The film begins with our young star James (Nicholas Shields) being kicked out of the private school for financial reasons. He's sadly disappointed, but must go live with a relative Angus (Lee Campbell) in the back woods of Canada. I actually saw the sequel to this first, and searched out part one on amazon. It's so family-friendly, it hurts, but makes for a fine 90 minutes of viewing. Everyone is so polite, they even hand him a bag of sandwiches as they kick him out of the building. James narrates his own story in detail, so this is probably meant for a younger audience. He has many adventures, and learns life lessons the hard way, with Awasis, the Indian native as a guide. Very simple, plain story, so keep those expectations in check. Not bad, though. The beginning is pretty choppy, but it gets better as it goes along.
Directed by Micheal Scott, who has been nominated for two Oscars, both for shorts prior to this. Story by Farley Mowat, who had written the novel. Looking over his works, he has written his stories based on the great outdoors. According to wikipedia, Mowat was a devoted naturalist and environmentalist. It also points out that the details in his books were a little shaky, and some of his claims may have been exaggerated.
