tolerford-1 What's it been...39 years. But having the CD brings it all back, and I played it four times this afternoon. The funny thing is I've never liked Neil Diamond. This work in my book is the one thing he's done worthy of the awards for it. Awful conceit about the man. When it came out, I raced after work to catch the early showing, and could hardly stand afterward for how completely moved I was. I knew it would go over like a lead balloon, and it did. It was gone in no time. But boy for us writers and lovers of music. If you have the least smidgen of philosophical spirituality, you will adore the movie, the book and the music. If you have mature children, preteens or teens with high ambition, they'll hug you for it, especially cut #7, Anthem, on the CD. The album back when had voluminous notes of how Diamond went to Hawaii and mulled months over how to best do the book justice. It was nominated or won for cinematography and editing, so you know already it was gorgeous. It brings tears of joy.

Atreyu_II Not everyone may know the story of 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull'. But, if nothing else, at least many people certainly heard of it.I like seagulls very much. They're such beautiful, elegant birds with a confident, even noble appearance. And they fly beautifully. A seagull's flight is one of the most graceful and fascinating things to see. As beautiful as they are, they're equally well known for their foul temperament...One of the most different things about this movie is the fact that it has only birds (seagulls) on screen and no human characters at all. Plus, this is an animal movie different from the others. Instead of home pets, this one is about seagulls.The story is about the title character, who is different from all the seagulls of his flock. Flying is his favorite thing. He flies with art and passion, but he dares to do things that other seagulls don't do, such as flying as high as possible (the more, the merrier - for him, sky is the limit) and flying in unusual speeds, as well as doing other "tricks" that other seagulls don't attempt. Of course that by being overambitious he's taking great risks...Jonathan faces the reality of being different: his flock doesn't accept him and actually outcast him. However, that doesn't stop him from keep trying to learn and improve his flight skills so that he reaches what he is desperately trying to. And even though he later finds another flock which accepts him the way he is, he still loves his previous flock and wants to show them his talents.This movie is certainly artistic when it comes to film-making. Besides the unique story (even if a bit lame), it has rich and gorgeous settings and landscapes, as well as a beautiful and relaxing musical score by Neil Diamond.

my_corpse_remains I won't bother to give a plot description because there is no plot and what little there is to say about what happens over the two unbearable hours this movie steals from the viewer's life has already been adequately covered in previous comments.I'd like to give my perspective as a "Gen X"er who was shown this movie by his Baby Boomer father. I was 18 at the time and my father had dumped my mother for another woman 12 years prior. I was lucky to have a step-dad, because my old man put in the obligatory every-other-weekend like it was parole. He usually just left me with his wife, who hated my guts, while he worked overtime making six figures. She at least mailed the support checks, because when he dumped her, I quit seeing them.When I was 16, he moved to Texas to avoid paying her support too, so him and I didn't talk for a couple of years. It took six months of refusing to take his calls to get a plane ticket and a week of his life. The trip was suppose to help us to reconcile and I hoped to get answers as to why up until now my existence had been some sort of thorn in his side.I asked him the tough questions, the ones I'd asked myself my entire childhood. I was treated to a reluctant "sorry", some evasive non-answers and a lot of whining about how lousy his childhood was and it was everyone else's fault for his mistakes. Then one afternoon, he sat me down to watch "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", while he helped his girlfriend make dinner. He gave me a whole prep talk about it before. This movie was suppose to answer everything for me.After watching this movie I accepted what I already knew. That my father was a narcissistic people-user who was incapable of doing anything for anyone if it somehow inconvenienced his life. There are great films out there about families who drift apart and reconcile; movies about people who realize the error of their ways and make amends with their past. Instead, I get shown a cheesy relic about a G- D- seagull who wants more out of life than helping his "family" survive.Apparently, Jonathan is better than the other seagulls. They can catch fish heads for the flock while he finds new ways of flapping his wings. I mean, WTF? Apparently my father's idea of philosophy is meaningless double talk that wouldn't be fit for inclusion in the DVD extras of "Kung Fu". Read the quotes! Yes, do whatever you like, because freedom is "being" or happiness is not thinking about anyone else but yourself or something to that effect. Fly, fly away from the District Attorney. Explore new horizons where they can't garnish your paycheck.My father has four kids and none of us keep in touch with him. Maybe he's leeching off some woman right now? Maybe he's homeless? I haven't talked to him in five years and I couldn't care less. I got sick of Jonathan Seagull asking to borrow my credit card so he could go fly off and "discover himself" over and over again. So to me this movie is about my father and every other self-romanticizing Baby Boomer with a Beamer, arthritis and grandkids he never sees. Maybe Greenpeace will be there for all the elderly seagulls who fly out to sea alone.

SoylentGreenIsPeople91 This review is based on the first 45 minutes of the film - it is the only film I have ever walked out of. The single worst film I have ever seen. Pretentious drivel masquerading as some sort of art. Not even watchable in a "so bad its good" way. It is way, way below that standard. A seagull who wants to "fly" - not fly, "fly" (possibly with 2 y's). It is every bit as bad as the plot synopsis (and that is the entire plot) sounds. I thought that the book had had some interesting ideas, even if it was a bit on the twee side, but the film removed any vestige of charm from the book in favour of a literal interpretation of the book's message. All we have is a seagull who wants to "fly".(Please note that this review was not written by SoylentGreenIsPeople91, who has actually never seen this film)