along with my 4 year old daughter).

So why the low rating?

My hunch is people judge family films by adult criteria. Which is totally absurd, since we all know children's movies today are far superior than 95% of the so called, adult films coming out (which ironically enough, seem made for audiences with a teenager's intelligence).

In short: ignore the low rating.

FREE WILLY was one of the best "Feel-good" movies ever made! It isn't often that a movie makes you both Sad and happy at the same time and makes you want to stand up and cheer at the ending, but FREE WILLY was one of the few movies that did it. Willy and Jesse met again in FREE WILLY 2 and it was great to see them together again, but unfortunately the enterprising premise (involving an oil spill in the ocean endangering Willy and his Family) turned out to be a bit too slow-paced and in some cases too hokey (like the scene where Jesse and Willy re-unite again after the first time Jesse plays the harmonica...it could have been thought out better). Also the film spent too much time dealing with the issues of Jesse's new Step-brother, Elvis. However, the suspenseful last half-hour of the movie was great. Which brings us to Part 3 which is actually almost as good as the first film and a lot better than part 2. The storyline (involving the wrongful and illegal hunting of Whales and Jesse & Randolph's quest to stop a crew of nasty hunters) is very well written and emotionally charged like the first movie. I wish this film was marketed and advertised better because it really deserves to be seen! It is emotional and heartfelt like the magic of the first FREE WILLY and in the end you will stand up and cheer. It's cool to see what has become of Jesse and how he has grown up and it is good to know that Jesse and Randolph will always stick together to do what is right! If you passed on this because you were afraid that it was more of the same, guess again! It is another wonderful story that deserves to be enjoyed again and again! Check it out!!!