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Paddle to the Sea (Released by Janus Films, in association with the Criterion Collection) | 
 enlarge | Director: Bill Mason
Actor: Paddle To The Sea
Studio: Criterion Collection
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $9.09
You Save: $5.86 (39%)
New (36) Used (5) from $9.09
Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 11002
Format: Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 30
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: CC1748DDVD
UPC: 715515029025
EAN: 0715515029025
ASIN: B0012Z362G
Theatrical Release Date: 1966
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW AND FACTORY SEALED!
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Product Description
Based on Holling C. Holling's beloved Caldecott-awarded children's book William Mason's stunning film follows the adventures of a tiny wood-carved canoe as it forges its own path from Lake Superior through the Great Lakes and down to the Atlantic Ocean. Buoyed by beautiful photography and a sense of true wonder about the sun Earth and water the Academy Award-nominated Paddle to the Sea is an unforgettable tribute to the forces of the natural world as well as a thrilling journey across the waves and rapids of North America.System Requirements:LENGTH: 28 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 715515029025 Manufacturer No: CC1748DDVD
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: Read 12 more reviews...
 Wanderlust December 19, 2008
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 out of a cedar log. He sets his toy boat free to travel through the Great Lakes-St Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic ocean. We become part of that journey.
 A children's classic but just ok DVD quality and zero extras. October 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a classic short film I remember seeing in elementary school in the late 1970s. It presents the simple adventure story of a carved indian raft's journey to the sea with subtle (mostly) moral and environmental overtones. Kids will thoroughly enjoy this, especially if they're remotely into the outdoors.
My caveat is that the actual disc release is completely unexceptional. Image quality: claimed to be a newly restored high-definition master is sorely lacking. It exhibits poor image contrast and sharpness, with lots of inconsistent film grain and even some hairs occasionally clogging the frame. In 2008, correcting those sorts of technical flaws is something you can now easily do with a home computer. So I expected a lot more from the Criterion Collection.
Extras: none. I'd love to know a tiny bit more about the film and the filmmakers but there's nothing here other than the short and chapter stops. Love this movie, just wish it had gotten the first class treatment it deserves.
Amazing August 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This little film is just really fun to watch. I love the idea behind it, and teachers using it in the classroom will want to either read the book to their students first, or explain the premise, as the narration in the film is quite subtle regarding the boy's illness and why he himself cannot 'paddle to the sea.' Very young kids will appreciate all the animals that interact with the canoe, and the film presents the opportunity to segue into science or history or geography lessons.
Young person's treat August 1, 2008
Having first met Paddle to the Sea in print as a child, and having been fascinated by it, I felt this was a true interpretation and faithful to the book. I would introduce the child first to the book and then to the DVD.
A Mythic Story about Journeys July 1, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is the kind of film that works its way into your subconscious. A boy carves a small wooden canoe with one wooden passenger...an all-watchful Native American...and sends the small craft into a frozen lake so that it can journey thousands of miles to the ocean. To keep the canoe afloat, the boy pours a bar of lead into the bottom of the canoe. "I am Paddle to the Sea" the boat tells us. The film tracks its journey past frogs, deer, and snakes, past ice and storm, even past the rushing currents of Niagara Falls. A few individuals fish it out of the water but on seeing the instructions (carved on the bottom of the boat) they wisely return the craft back into the lake or stream from whence it came. Thus, the canoe returns to its mysterious source. This is a fine contemplative film that makes us meditate on our own personal journeys, our own attachments, and our own connection to the living world (After all, the canoe started out as part of a tree). In a 21st century world where too many children's films are violent or meaningless, this is a perfect gift for youngsters five and upwards.
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