

1992·Drama·1h 54m
7.0
★





A father reminisces about his childhood when he and his younger brother moved to a new town with their mother, her new husband and their dog, Shane. When the younger brother is subjected to physical abuse at the hands of their brutal stepfather, Mike decides to convert their toy trolley, the "Radio Flyer", into a plane to fly him to safety.
Directed by Richard Donner
california
stepfather
german shepherd
physical abuse
flying machine
abuse
pets
1960s
brother brother relationship

Trailer

IMDB
N/A
Where to Watch



Cast

Lorraine Bracco
Mary

John Heard
Daugherty

Adam Baldwin
The King

Elijah Wood
Mike

Joseph Mazzello
Bobby

Ben Johnson
Geronimo Bill

Robert Munic
Older Fisher

Garette Ratliff Henson
Chad

Thomas Ian Nicholas
Ferdie

Victor DiMattia
Little Raymond

Adam Hendershott
Boy #1

Coleby Lombardo
Fisher's Friend #1
Crew

Richard Donner
Director

David Mickey Evans
Writer

Hans Zimmer
Original Music Composer

Stuart Baird
Editor

László Kovács
Director of Photography

Lauren Shuler Donner
Producer

Michael Douglas
Executive Producer

David Mickey Evans
Executive Producer

Jennie Lew Tugend
Co-Producer

April Ferry
Costume Design

Mike Fenton
Casting
Popular Reviews
29 reviews
Jess
8.0★ · 09/25/22

This movie deserves so much more attention and it doesn’t deserve the hate it’s gotten on here. I’m glad this movie was a part of my childhood.
It has so many good things about it: Fantastic child performances, an intriguing plot, pretty cinematography, a great score by Hans Zimmer, one of my favorite dog performances ever, and Tom Hanks! Even though it can be emotional and distressing at times, it’s a magical film. Please watch this.
It has so many good things about it: Fantastic child performances, an intriguing plot, pretty cinematography, a great score by Hans Zimmer, one of my favorite dog performances ever, and Tom Hanks! Even though it can be emotional and distressing at times, it’s a magical film. Please watch this.
This movie deserves so much more attention and it doesn’t deserve the hate it’s gotten on here. I’m glad this movie was a part of my childhood.
It has so many good things about it: Fantastic child performances, an intriguing plot, pretty cinematography, a great score by Hans Zimmer, one of my favorite dog performances ever, and Tom Hanks! Even though it can be emotional and distressing at times, it’s a magical film. Please watch this.
It has so many good things about it: Fantastic child performances, an intriguing plot, pretty cinematography, a great score by Hans Zimmer, one of my favorite dog performances ever, and Tom Hanks! Even though it can be emotional and distressing at times, it’s a magical film. Please watch this.
1
dee
10.0★ · 02/13/26

okay so i was in the mood for a film about brotherly love and went on my little hunt for films that are about a pair of brothers because im someone who really loves films where they have a pair of siblings as the main characters and so when i came across this one that had the main duo as younger and older brother and the plot to it also being one that had me sold once i read it i just knew that i had to sit and give this one a watch and so i did just that and after finishing it up it instantly became one of my new favorite films mainly because it depicted the love between two brothers so well like you could just feel that chemistry between the 2 little boys and also as someone who has 2 brothers one older and the other younger this one just resonated so well with me and captured brotherhood so amazingly and this one also had me tearing up a whole lot because it was one that dealt with a serious topic and that was child abuse and even though me and my brothers didn’t go throughout anything like that this one still touched my heart because i too would be like the older brother in this film and try my hardest to protect my little brother from some disgusting child abuser and watching the older one try and do that in this film was so sweet to me because he didn’t wanna see his brother go through anything like that and just the scenes of him being all teary eyed when he would see the marks on his brother just pulled on my heart strings because no little child so ever have to see their younger siblings go through something like that and the ending to this film was such a bittersweet one because he really built his younger brother his own airplane so he could get away from the stepfather abusing him and that right there just had me telling myself how much of a good brother this little boy was to point he wanted to help his younger brother get out of that situation and the reason why i say this one is a bittersweet one is because once the film finished i went to look up the ending and i had two different groups of people on how they thought the film ended and that was group one being that at the end the little brother didn’t actually get away on the plane but rather he died when it had taken off and that story at the end where we get that the younger one got away from the abuse and traveled around the world that we get from the older one is just the way he’s coping with the death of his younger brother or the second group being that the brother did actually get away and got to live his best life away from all the abuse and me personally i’m with the second group of people because i just love that one a whole lot more than the first depressing choice but this one is definitely a good 5 stars for me!
okay so i was in the mood for a film about brotherly love and went on my little hunt for films that are about a pair of brothers because im someone who really loves films where they have a pair of siblings as the main characters and so when i came across this one that had the main duo as younger and older brother and the plot to it also being one that had me sold once i read it i just knew that i had to sit and give this one a watch and so i did just that and after finishing it up it instantly became one of my new favorite films mainly because it depicted the love between two brothers so well like you could just feel that chemistry between the 2 little boys and also as someone who has 2 brothers one older and the other younger this one just resonated so well with me and captured brotherhood so amazingly and this one also had me tearing up a whole lot because it was one that dealt with a serious topic and that was child abuse and even though me and my brothers didn’t go throughout anything like that this one still touched my heart because i too would be like the older brother in this film and try my hardest to protect my little brother from some disgusting child abuser and watching the older one try and do that in this film was so sweet to me because he didn’t wanna see his brother go through anything like that and just the scenes of him being all teary eyed when he would see the marks on his brother just pulled on my heart strings because no little child so ever have to see their younger siblings go through something like that and the ending to this film was such a bittersweet one because he really built his younger brother his own airplane so he could get away from the stepfather abusing him and that right there just had me telling myself how much of a good brother this little boy was to point he wanted to help his younger brother get out of that situation and the reason why i say this one is a bittersweet one is because once the film finished i went to look up the ending and i had two different groups of people on how they thought the film ended and that was group one being that at the end the little brother didn’t actually get away on the plane but rather he died when it had taken off and that story at the end where we get that the younger one got away from the abuse and traveled around the world that we get from the older one is just the way he’s coping with the death of his younger brother or the second group being that the brother did actually get away and got to live his best life away from all the abuse and me personally i’m with the second group of people because i just love that one a whole lot more than the first depressing choice but this one is definitely a good 5 stars for me!
issy
9.0★ · 01/21/26

perfect example of an unreliable narrator. i also will try my best to believe that bobby flew away and had a lovely life. the king is the most horrid villain in any coming of age film. horribly disturbing yet also felt quite euphoric
perfect example of an unreliable narrator. i also will try my best to believe that bobby flew away and had a lovely life. the king is the most horrid villain in any coming of age film. horribly disturbing yet also felt quite euphoric
Orane
3.0★ · 12/15/25

La mère est grave irresponsable elle m’a soûlé
La mère est grave irresponsable elle m’a soûlé
Sara
10.0★ · 12/15/25

The perfect movie to cry to
The perfect movie to cry to