Paper Planes

This review may contain spoilers!

This film has a spectacular subplot that is only bogged down by the horrendous stereotypical Australian film making and cast. I would give paper Planes a 4.5/10.

This film's triumph was in it's well written sub plot focussing on the main protagonist's mother being killed in a car accident. This film also had some really nice cinematography; the way the paper plane competitions as well as exploration of new cities was incredible to watch.

Terry Norris, who played Grandpa, was a hysterical character; he was always ready with a comedic high point for the film even if the moments did punch above the film's G rating at times. Julian Dennison, who played Kevin, was another humourous character that stood out; his development from bully to friend was quite touching to see play out as well.

However it was Sam Worthington, who played Jack, that really stood out in this film. Worthington's character moved so rapidly between moods that you could see how deeply his grief for his wife had affected him. Yet the scenes where he engaged with Oxenbould as a father figure felt incredibly genuine and quite a bit of fun. To counter that the hopeless form of despair and the way he just shut down was a display of the depth Worthington brought to his character.

This film dealt out quite a basic and generic narrative, one that was bogged down with Australian and Japanese stereotypes. The pacing for this film was also quite drawn out; the film certainly seemed to drag on. Beyond this the music accompanying this film was a very basic score and a forgettable soundtrack. The special effects were terrible; the paper planes looked completely fake.

Ed Oxenbould, who played Dylan, was a terrible lead; you can see him acting rather than playing a role in almost every scene he's in. Nicholas Bakopoulos-Cooke, who played Jason, was a very stilted actor; he was very monotone and a basic antagonist. Ena Imai, who played Kimi, felt like she was reading her lines; I struggled to deal with her acting in her scenes. Peter Rowsthorn, who played Mr. Hickenlooper, gave the most stereotypical performance I've ever seen; it's easy to play a stereotype and I'd say Rowsthorn gave one of the easiest performances of the film. David Wenham, who played Patrick, looked like he didn't want to be in the film; he also lacked screen presence in a big way.