Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

sol- Set during the Great Depression, this live action Disney film involves a girl left in the care of her selfish landlady after her widowed father finds work miles away, and the journey she makes to find him upon overhearing the landlady's plans to throw her out. Meredith Salenger is well cast as the resourceful title character, striking a perfect balance between vulnerability and resilience, and the film is darker and more graphic than your average Disney fare. A vicious dogfight is particularly memorable and there are some striking images of Natty's friends being evicted from their homes. Much of the plot revolves around Natty bonding with a wild wolf in an angle that only ever half-works. The wolf not only acts as guide and compass, but is happy to play guard dog and even protect her from child molesters who are overly anxious to give her rides (!). It is never really explained why the wolf is so tame around her, but as far as animal performances go, it is a remarkable turn. Not all of the human performances are as good. Ray Wise is fine as Sol, Natty's loving father, but all the actresses who play matrons are very flat while Lainie Kazan goes way over-the-top as the evil landlady. James Horner's music score also often intrudes on the action. The film is generally well made though with atmospheric cinematography, excellent location scouting and delightfully detailed period costumes that justly earned Albert Wolsky an Oscar nomination. The father/daughter stuff works very well too especially with Sol's internal conflicts over what is in his daughter's best interests.

Lee Eisenberg I first learned of "The Journey of Natty Gann" in kindergarten when a video that I watched featured an ad for it. In fifth grade, the teacher showed the class another video that featured an ad for this movie, and she mentioned that it starred a young John Cusack. I've finally seen the movie. Like "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Matinee", it uses a child's eyes to focus on surrounding events. In this case it's the Great Depression witnessed by a tough but kind-hearted girl venturing from Chicago to Seattle in search of her father. Even though this is a Disney movie, there are some intense scenes showing what the authorities did to people. Watching the movie, it's easy to get the feeling that almost no one has any street smarts anymore: Natty does some pretty gutsy things in the course of the movie.I recommend "The Journey of Natty Gann". While not the grittiest movie ever made, it shows the lengths to which a person will go out of love. As for the wolf, Natty has an easier time relating to him than to many humans. And beyond that, we get some great shots of the British Columbia wilderness (where the movie got filmed). It's the right balance of fun and seriousness.As for the cast. I mentioned John Cusack. The star is Meredith Salenger, who also appeared in 1982's "Annie". Also starring are Ray Wise (the henchman in "RoboCop"), Lainie Kazan (the mom in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"), Scatman Crothers (Halloran in "The Shining"), Verna Bloom (Mrs. Wormer in "Animal House") and an early appearance of Grant Heslov (the photographer in "The Birdcage" and later the producer of "Argo"). So the cast worked with Rob Reiner, John Huston, Paul Verhoeven, Stanley Kubrick, John Landis and Mike Nichols.Anyway, good movie.

patherwill When I saw Meredith Salenger in the Title role of (The Journey of) Natty Gann as a TV Movie shortly after it was made I literally fell in love with her and I've followed her career ever since. She played a child a few years younger than her true age - she was 15 playing a 12 year old I believe but was able to carry it off quite easily due to her ultra slim figure and being small for her age. In the film her father has to leave her alone while he goes looking for work across the other side of the States BUT she is soon in hot pursuit and thus her journey, adventure and the excitement begins and what a series of episodes it is. She befriends and is befriended by a human(a young John Cusack) and a Wolf and they all look out for one another. A wonderful film, extremely good performances with Scatman Crothers in one of his final roles.

cwrdlylyn THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN This was in the back of my video cabinet and I haven't watched it since I was a child. NATTY GANN is a rather unknown Disney release from 1985 that takes places in the '30's. Natty Gann is a young girl living with just her father in a bleak time. She is rough around the edges and has clearly built up a crocodile skin due to the life she has led. However, at her core, she truly loves her father.So when he is forced to leave her at a moment's notice to travel to Washington (the only place he can find work) Natty is left in the care of a bitter Landlord. It doesn't take long for Natty, played by Meredith Salenger, to runaway in an attempt to travel the 2,000 miles to be with her father again.On her journey, Natty meets all kinds of people who are suffering due to the nation's economic situation. One thing she witnesses is a dogfight where one of the dog's is a rather wild wolf. Natty reaches out for the wolf though and eventually manages to establish a bond with the wild animal. Together, they continue to travel towards her Washington State in pursuit of Natty's father.As the plot description above makes clear, the framework of this film is not horribly unique or important. However, what does give the film some extra quality is the approach in which the material is taken on.This film is very much in the same vein as another under-appreciatted Disney classic, RETURN TO OZ. This is a very dark family film that lacks all of the standard, corny Disney clichés (aside from the animal friend, but here he doesn't talk... and he isn't particularly nice at first).THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN portrays the depression-era and it's effects on the poor very honestly. We see Natty eating out of garbage pales and sleeping in filth. We see the type of work her father is forced to take on. And we see the bitterness and resentment Natty feels towards her situation.She is not your typical "hopelessly-optimistic" Disney heroine. She gets angry, she defends herself, and she doesn't make excuses. She starts fight, even smokes what appears to be weed in the opening scene (this was something I certainly didn't notice as a child). However, the role of Natty is always grounded by an appealing and fully realized performance from the young Meredith Salenger. She hasn't found much success in film following this movie, but it is definitely one of the best child performances of the 80's.Now aside from the good qualities of the film, THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN moves a little too slow for me to really love it. Despite the many Disney clichés it avoids, it's still always obvious Natty will find her father and all will be happy. So the fact that it takes 105 minutes to do so is a bit much. And there is a supporting role / love interest played by John Cusack who is essentially useless to the plot.But Disney deserves some credit for boldly taking family films to a darker, more artistically developed place in 1985 (both RETURN TO OZ and NATTY GANN were released in that year). There haven't been children's films that really embrace the darker side of things like these 2 films do since '85... and these under-viewed films deserve a little more credit and public acknowledgment for looking outside of the lines in a genre that is too often trapped within the lines.... B- ...