The first must-see film of the year.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

10 years ago I searched for a copy of this movie on dvd. Or vhs NO EVIDENCE IT EVER EXISTED! And somehow even as Keanu Reeves debut movie IT DID NOT EXIST!!!! I REMBER THIS MOVIE I WATCHED IT REPEATEDLY! IT WAS CALLED FLYING CAUSE THE TEAM WAS CALLED THE NIAGARA FLYERS... and the part where the Robin talks about how it feels to be on the poles .. she feels like she is flying and no one and nothing .. including Bob or anyone else can touch her! But I went searching for a copy of this film on dvd.. it does not exist .. I had to cross reference the actors. Olivia and Keanu.. and I found only one movie at the same time "DREAM TO BELIEVE". I checked it is nearly identical. There are a lot of differences.. many changes.. but it is almost the same movie.. it was NEVER CALLED DREAM TO BELIEVE.. ON MY COPY OF THE MOVIE I WATCHED REPEATEDLY!!! It was called FLYING.. the cover of the movie showed Olivia D'abo in her gymnastics body suit in a dismount midair. Her name was starring Olivia D'Abo .. I know that for a perfect fact! No mistakes no way I am wrong or mistaken.. yet here the only copy of this movie on vhs that I can find now!!!! Is only called "dream to believe" wtf! Shows Keanu Reeves only. even though he is just a minor character in the movie definitely not a main character nor is this movie about him he has little airtime. yet in Dream to believe.. he and only he is on the cover ! Olivia is on the back. In a stylized handstand ...wtf? What's going on? I know there is a phenomena called the " Mandela Effect" where a lot of people distinctly remember something in pop culture one way.. and others show it's a completely different proof it's different for example .. the Berenstain Bears ..many ppl remember it spelled that way. And now the books only show Berenstein bears... spelling. And many people swear they saw a movie called Shazam starring Sinbad as a Genie .. when in fact the real movie was KAZAM starring Shaq as a Genie .. I get if they re released the movie years later putting the focus on Keanu after her got famous.. but. Why change the name .. but I checked Wikipedia. No where did it say the film was originally called Flying! This has always bugged me that I could not find it. But tonight on a hunch I checked IMDb I found it! See I knew I was not crazy! But Keanu is still on the cover so it's not the original release ? Hmm still confused .. he barely has 20 mins screen time

"Flying" (aka "Teenage Dream") looks to be another one of those '80s feel-good movies using the same tired premise of a main character overcoming adversity and achieving their dreams- and essentially, it is exactly that. While the story is predictable, there are lots of other things thrown in that were very unexpected of such a movie. Main character Robin is a girl in high school who has a love of gymnastics. Her loving father, also her gymnastics coach, dies in a car crash (this is off-screen and presumably takes place a few years before the film begins) and Robin severely injures her knee in the crash, greatly dampening her gymnastic abilities and forcing her to start training from the ground up. As if this alone wasn't enough to make you root for the underdog, her mother marries a mean brute, presumably to make ends meet, and she must switch schools and move in with him and his daughter (also all takes place before film begins) Not only that, both Robin and her mother work in sweatshop-like conditions in his dry-cleaning business every day, and her mother is also exhausted and sick. At night, Robin goes into some abandoned warehouse (?) with a policeman (?) and practices gymnastics. To top off her depressing life, she helps out with the gymnastics team, who are all snobby and mean to her, except for one, a charming girl who is a good friend but has her own problems as well (starving herself to lose weight)Things do start to look up for Robin, however. After seeing her abilities, the coach adds her to the team, and picks her and two others to compete in an important competition. Keanu Reeves, in the very early days of his career, shines as her dorky friend Tommy and later her boyfriend, whom Robin initially ignored in favor of a preppy boy who, of course, doesn't like her back.Good times do not last long, for as soon as things are going good, Robin's mother dies. Showing almost no emotion about that, Robin almost immediately goes off and has sex with her boyfriend (though they are only shown undressing each other) This was unexpected as well, as only a short while before, Tommy had given up on her and was ignoring her. She has comfort in her friend and in Tommy, and (of course) wins the competition- THE END.Was this an amazing film? Of course not. But if you like a good cheesy '80s flick every once in a while, you'll get all the nostalgic trademarks: big hair, dancing scenes with pop music and boomboxes, training montages, girls in legwarmers, etc.The acting is not great, it's campy, and there are some weird undertones. Olivia d'Abo, who plays Robin, was only 15 at the time of filming, yet there are enough close-up shots of her butt and breasts in tight tank tops to make you feel uncomfortable. Keanu Reeves, pre-stardom, is very likable and believable in his role. There is also the minor token black character, in the form of the trustworthy groovy dancing cop. Olivia d'Abo's use of a stunt double for all of the gymnastics scenes is outrageously obvious, and she is somewhat unbelievable in her role as the (quirky?) Robin. It also should be noted that Reeves was 20 and d'Abo was 15, playing a couple. However, he is so kind and cute and their short scene in bed was about the most sweet and loving thing i've ever seen in a movie, to be honest. They even wash the sheets together afterwards- I mean come on. On the other hand, there was a very strange scene in which Robin intently watches Tommy, biting her lip, as he dumps a bunch of onions and toppings on their street vendor hot dogs. Three seconds later, they are shown French kissing. (???Ew???) Yeah, it's a bad movie, but it's a campy, guilty pleasure, if only for Reeves's very youthful charisma, and it's one you will probably get made fun of for if somebody catches you watching it.

Remember that the nostalgic aspect of 80s movies did not apply when they actually came out. So we are reviewing them as pieces of nostalgia, not just as movies. As nostalgia, I liked this one.Buffalo is a good location for a movie about working class teen underdogs. Flashdance and All The Right Moves were in the Pittsburgh area, a bit more cliché.Gotta love that soundtrack, although again, when it actually came out, you were used to hearing that quasi-disco-optimism genre. Now you are enjoying it as nostalgia. It makes the film for me.It was actually filmed in '84 but was not released for a couple of years. Keanu was 20, and Olivia was 15. I hope they were both supposed to be Seniors in high school, given their romantic relationship. (As opposed to Sophomores)Most of Olivia's early films were showcases for her considerably precocious and provocative budding sexuality. In this one though, she was so young, that it makes you feel a bit creepy watching it, unless you are a youngster yourself. I guess the intended audience was and is, teenagers, but even so, 15 is too young for screen sex in my opinion.I'm still not sure what dancing in a warehouse has to do with competitive gymnastics, although I understand that Tumbling routines are done to music. In Flashdance, the girl was making a living as a pop dancer, while aspiring to ballet. Not so in this one.The warehouse scenes were gratuitous and included the obligatory dancing African American. That made me squirm, sensing exploitation, but no one forced the guy to do it.They really stacked the deck with all our character's home life troubles too. Jeez. Dead dad, abusive step dad, ill mom, surly sister, anorexic friend. Wow.Reeves displays his usual "everyman" appeal that made him a star. I mourn the awkward heavy vibe he adopted or was forced to develop, in later films. He looks very young here.If you are a teenager and fantasize about having a boyfriend like teen Keanu, or you are a lonely girl who dreams of overcoming odds and finding love, you will enjoy this one. Please enjoy the 80s vibe and learn to appreciate your parents' generation.

It's not really about gymnastics; swap out the occasional training montages and it could just as easily be about archery, or microbiology, or a booger-flicking tournament. Instead, like every other Rocky/Flashdance derivative that flooded the 80s market, it's about conquering adversity with stick-to-it-iveness, rendering all social/personal realities irrelevant by your lonesome - with love interest standing by of course. Ronald Reagan top to bottom, in short; so as a piece of cinema it's down to the details. Some of the actors are quirky enough to liven things up - especially the love interest, brought to you by none other than Mr. Keanu Reeves, warming up for Ted; heroine Olivia D'Abo's hateful alkie dad and big-hair stepsister are more interesting than the sickly mom or her utterly inert bitch-nemeses/teammates, one of whom appears to be made of porcelain. It's my instinct to be appalled by the comic-relief black guys, but on the other hand at least they're in the movie. But D'Abo doesn't quite convince with her awkward-girl shtick, and in the absence of any other narrative focus the lack of interest in the gymnastics themselves really does matter; it's all just bodies hurtling around, and not only is the outcome of the big tournament a foregone conclusion, it's all performed by an obvious double.