Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Murray Hamilton 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.The biggest of those themes is loss, and the reviewers who don't 'get' Sam Worthingtons character have completely missed this. You don't just 'get over' the loss of your wife five months after her sudden death, everyone has their own way of coming back, and Worthington's character hasn't found that way back when we meet him in the film. He's still lost. And it's his son's understanding of his dads grief that underpins the entire film. It's subtle, but it'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 'life'.My 8yo son picked up on this about halfway through the film, when the father refused to sell the piano - he said 'I know why he can't sell it'. The storyline didn'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.The 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.Worthington's character didn'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, they'll drop dead before they'll admit to themselves that they were wrong. Not Worthington's fault; the script should have introduced the bereavement earlier than it did.I also think the connection between Dylan's father and grandfather should have been explored a little more. Ultimately we end up knowing nothing about his father other than that he's shattered by the loss of his wife - that's a given, so why didn'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 I'd want my audience to know a bit more about me than that fact.Tip - have a decent supply of A4 paper on hand for the morning after watching this movie with your kids :)

stephendaxter At first this movie may seem like it is just a film about trying to build the best paper plane in the world but the film encompasses so much more than that. The actual plane building makes up some portions of the film but the rest actually is spent with getting to know the characters and seeing some relationships evolve over the course of the film. This movie had a lot of heart and many emotional scenes especially when it is following the boy's relationship with his father. You really understand these two characters and get to know them and see them really grow. Sam Worthington (Jack) and Ed Oxenbould (Dylan) were great in the film, their relationship felt real and you could buy into their actions and decisions. The overall story was carried by these two characters, mostly the child as you see him progress through the paper plane competition. It is an interesting story, although there was a section 3/4 into the movie that i felt slowed down a little too much just momentarily, but then it picked itself up ad finished off pretty strong. Where i felt the film could have done a lot better is with the supporting cast. Well, excluding the grandpa, he was the comedic relief in the film and i would have to say he was pretty entertaining and did lighten the mood a few times. There was one bit that was a bit too silly and dramatised but he wasn't the issue. I'm mainly talking about the other child actors in the film, Dylan's school friend and his rival in the competitions i felt at times played too much to their stereotypes. I'm not sure if it was the actors or the writing but sometimes they felt, well, like a character and not a real person. There is also a subplot with another girl that was oddly introduced, it felt very out of place and took me out of it for a bit. But in the end this is a fun, heartfelt story about a boy and his father that takes place during a plane throwing competition, and if you can avoid focusing too much on some of the unrealistic plane throws you can enjoy this movie. - 7

guyattpark Saw this yesterday in Dubai with my two kids who are also Aussies, yet not born there. We all liked it enough to score an 8. Enjoyed all the imaginative aspects. Especially liked the positive, assertive approach to bullying which has been a problematic kids theme forever. Sam Worthington's character lacked substance. The depiction of a country school was delightful and the scenery / sounds of Australia were vivid after too many years as an ex-pat. The last kids film from Oz like this was Napoleon (1995) also featuring animals and gorgeous imagery. Very happy to see how important the 'people' relationships were highlighted and a testament to Aussie values. The Grand Dad character was a treat.

fordmodelt Ford I really wanted to like this movie. The premise is good but the execution was just terrible. Considering that some big names such as Sam Worthington, David Wenham, Deborah Mailman and Eric Bana (producing) were attached to it, I really thought we were in for a sweet, unpretentious kids movie. Happy to forgive the plot holes and the flight of fantasy sequence between the boy and his grandfather, but the dialogue was so poorly written it became just tedious in the end. I could have done a better job writing it, frankly. The young boy who stars in the movie just isn't a strong enough actor to carry it, at least not with the dialogue he was given to work with. Aussies can pull off some good, strong, well- scripted movies, but the weak ones like this one just pull the average right down.