This was always one of my favorite family/Disney films when I was growing up. Now that I'm older(much older)I like It even more. It's a much better film then you would expect it to be and a much better film then it is given credit.Michael Douglas is just great, as are Johnny Whitaker and Jodie Foster in the title roles. Not only are Whitaker and Foster appealing but their acting is really very good. Michael Douglas(in one of his first roles ever)makes a tough, energetic debut as a young free spirited college student who befriends the children. In a exciting motorcycle chase toward the end, Douglas can be seen doing some of his own stunts.As for the reviewer who claimed the lion looked drugged up during this film, that's dumb and ridiculous. Major the lion was very old when this was filmed. Major hardly seems drugged since they have him chasing mountain lions and fighting bears and running and jumping. Major wasn't drugged he was just old.This is an outstanding film and more of a Disney classic then people want to give it credit for.

Determined boy runs away from his rural community rather than risk being placed in an orphanage, taking along his pet lion and little girlfriend for a journey through rugged terrain. Family film from Disney with nature-adventure asides never really gets going--mostly due to that sleepy lion, ambling through the picture as if drugged. The kids (talented Johnny Whitaker from "Family Affair" and wise-talking Jodie Foster in her first film role) are both good, even though they occasionally struggle with their delivery. Michael Douglas has fine, if colorless, supporting role as a well-meaning hippie-type who comes to their rescue. Younger children might enjoy it. ** from ****

Michael is extraordinary in this film as he guides two children to coping with their grandad's death and teaches them the meaning of life. Too bad Kirk didn't play the grandpa, that would have been awesome. Look for Michael Clarke Duncan in his first starring role as the lion!

Disney family offering that was(if I am correct)Jodie Foster's first feature film appearance. Plot concerns Napoleon(Johnny Whittaker)who flees to the hills with his pet lion Major and friend Samantha(Foster)after his grandfather dies, assisted by college-dropout-turned-shepherd Michael Douglas. The drama comes from Napoleon and Samantha encountering various dangers in the hills of the Rockies, including the expected wild animals and a run-in with a dangerous pedophile(euphemistically referred to as a "psycho" in the film). A little unusual, for the film's dealings with death(the only human death I can recall in a Disney live-action film)and the above-mentioned child molestor, and not a little moving.