Paddle to the Sea (Released by Janus Films, in association with the Criterion Collection)
starring: Paddle to the Sea
directed by: Bill Mason
directed by: Bill Mason
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Product Description:
Studio: Image EntertainmentRelease Date: 04/29/2008
Amazon.com:
Paddle to the Sea, the short film named after the carved wooden toy boat it tracks through various waterways from Canada to the Atlantic Ocean, is Canadian director William Mason's sweet homage to the 1940s children's book. Like The Red Balloon, Paddle To The Sea folklorically portrays a toy's journey, with a bit of added personification since the whittled boat contains a stoic Native American man carved into its seat. The film begins in a Nipogon log cabin, where a boy laments releasing his newly crafted artwork but soon realizes that setting his toy free is the only way to enliven it. After pouring molten lead into the boat's base to encourage its floating upright, and writing "I am Paddle to the Sea: Please Put Me Back in the Water" on the boat's underside, he drops the boat into a snowy stream and hopes someday it will reach the ocean. Beyond the film's wise message of non-attachment, wonderment is sustained throughout while trying to guess how Mason managed to track this swift-sailing canoe down river rapids, through industrially polluted waterways, and even over Niagara Falls. Fortuitous shots of animals investigating the boat as if to eat it seem almost pre-planned. Cameras strapped onto rafts, lowered down cliffs by rope, and more enabled the director to follow the toy in close-up, as if he were filming a wildlife documentary. Narrated from an omniscient point of view by a man with a soothing storyteller's voice, Paddle to the Sea is a lullaby to tranquility that entertains with simple charm and clever wit. --Trinie Dalton
Studio: Image EntertainmentRelease Date: 04/29/2008
Amazon.com:
Paddle to the Sea, the short film named after the carved wooden toy boat it tracks through various waterways from Canada to the Atlantic Ocean, is Canadian director William Mason's sweet homage to the 1940s children's book. Like The Red Balloon, Paddle To The Sea folklorically portrays a toy's journey, with a bit of added personification since the whittled boat contains a stoic Native American man carved into its seat. The film begins in a Nipogon log cabin, where a boy laments releasing his newly crafted artwork but soon realizes that setting his toy free is the only way to enliven it. After pouring molten lead into the boat's base to encourage its floating upright, and writing "I am Paddle to the Sea: Please Put Me Back in the Water" on the boat's underside, he drops the boat into a snowy stream and hopes someday it will reach the ocean. Beyond the film's wise message of non-attachment, wonderment is sustained throughout while trying to guess how Mason managed to track this swift-sailing canoe down river rapids, through industrially polluted waterways, and even over Niagara Falls. Fortuitous shots of animals investigating the boat as if to eat it seem almost pre-planned. Cameras strapped onto rafts, lowered down cliffs by rope, and more enabled the director to follow the toy in close-up, as if he were filming a wildlife documentary. Narrated from an omniscient point of view by a man with a soothing storyteller's voice, Paddle to the Sea is a lullaby to tranquility that entertains with simple charm and clever wit. --Trinie Dalton
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Book - GREAT! Movie - HUGE disappointment! Skip the movie.
My 6 yr. old son and I read this book and loved it. He is Inupiat Eskimo. I am from Michigan. We had a lot to talk about while reading the superb book - from following along the map to the different reactions of those that saw Paddle.In the book, people carve on the bottom wherever he stops so you can see right where he's been. He has really cooland exciting adventures. This made it real. I thought the movie would be a no-brainer, it was nominated for an Oscar, right ? I know the movie was done ... Read More
Rating: 
- An Elementary School Classroom Classic
I remember watching this film on the old reel to reel projectors 40 years ago in elementary school. Each year,as students, we all gathered in the school gym to watch this story. From my standpoint it seems like a simple classic short film from a simpler time when special effects and graphics were not the focus, but rather the story of the boy and his travels of his carved wooden boat. I would hope today's school children would accept this film as a classic and anticipate watching from year to year. ... Read More
Rating: - Paddle to the Sea DVD
It was a trip down memory lane to finally see and own this classic film that I remembered seeing as a young child.The film left such an impact on me when I was yonger, opening my eyes to environmental awareness.It was wonderful to finally be able to own a classic film (and classic story book) that I had only been briefly exposed to in the classroom so many years ago, but that left a such a lasting impression.
Rating: 
- Great throwback to childhood
Unfortunately the print is not as clean as what I've been used to seeing from a Criterion DVD, but it's highly enjoyable nonetheless.
Rating: - Wanderlust
Growing up as a young boy in Michigan in 1960s, spending time on Lake Saint Clair/Lake Erie fishing for pike, muskee and perch with my father, watching the cargo freighters and hearing Indian stories fueled my love of nature and my curiosity about the world. It was the start of my wanderlust. "Paddle to the Sea" reminded me of that innocent time.
The story starts on a cold winter day, besides the warmth of a fireplace, a young Canadian boy is carving a wooden model of an Indian in a canoe ... Read More
- Book - GREAT! Movie - HUGE disappointment! Skip the movie.My 6 yr. old son and I read this book and loved it. He is Inupiat Eskimo. I am from Michigan. We had a lot to talk about while reading the superb book - from following along the map to the different reactions of those that saw Paddle.In the book, people carve on the bottom wherever he stops so you can see right where he's been. He has really cooland exciting adventures. This made it real. I thought the movie would be a no-brainer, it was nominated for an Oscar, right ? I know the movie was done ... Read More
- An Elementary School Classroom Classic I remember watching this film on the old reel to reel projectors 40 years ago in elementary school. Each year,as students, we all gathered in the school gym to watch this story. From my standpoint it seems like a simple classic short film from a simpler time when special effects and graphics were not the focus, but rather the story of the boy and his travels of his carved wooden boat. I would hope today's school children would accept this film as a classic and anticipate watching from year to year. ... Read More
- Paddle to the Sea DVDIt was a trip down memory lane to finally see and own this classic film that I remembered seeing as a young child.The film left such an impact on me when I was yonger, opening my eyes to environmental awareness.It was wonderful to finally be able to own a classic film (and classic story book) that I had only been briefly exposed to in the classroom so many years ago, but that left a such a lasting impression.
- Great throwback to childhoodUnfortunately the print is not as clean as what I've been used to seeing from a Criterion DVD, but it's highly enjoyable nonetheless.
- WanderlustGrowing up as a young boy in Michigan in 1960s, spending time on Lake Saint Clair/Lake Erie fishing for pike, muskee and perch with my father, watching the cargo freighters and hearing Indian stories fueled my love of nature and my curiosity about the world. It was the start of my wanderlust. "Paddle to the Sea" reminded me of that innocent time.
The story starts on a cold winter day, besides the warmth of a fireplace, a young Canadian boy is carving a wooden model of an Indian in a canoe ... Read More
