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
GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
davidball33 I enjoyed the film and the various story lines presented kept me interested and kept the plot moving. A good watch. As a former XC runner myself, the director could have done much more research into the sport. Many facts/reality are not there, had they been I would have notched this up a bit higher. Also made the 'villain' in the movie difficult to believe because the sport doesn't typically attract those type of jocks.The back-and-forth between the runners assigned to each other was what I found most intriguing. Good cinematography that helped tell a well-written story.
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.
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.
mmgibbs48 This was a really heartwarming film that struck a lot of the right chords: overcoming a disability; having tolerance and respect for persons who are different in terms of culture, race, or ability; and meeting the challenges of single parenthood. During the screening I attended in Vancouver in April, young people in the audience were well engaged and, in the climactic race scene, cheering on the hero. It's a well-paced film with high production values.One of the challenges of a classic overcoming-the-odds film is making the characters and their situation believable. This film achieved a good level of credibility by giving all characters, both the good and the bad, a mix of traits. The hero has his faults, just as the less likable characters have their moments of grace and remorse.The film is well acted throughout. It was a testament to Richard Harmon's acting that, in a Q&A session following the screening I attended, one of the audience asked whether the actor is blind or sighted.