The Aeronauts (2019) 

Loosely inspired by a true story, this suspenseful, well-acted film thrusts its audience into the heart of an unforgettable adventure sailing the skies.

In 1862, weather scientist James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) searches for a hot-air balloon pilot ready to make a “historic” journey for science up into the wild blue skies. Glaisher wants to chart weather patterns, hoping to predict them one day for useful purposes. But no one wants an inexperienced scientist on board… except Amelia Wren (Felicity Jones). A young aeronaut experiencing trauma after the death of her husband in a balloon accident, Amelia is not terribly keen to return to the skies, either… but Glaisher talks her into it.

On the day of their departure, he shows up serious and ready for action. She turns up in a frilled skirt with a little dog and gives the audience a show. Fifty feet up, she tosses the mutt overboard—and he floats safely down to the ground in a parachute. As the two wrestle with dangerous weather to ascend higher than anyone has ever gone before, they learn more about themselves… and each other… in what becomes terrifying fight for their survival.

Although inspired by the actual flight, fiction makes up most of the film’s plot. It exchanges Glaisher’s actual pilot (a man) for a woman formed of a “composite” of various female aeronauts from the period. And while I am usually a stickler for historical accuracy, in this film, it works to have a man and a woman in the balloon. Especially because this pairs up two energetic, memorable actors in magnificent performances. Felicity steals the attention away from Redmayne, who is making a career of portraying likable but awkward introverts. She brings the energetic determination, charge, and emotion the story needs before it hits the heights of its drama, which pits these two very different characters against Mother Nature. Quibbles happen about whether Glaisher brought his “oilskins” like she told him to (he didn’t) and just how far to go, before they die from the extreme altitude.

The script flashes back and forth between their present adventure and their back stories, also spending minutes here and there with their friends on the ground. I don’t feel that the latter is necessary; what is happening in and on the top of the balloon is what I care about. If you have any problem with heights, hold on to your seat, because scenes of Amelia climbing up the side in freezing temperatures, not to mention their dazzling descent, will thrust your heart up into your throat. It’s wonderful to see an original story rather than a remake! The costumes are fantastic, the balloon never seems claustrophobic, and some scenes are truly magical (such as them encountering a bunch of butterflies). This is the most fun I’ve had watching a movie in months, and it’s perfect for the entire family.

Language:
One use of damn.
 
Violence:
A man leaps to his death off a balloon; many scenes of peril, where characters are battered by wind and about in storms, almost freeze to death, nearly plummet off the balloon; a crash landing after which characters are banged up (scratches, cuts, limping). A character doesn't care if they live or die.