Paper Planes 2014

     This film is loosely based on a 2009 episode of Australian Story called Fly With Me.  Dylan is 12 years old and he lives with his dad Jack in Australia.  They recently lost their mother/wife in a car accident.  Dylan is trying hard to recover but Jack is having a more difficult time with depression.  He sleeps on the couch and he doesn’t go to work.  Dylan is very interested when Jethro comes to school to teach the students how to make paper planes.  Dylan’s plane flies the longest and he thinks he can make it to the Aussie Junior Championships in Sydney.  It’s even possible he could go to the World Junior Paper Plane Championship in Tokyo.  Will he be able to do any of this with is father in such bad shape every day and with little money?

     I didn’t know there were championships in paper airplanes?  The scenes of the Australian countryside are beautiful.  Dylan learns a lot more than just how to fold paper airplanes.  He learns about friendship, bullies, strength when facing adversity and pulling his family together.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

96 min, Family directed by Robert Connolly with Sam Worthington, Ed Oxenbould, Deborah Mailman, Ena Imai, Nicholas Bakopoulos-Cooke, Julian Dennison, Terry Norris, Peter Rowsthorn, David Wenham.

Note:  Imdb 6.2 out of 10, 82% critic 63% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 281 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Perth, Floreat, Whiteman and Burswood, Western Australia, Australia; Bull Creek WA, Peppermint Grove WA, Australia; Tokyo, Japan. Julian Dennison is this film as classmate Kevin and he played Ricky Baker in Hunt for the Wilderpeople of 2016.