I love this movie so much

Sadly Over-hyped

Absolutely Fantastic

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

I just watched this movie for the first time in at least 20 years, and to my pleasant surprise, it lived up to my fondest memories of it.To be sure, there are flaws in the movie. I doubt that an autistic person with as severe a case of that disease as Eric would show so much response ... but then I suspect he was not truly autistic, but traumatized. A couple of scenes are cheesy or out of place (the dream sequence or the drinking scene in particular).Still, it is a touching film. Outside of Eric, the characters are very real and you feel for them. You feel the Louie's frustration, and the mother's fear, and Milly's uncertainty, and Uncle Hugo's disappointment in himself.Beyond that, the emotional touchstone is NOT Eric, and NOT the mystery surrounding him, but rather the struggle of the Michaelson's, and Milly in particular. Even before the dramatic conclusion, Milly has found hope through her relationship with Eric, and tries to share this the rest of her family. As the movie reaches it's (somewhat cheesy) conclusion, it feels good to see all the happy endings, but mostly feels good to see the characters with hope and optimism, regardless of the end result.As a child I remembered having a mini-crush on Milly. As an adult, I totally understand why. She is a beautiful character, not just her looks (where she is very pretty in a girl-next-door sort of way), but her care for her brother, her mother, her neighbor. The strength she shows in trying to keep everything together when she feels like its falling apart. Her kindness. Her gentleness. Her love. What a wonderful character, and what a character so deserving of being saved.Ultimately, the movie is very uplifting. It reaches beyond plausibility, but while the ending may have been necessary for some characters (Uncle Hugo), Milly had already grown into her happy ending, and I could feel her turning the tide for her mother and brother regardless. And much like the Shawshank Redemption delivers it's best line at the close, (MINOR SPOILER HERE)when Colleen Dewhurst says "Maybe if you dream hard enough and love long enough, anything is possible."

Like other commentators before me I watched this film as a young man and it touched me. In fact it moved me to tears. Now I am older I am still touched by the simplicity of this film and yet it is complex in showing us that from adults to children we all have things to deal with. The reason why Eric Gibb could fly is the most touching of all and in case there are people who do not believe that it is possible for one to sense tragedy in one close to you, believe me it's real.As I pen this comment I have just watched it again and cannot help but feel that even twenty years plus since this movie came out there is the scope for a sequel 'The Man who could fly' I am not talking about a TV series but a one off movie showing our stars meeting again in adult hood. Something to think about. I liked this movie and I would like to own it on DVD should it be released for the European audience.

I go back and forth on this film so much that it makes me dizzy. But when I hit the ground I am on the side of really liking this film. It is the subtle handling of the conflicts in this film that wins me over. The underlying conflict lies in the death of Millie's father. He dies before the film begins but we find out that he chose suicide instead of a long, probably losing battle with cancer. Millie's little brother asks the question one stormy night after his dog (who he loves very much) is hit by a car and may die--"Why didn't he even try,Millie?" Life has been very difficult for Millie's family which consists of Millie's brother and her mother. Her mother is having difficulty in her new job; Millie has to take care of her brother, fix all the meals, and generally take care of things around the house; and Max is doing poorly in school and is being bullied by kids in the neighborhood. The family shows signs of cracking and the question is, "Why even try." The climatic scene for me is the stormy night, right after Max asks the question, when he runs out to dig up his buried Army figurines and Millie and Mom end up out there with him. Max is crying and desperate to find the figurines in the mud. His mother and sister, instead of dragging him in out of the downpour, dig through the mud with him. It is a beautiful scene that makes the movie for me.The nonsense is ironically the "boy who could fly." Although Jay Underwood plays him sensitively and wonderfully it is the literal fulfillment of this title that blows away all the subtlety seen previously. I understand that the boy being able to fly is symbolic of achieving the unachievable in the face of life's obstacles, but seeing him fly through the fair making a slam dunk on the way was just too much. Although my children loved that part, I always cringe a little when I see it. For me it turns what was a very sensitive movie about a family fighting dissolution into a comic. And yet the first 110 minutes is good enough for me to have me put up with the ending. Lucy Deakin is such an attractive character and the show is wholesome and gives the cold shoulder to ugliness without denying it's existence. I found this very refreshing.

I'm really surprised I didn't see more comments on this movie. I remember watching this movie when I was, I think 13 or 14. I never quite understood the complexities of emotion that were put into this movie. But I had always remembered it from my younger years. I decided to pick up the DVD when it came out again. Now that I'm older, and actually work with cut scenes as an animator for a living. I now see everything that I missed. I am by all means not an emotional person or cry a lot etc, but I have at least watched this film more then 15 times in the last year. No other movie has ever brought me to tears every time I watch it. Not tears of sadness or being upset , but tears of happiness. There are so many moments in this picture that can overwhelm you with that gut feeling of real love. You really let these characters take your heart and go with it. That is what a true movie is a about , is the ability to let you heart go and pull in that emotion from them and try to imagine feeling what they feel. I don't think any other movie has captured my heart that way. I might seem all soft and sound like a push over but I'm about as manly as you can get. If you have the time to see this movie or buy it. You truly will receive a much broader look at life , love , fear , relationships and most of all believing in yourself and who you are. I didn't want reveal any of the movie but it really has touched me. Michael Loeck Character animator http://www.immortal3d.com