I honestly did not quite know what to expect from this one – yet another Oscar-nominated Canadian short – despite being aware that it was released on DVD by none other than Criterion however, I must confess that I was genuinely surprised by how compelling the simple plot line emerged here! In fact, what we have is a small boy living in a cabin up in the snowy woods who, unable to get to the open sea himself, carves a wooden boat – with a Native American for a 'navigator'! – and sets it on its way downstream. This is 'good stuff' that should appeal to anyone. I am only seeing it now as a 60-year-old man, but I enjoyed it as much as any kid. Unlike most of the reviewers here, I never saw this movie as a kid. The little boat navigates down small rivers, rapids, whirlpools, big rivers, small lakes, big lakes, canals.you name it. We (the camera) follow the progress of this little toy boat through several seasons, some human contact, some contact with sea creatures and birds. Although he lives on a mountain, he knows once the ice of winter melts, the boat will slide down the steep hill into a small creek and then into a river, into a bigger river and, hopefully, all the way to Atlantic Ocean.

On the side of the boat, he asks that anyone who handles this piece of art, 'please throw it back in the water.' The boy decides to let this boat go as far as it can in the water. This is a Canadian movie which begins by showing a boy whittling this amazing piece of work: an Indian - very stoic looking - sitting in his canoe. 'Paddle To The Sea,' made 42 years ago, never got the publicity or achieved the popularity of 'The Red Balloon' but if you liked the latter, you'll like this. This was a nice little half-hour movie, which reminded me a bit of another film of similar length that was popular 50 years ago: The Red Balloon.

Little man in the canoe