Goose on the Loose

This film has me from the start by exploring feelings I had as a child concerning the eating of animals. The boy in the film feels an attachment to the goose his high-school principal intends to eat for Thanksgiving. So there is a valid moral issue at the heart of this charming, effective comedy. Nothing wrong with that. While casting is uneven, Chevy Chase is surprisingly funny, Joan Plowright is, as usual, superb, and the young actress Cheyenne Hill is a real discovery. I also loved the idea that the story is told by a hilarious Mother Goose to her young ones – the whole story, in a sense, is told from the point of view of geese who are horrified with bizarre, goose-eating human behavior. I watched the new version of this film with my young daughter, who grew up on a diet of made-for-children cinema, and she enjoyed it thoroughly. I've read some harping concerning re-shoots of this film, as if the pleasure one takes in seeing it were somehow diminished by the hard work that must have gone on behind the scenes. Who cares? Goose on the Loose works hard for your attention and should get it, because it is well- crafted, touching, and at times genuinely zany. Canada needs to make more films that aspire, like Goose, to a big audience.