“Free Willy” is a whale of a movie.

Cheesy, clunky, canned, sure. Yet still good entertainment with a Northwest twist.

It’s hard not to root for the unfairly imprisoned Willy the killer whale, or the deeply troubled 12-year-old orphan boy, Jesse, who becomes Willy’s best friend.

It’s also hard not to feel compassion for the patient foster parents, the Greenwoods, who try to give the bullheaded Jesse a better life. His path to manhood looks to be taking on water and sinking fast. The boy is arrested after a crime spree. To atone for his crime, Jesse is assigned to clean up graffiti on the windows of the tank meant for dolphins (undersized for a whale) at the seedy Northwest Adventure Park.

The greedy owner of the park, Dial, played by Michael Ironside, wants to turn Willy into a performing cash bonanza.

Gorgeous backdrops take a bow. As usual, Oregon is a visual feast. We see Astoria, Warrenton, Cannon Beach and Portland in their scenic splendor. Yes, even Portland. Some of the film was also made in Mexico and by animatronics and other special effects wizardry.

The foster parents show great compassion for Jesse, with more forbearing and patience than most caretakers could muster. Jesse shows great compassion for his new friend, Willy, finding a skill, animal training, that may pull him out of a downward spiral.

Directed by Simon Wincer with screenplay by Keith Walker and Corey Blechman, the movie stars Jason James Richter as Jesse. Michael Madsen plays the foster dad, Glen Greenwood, and Jayne Atkinson plays the ever-forgiving foster mom, Annie Greenwood.

Lori Petty plays the seal trainer, Rae Lindley, and August Schellenberg plays the whale caretaker, Randolph Johnson. Both become accomplices in a mission to save Willy when his tank is sabotaged as the owner seeks to collect insurance money.

Supporting cast includes Richard Riehle as Ward, the park manager. Mykelti Williamson plays Dwight Mercer, the juvenile counselor trying to turn Jesse’s life around.

The movie starts with the crew of the Pequod, bad guys all around, capturing Willy in a sea cove, separating him from his family, which killer whales bond with for life, and selling him to Northwest Adventure Park. The park has seen better days.

Willy, played by Keiko, master of the cannonball pool splash, is the hero. Seventeen years old at the time of filming, Keiko was captured at age 3 and rehomed repeatedly in an effort to capitalize on his star qualities. By the early 1990s, he had become a fixture at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. He was rehabilitated and returned to the wild several years after filming and lived free with mixed success to age 27.

The film tells a different story. Willy, in the euphoric climax as implausible as caviar at McDonald’s, leaps over a jetty and is triumphantly reunited with his family pod in the Pacific Ocean. Jesse seems to make peace with his foster family, finally realizing his real mom, who abandoned him six years earlier, is not coming back.

It’s an engaging love story between boy and whale, and between foster parents who never give up hope the boy will find a productive path forward.

Every human foible is served up like a seafood buffet. Themes include greed, animal rights and second chances.

There is plenty to cheer for, for kids and older whale lovers. The movie helped trigger interest in orcas and their right to self-determination, a healthy habitat and freedom.