Facing Fear

A handsome young aviator named Clay (Dean Cain) makes a forced landing on an isolated island that, over the past hundreds of years, has been invaded by so many different countries the inhabitants speak a mishmash of Spanish, English, and French. There he meets a young boy named Gabriel (Kristian De La Osa), who immediately attaches himself to Clay because his own father disappeared long ago. Unfortunately, this causes a conflict between Clay's beautiful mother, Mercedes (Talisa Soto), and her fiancé, Frank (Miguel Sandoval), a hardworking farmer who unhappily observes Mercedes's attraction to Clay. But even as Gabriel and his mother start to learn more about Clay than they expect, the boy forms a magical friendship with the airplane itself.

The Flight seems simple and predictable at first, but there are surprises in store; the script doesn't make the obvious choices, and the movie proves emotionally richer than one would expect. Soto in particular gives a subtle and touching performance as the conflicted young mother, and the cast as a whole is sincere and enjoyable. Young children will particularly enjoy it, but their parents may find themselves drawn in as well. --Bret Fetzer