Movie Type: Animal Picture, Family-Oriented Adventure
Themes: Fathers and Sons
Main Cast: Jason James Richter, August Schellenberg, Annie Corley, Vincent Berry, Patrick Kilpatrick
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 86 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
In the third installment in the Free Willy series, Jesse (Jason James Richter), the once-troubled youth whose life was changed by his friendship with the killer whale Willy, is spending the summer on board a ship assisting a group a whale researchers, including his old friend Randolph (August Schellenberg), and Drew (Annie Corley), an oceanographer. Jesse once used a harmonica to communicate with Willy, and when he plays his mouth harp through the ship's underwater sound system, he is able to find his old friend, who is now raising a family of his own. As Jesse, Randolph, and Drew are out to study and assist the whales, a ten-year-old boy named Max (Vincent Berry) is accompanying his father John Wesley (Patrick Kilpatrick) on the fishing boat that John helps to run. Max soon discovers that John and the crew are not fishing for salmon, as he believed, but killer whales, which is illegal, but very profitable, as whale meat fetches $200 a pound on the black market. Jesse meets Max on shore, and when Jesse learns what John and his crew are up to, he tries to teach Max that while his father may not be a bad man, he's doing a very bad thing in killing the whales, who are intelligent, compassionate, and deserve the right to live; Jesse also acts to save Willy and his family from John and his fellow poachers. As in Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, Free Willy 3: The Rescue used mechanical and animated whales rather than flesh-and-blood aquatic mammals. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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The film was the lowest-grossing film in the series and received mixed to negative reviews from critics. It was a financial failure as well, grossing only about $3,000,000 in the U.S.
Plot
Jesse is sixteen and works as an orca-researcher on a research ship called the Noah alongside his old friend Randolph. They suspect that Willy and his pod are being hunted by whalers posing as commercial fishermen. Aboard just such a ship -the Botany Bay- Max (10) takes his first trip to sea with his father, a whaler from a long line of whalers, and learns the true nature of the family business. During his first hunt, Max is thrown overboard and comes face to face with Willy. From this point on, Max is working against his own father, teaming with Jesse and Randolph to save Willy from becoming $200/pound sushi. Jesse introduces Max to Willy properly after learning of Max's experience and how Max likes whales. Jesse tries to get his and Randolph's head boss to take the threat to the whales seriously, but he refuses to until Jesse manages to get proof with help from Max.
Jesse knows the whalers are heading back out to go after Willy and his pod, using a copy of the song Jesse plays on his harmonica as a lure for Willy, who won't realize it's not Jesse until it's too late. Jesse's boss plans to call for help the next day, but knowing it will be too late then, Jesse, Randolph and one of their fellow researchers, Drew, steal the research boat the Noah and go after the whalers themselves. Max manages to buy them a little time by jumping into the water and forcing the whalers to perform a rescue, which gives Jesse and his two companions enough time to catch up. Max's father is angry because he learns that Max isn't on his side and believes Max tried to sabotage the engine (although Jesse did that), but it doesn't stop him.
Jesse, Randolph and Drew try to bluff the whalers into stopping, but when it doesn't work, Jesse rams the Botany Bay with the Noah, causing them to miss Willy and knocking Max's father into the water. Willy tries to kill him, biting at him, but Jesse and Max manage to convince him to stop. Max's father then gets trapped under a net and nearly drowns as the net drags him down, and ultimately comes face to face with Willy himself. Willy, instead of killing him, saves him by pushing him to the surface and holding him there long enough for Jesse and Randolph to rescue him. The Marine Patrol arrive, having been summoned by Jesse before he rammed the Botany Bay and catch the whalers (who are stunned by Willy rescuing their boss) in the act and arrest them. Being saved by Willy causes Max's father to realize that he was wrong about the whales, and he apologizes to Max. The father is not sure where to go from here as his whole life has been about whaling, but Max tells him he is his father and forgives him.
Later, Jesse, Randolph, Drew and Max witness the birth of Willy's son (the mother is an orca known as "Nikki") and Jesse decides to name him Max when given the choice. The film ends with the two whales, their calf, and the rest of the pod swimming away out to the open sea.
Characters
Jesse- The protagonist of all free willy movies who is good friends with Willy
Max- Another protagonist who learns from Jesse that whales are equal living beings
Randolph- Jesse's old haida Indian friend
Drew- A sarcastic scientist who is Randolph's boss on the orca research ship
John Wesley- Max's father who is captain of the whaling ship and comes from a long line of whalers. He is the film's main antagonist
Sanderson- A Scandinavian whaler who is second in command of the whaling ship
Kron- Another person on the whaling ship
Dineen- The fourth whaler on the whaling ship Botany bay
Willy- The orca with the bent dorsal fin who is good friends with Jesse
