John Cusack Movie:

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		Our Price: $22.87
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		MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
A sleeper when released in 1985, The Journey of Natty Gann has since become an enduring family classic. While following a familiar Disney formula (the perilous adventures of a girl and her pet wolf), director Jeremy Paul Kagan adds something fresh at every turn, aided by a first-rate cast and beautifully scenic locations. Then-promising newcomer Meredith Salenger is perfect in the title role--a scrappy kid in Depression-era Chicago who travels cross-country to the Pacific Northwest, hoping to find her father (Ray Wise), who had been forced to leave her with an awful landlady while he took a logging job in Washington. Natty befriends the wolf and a fellow drifter (John Cusack, in an early role), and her journey is a memorable one, intense and realistic but still appropriate for kids. Although Salenger's subsequent film career has been modest (she later graduated cum laude from Harvard), Natty Gann remains a worthy claim to fame. --Jeff Shannon

The Journey of Natty Gann [Region 2] Reviews:
Outstanding Cameos Too!
2009-11-16 - I haven't seen the DVD version, but I have seen the VHS original many many times. I agree with everything that's been said about the cinematography, score, storyline, realism and acting. This is a minor Disney masterpiece. Episodic? Not in the least. The characters grow and change along the way as the result of their adventures. It will make you cry and laugh and wonder a bit at the lives of children in Depression, so many of whom were actually abandoned by their desperate parents, unlike Natty.

One thing no reviewer seems to have mentioned so far is the outstanding cameo performances by musicians Lainie Kazan and Scatman Crothers. Although each appear in the film only briefly their character acting is unexpectedly creative and convincing.

There is also Jed, the dog. As a result of Natty, I followed Jed's career through a few other movies, including White Fang. This intelligent wolf-dog makes Lassie look like a trained circus performer! He poignantly adds to the emotional feel of the movie. His love for Natty and equally strong love for freedom is palpable. His snarls in the boxcar scene are terrifying in the extreme.

There is not a single mediocre performance in this movie. Each actor adds something of substance to the film -- the child actors playing small parts no less so than Salenger and Cusack themselves.

This is one Disney movie that is not to be missed, either by young or old viewers.

Great Movie
2009-04-03 - This is a really great movie! We have been looking for it for some time and found it from a seller on Amazon, still new and unopened. We are very happy with our purchase!

The Journey of Natty Gann
2009-02-14 - This is a fun family movie about a young girl on a journey to find her father who had to go west to find work. Her mother is dead and she doesn't like the woman her father found to care for her so she runs away. With the help of a boy and a dog, she makes the journey amid trials and adventures. It is a movie everyone in the family should enjoy. It might be a bit scary for the youngest viewers, however.

brilliant family film
2008-12-26 - This is a great movie to watch with you kids! We all watched it every Christmas on tv and it became so much of a tradition that I bought it for each child once they turned an adult to watch over the holidays. It is heartwarming and a delightful movie to watch. Highly recommend it.

A Touching Depression Era Story
2008-07-30 - This is a quietly touching adult film made by Disney long before they had their Touchstone division. Meredith Salanger gives a star-making performance as a teenage girl growing up with her father during the depression. A young John Cusack has a nice turn as well, already showing the kind of quiet and surprising talent he would become known for in coming years.

Natty's father (Ray Wise) finds the only work he can during the depression and reluctantly leaves Natty with someone who turns out to have no love or compassion in her heart for anyone but herself. He has gone to Washington to cut trees and leaves a letter promising to send for her, along with a locket containing a picture of her dead mother. But when no word arrives she runs away to find him, riding the rails. Ray Wise gives a fine performance as a loving father forced by the depression to leave the daughter he adores in order to support them both and survive.

The great beauty of the Pacific Nortwest is the backdrop for a beautifully filmed and realistic journey of a time and place long gone. It is not the rose-colored journey one might expect from a Disney film, however. The people and places are real and she is met with both kindness and cruelty, including a brief scene when she hitches a ride with a pervert who tries to molest her.

She meets Cusak early on in this film and later when their paths cross again they tramp together, feelings for each other beginning to form. Meanwhile, due to a chain of events which causes her father to believe Natty dead, he is devastated and takes a very dangerous job. A wolf becomes Natty's friend and they travel together, looking out for one another. Though this may sound corny, it is handled in a realistic and believable way.

When Cusak finds work in California she must continue on to find her father. But there are sweet moments when she writes to him and we hope that somewhere down the line they will be together. There are some truly touching scenes which make this memorable, and an excellent film for parents to enjoy with young adults. Sort of forgotten today, this is a really special film I highly recommend.