Storm Boy lives a lonely life with his reclusive father on a desolate coastline, but when he forms a close bond with a pelican, Mr. Percival, his life takes a new and unexpected turn.
As I’ve gotten older I generally don’t patron children’s movies but once in a while, they are worth seeking out. Recently I thoroughly enjoyed “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.” It brilliantly took the superhero franchise to multiple dimensions, hilariously skewering and splicing it with fascinating results. “Storm Boy” is more in the vein of “Free Willy” but the orca is replaced with pelicans. The story is adapted from one of Australia’s most famous children’s books by Colin Thiele.
Geoffrey Rush stars as Mike Kingsley, a successful developer arriving at his board meeting who is met with angry environmentalists. During the vote over the controversial project, a massive storm bursts through a window and Mike peers out into the distance, spotting a lone pelican. He’s distraught and begins to reflect on his childhood. With a rather forced scene chock full of exposition between his daughter, we learn he’s a widower and his current project is threatening Western Australia’s delicate coastal eco-system. The story time begins for the audience as he recounts his obscure boyhood to his daughter. Mike grew up with his fishmongering father on an isolated coastline. While out exploring he meets an Aboriginal man named Fingerbone Bill (Trevor Jamieson). Mike and his new friend stumble upon a nest of three abandoned nestling chicks (yes I looked up the term for baby pelicans) and immediately begin to care for them. Mike’s father helps feed them pounds and pounds of fish as they grow older, and soon after, Mike and Fingerbone Bill teach the birds to fly. The story stays mostly interesting and it has a short running time of 90 minutes so it doesn’t feel too rushed or prolonged.
Overall “Storm Boy” is perfect viewing for the family or a babysitting task but not necessarily for a film lover to seek out. The movie is beautiful though, some flashbacks are lensed in an almost kaleidoscopic nature, much akin to Roger Deakins’ ingenious camera vignetting methods in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” The vignetting gives the film an old world polaroid feel that is splendid to witness. I must say, my favorite character was Fingerbone Bill, and I can’t overlook the significance of having an Aboriginal in the story. It’s a breath of fresh air acknowledging the native narrative in a colonized land.
In theaters Friday, April 5th
