If I Had Wings

2013 "His dream... His chance... Their race."
7| 1h29m| en
Details

Alex, blind since the age of two, dreams of running for his school's cross-country team. His father, a probation officer, finds a running partner who spends his time 'running' from the law.

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Also starring Jaren Brandt Bartlett

Reviews

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Pedro Brandao This is a wonderful story that makes us feel complete. Besides all problems and difficulties, human beings are put into test. Most of them are able to show their capability to overcome whichever comes as a barrier. This is basically what this movie is about. As a teacher, I not only recommend it as I use this story to work with my students aiming to show them they can always go beyond they think they can. Moreover, they can see with this example that complaining over silly things won't help them achieve their goals or even make them better people. Once again, I strongly recommend this movie if you're looking forward to being a better human being. =)
davidball33 I enjoyed the film and the various story lines presented kept me interested and kept the plot moving. A good watch. As a former XC runner myself, the director could have done much more research into the sport. Many facts/reality are not there, had they been I would have notched this up a bit higher. Also made the 'villain' in the movie difficult to believe because the sport doesn't typically attract those type of jocks.The back-and-forth between the runners assigned to each other was what I found most intriguing. Good cinematography that helped tell a well-written story.
TxMike We found this nice small movie on Netflix streaming movies. It is simple and pretty predictable but has good messages for family and growing up. A Canadian movie shot in beautiful Canada.Richard Harmon is Alex Taylor, blind since an unfortunate accident when he was 2. As such he doesn't really remember not being blind, and isn't one to feel sorry for himself. He is good enough in this role that I had to check and see if he really is blind. He doesn't appear to be.He likes to run and he goes trail running with his dad, keeping his right hand on dad's left shoulder and getting audio clues like "Right turn 2 o'clock in 4, 3, 2 now." Alex and his dad think he would be good on the high school's cross-country team, but to do so Alex would need to find a running partner also on the team. Jaren Brandt Bartlett is the bad kid who always seems to be with the wrong crowd, Brad Coleman. He also likes to run, unfortunately sometimes it is with a money bag he has just stolen from an unsuspecting merchant. He can get one more chance to turn his life around if he will run cross-country and be the running guide for Alex.Some issues are resolved too easily and quickly, but through a series of steps and missteps it finally works out, both are on the team, and in the season championship we will see if it pays off.Craig Bierko is good as the dad, Geoff Taylor and Jill Hennessy (with the husky voice) is good as the worried mom, Sandy Taylor. I especially like Lorne Cardinal as Angus Coleman, the dad of the bad kid Brad. He creates his character and plays it very believably, and at times funny when appropriate. I had never heard of him before but I'd like to see him in other roles.SPOILERS: The biggest jerk in the movie is the athletic kid Tyson, who also was the star of the cross-country team. He was not nice to Alex, because he felt threatened that this blind kid might show him up. And in fact that is what happens in the final race, the finish is across an open field, so Brad turns Alex loose, tells him to sprint, and he beats Tyson by a bulging chest. Nice feel-good ending.
MattyGibbs If I had Wings is a family film about a blind kid who wants to be a runner but needs a running partner. He teams up with a troubled youth in a bid to win a race. To get the negatives out the way first this is a film we have seen a million times before, the troubled kid with a good heart, the bad guy Jock, the standard family film plot template. For all it's predictability this still manages to be a very enjoyable and well above average film of its genre. This is mainly due to an excellent cast who all do a good job with the script they have. In particular Jaren Brandt Bartlett who is superb as the charismatic bad boy turned good. The film is fast paced and flows well and there are some well executed laughs to be had along with the drama had as well. This is a film that can be enjoyed by all the family, a pretty rare occurrence these days. Highly recommended.