Kelly
Kelly
| 20 March 1981 (USA)
Kelly Trailers

Thirteen-year-old Kelly travels from Los Angeles to Alaska to visit her father after her parents divorce.

Reviews
Dorathen Better Late Then Never
RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
momonuget This movie is a must for "tween" girls. Sorry if Kelly's rebellious behavior is too tame for the one reviewer, but her actions are warning signs for parents of troubled kids at the very least. I loved this movie as an adolescent. There aren't many movies for girls that feature an "average" looking main character instead of the sunglassed\ jacket wearing "tomboy-tough girl". Kelly could be anyone's daughter or classmate, which I find to be a nice touch. My favorite scenes are with Kelly & Brother Robin. Kelly and "Winter" the wolf-dog always make me tearful-- sweet and touching message :)...Kelly F. thanks for sharing! Twyla-Dawn is very talented.
kelsey f Hey there! I loved the movie! granted My mother was the main character so I'm somewhat Prejudice It's about a girl who has a tough time fitting in because she's dyslexic and an even tougher time with her parents divorce. She Hates her step dad and isn't fond of her mother for loving him so she acts out in school by starting fights and pulling fire alarms and what-not. so her mom sends her off to live with her father in a small town in northern Canada. she has a tough time fitting in there as well but slowly grows to love it. She get's in to some trouble there steeling a bike and not doing her chores and thinks everyone around her is odd. she meets a poacher and her and her dad go out and try and stop him it turns around on her at one point though when he trys catches her (scaring the crap out of her- even in real life!) but her dad comes to the rescue! she meets all sorts of animals and behind the scenes gets to play with them in the movie there is a scene where she is sitting in the woods and a deer comes up to her and eats out of her hands. This part of the movie wasn't acting she was waiting patiently for it and it came to her and the camera man was just able to get a shot when some one noticed that she was playing out in the woods. another moment that you might like to know was un planned and humors is when she's trying to chop the fire wood. this particular scene took them forever to film because my mom really was a city girl and couldn't chop wood for the life of her so when the axe finally made contact with the wood she did a little dance. Now, might I add, you wont find a anyone better then her and chopping wood when we go camping. The Kodiac is as tame as plays in the movie with the cameras turned off my mom got to ride on his back and play with him for a while. The movie was really fitting for a person like my mom who has always been a huge animal lover. I remember once on one of our many camping trips we found a chipmunk (we think it had been dropped by a hawk to be eaten but got away with brain injuries) that she just didn't have the heart to abandon so we built it a massive cage and kept in in our spare room feeding it shelled nut and water from a syringe for almost a year. Kelly is a great kids movie
mikaldhuber Your comment that KELLY was as dull and predictable as an episode of DANGER BAY borders on mean-hearted slander, especially since I worked on DANGER BAY!!! While this film is fairly typical of after-school specials, especially Canadian ones KELLY contains quite a number of amusing twists that raise it above the run-of-the-mill where you have so wrongly placed it, my friend. Since I'm a screenwriter, yes I can predict most plots well ahead of any twists, but that is something I've learned to live with, since it forces me to concentrate on the performances and hope for some manner of innovation somewhere in the plot. Well, KELLY delivered that, in spades! The performance of Twyla Dawn Vokins (where is she now, I wonder?) was at least as good as the role warranted, and often better and reminded me of Kristy McNicoll or even a young Jodie Foster. This girl had more acting chops that most other eleven or twelve year old actors than I have seen in any of the dozen or so films I've worked on with a youthful cast. Most of them seem to have no idea how to carry a lead. If Twyla had kept at it, she could well have made the transition from child star to adult actor. Too bad.Yes, it is a tad predictable, but films for children have to be, and the directors were especially guilty of underestimating the intelligence of their audience back in the day. But the twists and turns of this tale manage to salvage an often somewhat hammy script and Kelly's character arc and development are nicely paced, even by today's standards.SPOILER ALERT!!! When the nasty evil trapper BEACHUM kidnaps Kelly to get his revenge on Kelly's dad, his ultimate fate (being dumped on the Siberian shoreline in a coffin, to be discovered by a Russian patrol!) was quite amusing and very satisfying.Yes, Beachum was a little unmotivated and somewhat cardboard, but some of the ancillary roles were superbly written and quite well-acted especially KLUTE the native guide and BROTHER ROBIN, a Trappist monk with a Saint Francis quality--I almost expected the guy to walk on water! So I have to strongly disagree. This film held my attention, and I'll be fifty next month. I'm also not easily surprised. See this film with your children. I think most people would agree with my assessment.
cfc_can This movie is basically like an extended after-school special and not even a good one at that. The title character is an adolescent girl who is a rebel at her school (by G-rated, 1981 standards that is, today, she'd hardly be noticed) As she and her re-married mom are not clicking, the girl ends up going to stay with her dad, Logan, who lives up in the northern wilderness. So what happens when this surly, irresponsible, self-centered girl is thrust into nature for the first time? Will she change her rebellious ways, learn self-respect and respect for others? Anyone over the age of 6 should be able to guess. In fact, the change happens so quickly that there is no real drama. Everything in the film is played completely straight and even the locations are dull. It's about as exciting as an average episode of Danger Bay or one of those hour long Walt Disney animal specials they used to show in the 60s/70s. It's another example of how Canadian film making has come a long way since the early 80s.