Review: Paper Planes

Set in rural WA, 12 year-old Dylan (Ed Oxenbould) lives with his dad Jack (Sam Worthington), who is still wracked with grief over the death of the boy’s mum. It has been five months, but young Dylan finds himself acting the responsible parent to Jack, who never seems to leave the couch, watching old tapes of cricket in a borderline vegetative state. A classroom activity has Dylan discover a previously hidden talent for making paper aeroplanes. He even manages to get into a district heat for an upcoming competition. Before long, he has found himself qualifying for a Championship tournament in Japan! He just doesn’t know how he’s going to afford it, and even if he can, will dad Jack (who, in a lucid moment suggests Dylan study everything that flies, to help him find an edge on the competition) finally get his arse off the couch to go to Japan with him? Meanwhile, Dylan develops a sweet friendship with Japanese girl Kimi (Ena Imai), the current world champion of the ‘sport’. Terry Norris plays Dylan’s encouraging former war pilot grandfather, Deborah Mailman is a cheerful former champion, Peter Rowsthorn is a supportive teacher, and David Wenham is a pro golfer and father to the shittiest little shit of a shithead son, who is Dylan’s main professional rival. Seriously, that little shit is the shits, whilst his dad tries to teach him that winning isn’t everything.

 

Definitely not the best Aussie film of late, this 2015 film from director Robert Connolly (“The Bank”, “Three Dollars”, “Balibo”) and his co-writer Steve Worland (“Bootmen”) is far more in the kiddie movie camp than the family movie camp. It’s nice, well-meaning and occasionally very well-acted, but…there’s just not much here for adults, and it seems awfully old-fashioned to me. It’s the kind of story you could’ve seen us make in 1989, and hell, you could even have Peter Rowsthorn play the same role back then. Today it could’ve even been turned into a kids TV show (albeit needing to be fleshed out, of course. I’m just talking about the subject matter itself being kiddie oriented), with not only Rowsthorn but Deb Mailman I could easily see doing it. It’s not as culturally clichéd and cringe-worthy as “Red Dog”, but this is one of those films that sounds fine on paper, but doesn’t quite get there in actuality because it’s not aiming high enough. Sorry, that pun was bad even for me, but it’s true.

 

There’s not much you can do to make paper planes interesting in a feature-length movie without resorting to the visual cheating that Connolly does here with obvious CGI. Are the kids of today even interested in paper planes? I was, back in the mid-80s, but today’s kids I’m not so sure will be gripped by this one much, nor was I. The one interesting thing about the paper planes aspect here is the idea that young Ed Oxenbould is looking to all kinds of flying things for inspiration to give him an edge with making the best paper plane possible. I liked that, but for me the most interesting material here is the rather dark subplot involving Sam Worthington in his best performance to date as the boy’s loving but completely emotionally broken father. He’s where the real movie is at, albeit not a remotely family friendly one. I’ve never much liked him as an actor, but he’s actually quite moving here as a guy who is just completely wrecked with grief to the point where he barely even functions anymore. It’s dour stuff for a kids movie, but it’s the only interesting material here, really. On a side note, it’s hilarious that an actor famous for his inability to put on a consistent American accent, Worthington occasionally has trouble losing an American twang here.

 

Meanwhile, veteran TV comedian Peter Rowsthorn is perfectly cast and hilarious as the kind of likeable but daggy teacher who probably thinks he’s cool. It might just be the serviceable comedian’s best work to date. David Wenham doesn’t get much screen time, but is nicely relaxed and very likeable as the famous sportsman father to a frankly pissant son. Deborah Mailman simply needs to be a huge star already, but for some reason she’s still the funny, chubby woman in support. She’s good at it, but she needs more lead roles, she’s more than capable of it. I don’t know what her secret is, but Deb Mailman has one of the most lovely and joyous screen presences. She’s a star, but she should be a huge one. Here she’s instantly hilarious and adorkable as a former paper plane champion who pops up every now and again to encourage the next generation. And occasionally do some rather regrettable pratfalling straight out of a lame afternoon kids TV show. That said, she looks to be having more fun than anyone here, so perhaps she enjoyed being thrown into the pool and made to be a bit of a figure of fun. Veteran actor (and former politician) Terry Norris is also fine as the boy’s incorrigible grandfather. As for young Ed Oxenbould, he’s got the acting thing down fine, but at this point in his development as a human being, he’s squirmy and a bit hard to watch at times. I reckon he’s gonna get really good once he gets out of the awkward phase (though he faces that other ‘awkward’ phase in a few years too, I guess).

 

A nice but frankly not very interesting film, at least not for adults. Kids, meanwhile might prefer to play on their IPads than watch the story of rather antiquated paper-folding and a father’s crippling grief. Or maybe they’ll love it, how the hell would I know? All I know is that it fell short for me. Good performances certainly help, but not enough to make this anything beyond adequate, and frankly a bit outdated. Worthington is excellent, Mailman is incandescent. The film…meh, and meh just isn’t good enough.

 

Rating: C+