If I Had Wings
If I Had Wings
| 01 December 2013 (USA)
If I Had Wings Trailers

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.

Reviews
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. =)

... View More
jfh7396

I'll make it relatively short and sweet/right to the point…Positives: -Had a good positive story/message; -Decent original idea; -Characters were likable Negatives: -The dialogue was way too cheesy; -Too many of the cast member's acted way too poorly; -In certain scenes, there were things that I noticed that could've been either the director's or the editors fault (for example: in the end, when Brad says to his little brother, "It's okay little bro…Seriously, it's okay", that seemed like a part where the little brother still felt really bad for not listening to Brad and Brad was trying to assure him that is really was okay… and that seems more like it was the editor's fault, than the director…unless the director just totally decided to take that part in the script a whole other way); -And then a couple other things. But the number one thing that annoyed me was how cheesy and uncreative the dialogue was.

... View More
carmellarayone

OK this movie really could have been good. If they had done one ounce of research about cross country. I am a high school cross country runner and I was pretty much just laughing and shaking my head, everything was just so painfully inaccurate. First of all, in a race they we all basically jogging. And cross country teams actually have uniforms like other sports, believe it or not. And real life cross country meets usually have 200+ runners in one race. In the movie the meets looked more like a church picnic and some little kids running around. And for crying out loud, you don't train for a race by running the course as fast as you can every day. And I know they wanted to have a jock character in it like other sports movies but trust me. Jocks don't run cross country. They play basketball or football. Cross country runners are usually awkward nerds. So yeah. Next time try talking two someone who know jack about what your movie is about.

... View More
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.

... View More