Final Approach (2005)
"Junior Pilot" (original title)

Director:

James Becket

Writer:

James Becket

Stars:

Veronica Alicino, Tom Ayers, Allen Barton

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Veronica Alicino	...	911 Operator
Tom Ayers	...	Air Traffic Controller
Allen Barton	...	State Department Official
Jordi Caballero	...	Doctor Hector
Adam Cagley	...	Bruno
Art Cohan	...	Mr. Dorchester
Julie Condra	...	Marge
Makoa Dacascos	...	Child
Mark Dacascos	...	Kato
John D'Aquino	...	Senator Claghorn
Yvonne Delarosa	...	Maria
Marianna Elliott	...	Tower Controller 2 (as Marianna Elliot)
Jordan Garrett	...	Ricky
Kristin Herold	...	Midge
Tully Hunt	...	Little Monster

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

pre adolescent | flight simulator | die hard scenario | child | gurney | 

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Taglines:

A high flying adventure!

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Genres:

Family

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 January 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Final Approach

Filming Locations:

San Fernando, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cool Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally released as Junior Pilot in 2004. (Filmed December 2003.)

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Goofs

During the final approach, they state that the right engine has flamed out. However, when the footage of the plane landing is shown, you can plainly see jet exhaust coming from the rear of BOTH engines.

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Connections

References Final Destination (2000)

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Soundtracks

"WANNA FLY"
Written and Performed by Safi
Produced by Rick Mitra
Recorded at DBC Studios (London, England)

User Reviews

Fun for kids & good for adults too.

This film is titled "Junior Pilot" here on IMDb but "Final Approach" at Netflix. Go figure! The movie is a delight for both the target youth audience and for adults who can suspend their maturity long enough to watch this film through the eyes of their own youth. For the adult, the story is quite predictable, and perhaps trite and melodramatic; whereas the tale may seem new and creative to youngsters who have not yet seen or read many films or books with such a story line.

In any case, credit must be given to the film's creators, particularly the director James Becket and the cinematographer Denis Maloney, for making this most entertaining and visually interesting film. The cut-aways to the young protagonist Ricky's fantasy thoughts are hilarious as well as delightfully filmed.

The young actors give uniformly believable performances, seemingly quite invested in their roles--silly as many scenes are. Jordan Garrett plays the protagonist "Ricky" with quite well, having excellent camera presence. Jeffrey Tedmori creates a delightfully soft and sensitive "Shashi" who of all ridiculous things thrives on hot sauce. Skyler Samuels and Adam Cagley give solid performances as well.

As is typical of his always fine acting, Larry Miller creates a solid parental figure around which the children's part-real, part-fantasy world revolves. Compared to his father-figure, the other major adult roles appear to be shallow and one-dimensional, intentionally and quite humorously so, to be sure.

This movie is a simplistic youth-targeted story, of course, yet it is quite entertaining, perhaps repeatedly so to the targeted youth crowd, but also for at least one viewing by adults who retain the ability to view such a film from their once-youthful perspective.