Paper Planes – Träumen Emus vom Fliegen? (2014)

Paper Planes – Träumen Emus vom Fliegen?: Directed by Robert Connolly. With Sam Worthington, Ed Oxenbould, Deborah Mailman, Ena Imai. An imaginative children’s film about a young Australian boy’s passion for flight and his challenge to compete in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan.

“This is a sweet, simple little film, but with some interesting and thoughtful themes to get your kids thinking a little more about things they see sometimes, but may not really understand.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe biggest of those themes is loss, and the reviewers who donu0026#39;t u0026#39;getu0026#39; Sam Worthingtons character have completely missed this. You donu0026#39;t just u0026#39;get overu0026#39; the loss of your wife five months after her sudden death, everyone has their own way of coming back, and Worthingtonu0026#39;s character hasnu0026#39;t found that way back when we meet him in the film. Heu0026#39;s still lost. And itu0026#39;s his sonu0026#39;s understanding of his dads grief that underpins the entire film. Itu0026#39;s subtle, but itu0026#39;s the whole driving force of this story. The actual competition that seems to drive the film is actually secondary… but ultimately becomes the catalyst to get the father through his grief and back to u0026#39;lifeu0026#39;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy 8yo son picked up on this about halfway through the film, when the father refused to sell the piano – he said u0026#39;I know why he canu0026#39;t sell itu0026#39;. The storyline didnu0026#39;t flesh it out until later, when Dylan told Kimi that his mum had been a piano teacher – and this is another thing the film does; it reveals its layers slowly, and for the most part lets its audience figure things out for themselves.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe messages and lessons for the target audience start almost from the beginning of the film – it will get kids thinking about sportsmanship, peer pressure, role models, friendship, and loss… and it does so with a good dose of laughter and a sublime sense of the ridiculous – always a winner with kids.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWorthingtonu0026#39;s character didnu0026#39;t really hit his stride until mid film, which was a shame – it left the door open for the less cerebral members of the audience to assume he was just a deadbeat dad, and when those types make that assumption, theyu0026#39;ll drop dead before theyu0026#39;ll admit to themselves that they were wrong. Not Worthingtonu0026#39;s fault; the script should have introduced the bereavement earlier than it did.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI also think the connection between Dylanu0026#39;s father and grandfather should have been explored a little more. Ultimately we end up knowing nothing about his father other than that heu0026#39;s shattered by the loss of his wife – thatu0026#39;s a given, so why didnu0026#39;t we get a little more about the man himself? I slept on my lounge plenty of times myself in the months following my separation from my wife, but if I were a movie character Iu0026#39;d want my audience to know a bit more about me than that fact.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTip – have a decent supply of A4 paper on hand for the morning after watching this movie with your kids :)”