PAPER PLANES

After crafting a series of complex and acclaimed Australian films for adults, director Robert Connolly turns his attention to a younger audience with ‘Paper Planes’, a bright and breezy family adventure with a cracker of a cast. Based on a true story, it follows its young hero and his unusual skill on his quest for success and happiness, all folded into the pedantic folds of paper planes.

Dylan (Ex Oxenbould) lives with his father Jack (Sam Worthington) in a rural town in New South Wales. After a school project, he discovers an unexpected skill and passion for building paper planes, and with the encouragement of his teachers, enters and excels in the national paper plane championships. All Dylan wants to do though is find a way to reconnect with Jack, still grieving over the loss of Dylan’s mother. While his fellow competitors - especially elitist bully Jason (Nicholas Bakopoulos-Cooke) - have glory in their sights, Dylan knows the stakes are so much higher for him and his broken little family.

‘Paper Planes’ ticks all the right boxes for a satisfying family film, built on an imaginative and original premise full of comic and dramatic potential. Connelly, along with co-writer Steve Worlard, dispense with anything too complex, making sure that ‘Paper Planes’ appeals to audiences of all ages. While it bounces along with terrific humour and energy, especially thanks to Dylan’s best mate Kevin (Julian Dennison), the film also has a tremendous amount of heart. Dylan is about as good a kid as you could ever hope to meet, and his commitment and tolerance of his father is absolute. As a hero, Dylan has all the right attributes, maintaining his integrity and determination in the face of the worst obstacles. As a piece of children’s entertainment, it excels in almost every way – there are great characters, a cracking premise, it moves beautifully and it has great morals to impart. It’s heart is so much in the right place that it seems a pity to offer criticism of its filmmaking, which isn’t as admirable as its sentiment. Connelly seems to go for a "bigger and louder is better" philosophy, with flashy cinematography and preposterous editing that seem at complete odds with the humble content of the film. It’s as of the film is trying to be a bigger film than it can (or needs) to be, overcompensating for short-fallings it doesn’t have. Because of this, moments of ‘Paper Planes’ come across as a tad obnoxious when they really shouldn’t. Worst of all, composer Nigel Westlake totally overshoots the tone and sound of the score to the detriment of the film. He applies the same lush orchestration used to great effect in ‘Babe’ to ‘Paper Planes’, but it’s far too big and far too rich for it, and it ends up totally overwhelming the film.