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The Boy Who Could Fly

The Boy Who Could Fly

Drama · Family · Fantasy · 1986

Milly and Louis, and their recently-widowed mom, Charlene, move to a new neighborhood. Once there, they all deal with a variety of personal problems, but Milly finds a friend in Eric, her autistic next door neighbor. Eric has a fascination with flight, and as the story progresses, he exerts an enthralling force of change on all those around him.

Movie details

The Boy Who Could Fly

“A very special love. And a very special magic. But is it real magic or just an illusion?”

1986 Drama · Family · Fantasy 1h 54m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.3 / 10

Community rating

Milly and Louis, and their recently-widowed mom, Charlene, move to a new neighborhood. Once there, they all deal with a variety of personal problems, but Milly finds a friend in Eric, her autistic next door neighbor. Eric has a fascination with flight, and as the story progresses, he exerts an enthralling force of change on all those around him.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Boy Who Could Fly?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Nick Castle

Written by

Nick Castle

Lucy Deakins

Lucy Deakins

Milly

Jay Underwood

Jay Underwood

Eric

Fred Savage

Fred Savage

Louis

Bonnie Bedelia

Bonnie Bedelia

Charlene

Colleen Dewhurst

Colleen Dewhurst

Mrs. Sherman

Fred Gwynne

Fred Gwynne

Uncle Hugo

Jason Priestley

Jason Priestley

Gary

Court is in session

Put The Boy Who Could Fly on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.