Storm Boy

For all the knockers who keep repeating 'was it necessary' then the answer is 'yes'. Important contemporary environmental issues are posed and the absolute importance of setting away spaces for our fantastic birds and wildlife. Not to mention that yes, hunters, are the most callous, irresponsible people with no imagination or empathy and the ones here are pretty much the real thing. Beautiful acting, wonderful cinematography. A slow pace but steady and the movie sends an important message for our wildlife and for our own families. Those too willing to knock this have obviously been put on the payroll of 'what do we need sacred environmental spaces for,' agenda. Lovely and also sad. Bring tissues. I highly recommend this movie.

We watched this film with our ten year old daughter and were delighted with the message in it. A wonderful film of grace, heartache, care and redemption. It holds up the current concern for the environment and the importance of family relationships.

I give it a 9 for the story telling and inspiration these actors gaved. This is a under-rated movie overlooked by millions and looked down by a few. This for me is by far one of the BEST Drama films I have yet to seen 2019 the visual camera really good the story, the acting the whole project. I know if your reading this now you may say it's another movie involving animals and kids but this is what makes meaning to life and teaches our youth today how to be how to care for living creatures that now days movies lack on.

Storm Boy isn't just beautiful in its imagery. The use of animals in this story is so well done that it does not disturb the credibility as the story unfolds. Excellent acting all over and of course, a great score to support the audience in feeling and understanding what is told. This is an absolutely relevant story to our modern day of apparent disdain toward the animal kingdom, of corporate profit blind angles that miss the human side and the resulting damage to our environment. This movie also honors to our human cultural ancestry and its ancient connection to nature and of course, it promotes the conservation of individual habitats that support our ecosystems as a whole, without which we are apparently causing more damage than well being. A wholeheartedly and excellent 10.

For those who are unaware, this is remake of the original Australian hit which featured in 1976 and is based on a well known novel. Our film is based on the retelling of the life of Michael Kingle, aka Storm Boy. Michael (played by Geoffrey Rush) is now an old man who has done well in life in regards to business and is currently retired, now having less involvement with the major company he is well know for. But Michael is also a grandfather. When strange visions begin to reappear around Michael's life he is encouraged to retell the story of his young life to his grand daughter. This is a story of friendship, love, hate, sadness and a little Pelican known as "Mr Percival". As the film began I did find the introduction to our leading characters slightly confusing and I started to think about how young kids would process this too. As we are introduced to Geoffrey Rush's character, Michael, we are also introduced to his world of past business dealings, friends and family. To top it off, Michael's visions could almost come across as a haunting and frightening. While I understanding what Michael was going through at the start of the film, I felt the pace and style was rather unusual to introduce the characters and get the film in motion. Once Michael goes back in time, the film correctly sets sail. I must also put in writing that the performance by newcomer Fin Little (aka young Storm Boy) was fantastic to see on screen. His work was rather impressive in this touching and dramatic role. Young Storm Boy's father is played by Jai Courtney. And while Jai Courtney is well suited to the role, I did feel some lines were delivered poorly and lacked passion, in particular during what I expected to be touching moments between a father and son. I must give praise to the style of filming and the use of landscapes. There is plenty to admire when it comes to the sea and the land of Australia. The choice of music and the way the film transitions between young and old Storm Boy gave me goosebumps mostly due to Geoffrey Rush's stand out performance. I was also left rather impressed by the talented Pelican's used in the film which I later read were all real and trained for the film. I personally haven't seen anything like it in film before and it was great to see the talent and filming of these beautiful creatres. Overall, Storm Boy is a great Australian film which I feel came to cinemas somewhat under the radar. This is a film that covers so many themes of loss, sadness, love, hate and friendship. By the end of the film I found it impossible not to be touched by this film, water also leaking from my eyes (and judging by my cinema audience, I wasn't the only one). This is a great film for those who have never heard the tale or perhaps for those who would love to revisit the film and go down memory lane. I was concerned with the film's opening and introduction of selected characters and some moments which I felt lacked from the actor Jai Courtney. The performances by newcomer Fin Little (aka young Storm Boy) and the Pelicans alone were impressive to see. 7.0/10 Walkden Entertainment

This is one of those stories that as a South Australian I basically grew up with. Actually, this is one of the things I like about Australian cinema, and that is that they will actually fund the production of films which basically means that money doesn't mean as much as opposed to the entertainment value. But then again this is a classic Australian story by the late Colin Theile when as a child many of us read and watched the original movie. In a way it is good timing to bring another version out now to capture a much younger audience, particularly since the original film has probably been forgotten. The story is about a boy that lives on a lonely stretch of coast in South Australia known as The Coorong. There is literally nothing along that stretch of coast (though it does smell rather badly) and is a home to a huge number of birds. At the time the film was set, the region wasn't a conservation park, which meant that hunters would go out and simply shoot the birds for no particular reason than to simply kill birds. The boy finds some baby pelicans whose mother has been killed, and decides to raise them himself. He then forms a special attachment with the weakest of the pelicans, Mr Pervical. The original story had much more to do with the relationship between the father and the son, however this movie has taken a more environmentalist approach. The boy has grown up to be a very wealthy pastoralist who is considering allowing a mining company to come into the land to mine for minerals. However, his granddaughter is appalled by this, and she appeals to him by getting him to tell her the story of the birds. This is the key point in this version of the film, and that is about setting aside conservation, and also pursing things not for money, but for sustainability. In the background of the story is a vote as to whether to set the Coorong aside as a nature reserve, and of course the hunters are opposed to it. However, through a series of events, the boy manages to capture the hearts of the people of the town through the actions of Mr Percival. This also has a flow on effect to the decision as to whether to allow the miners access to the farms. Another thing that really captured me about this film was the character of Finger Bone Bill. He was an aboriginal that moved into the area as well and formed a friendship with the boy. What I thought was great was how the father came to also develop a friendship with Bill. Bill is a beautiful character, not only showing respect to nature, but also to their house. It was clear that the father at first was hesitent with having this aboriginal around, but as the movie progressed, so did their friendship. This film was actually very moving, and it is certainly one of those tear jerkers. It was beautifully put together, and it certainly was not over the top. In a way it is bringing a classic story and giving it a new lease of life.

F you're going to remake an Australian classic it must be compared to the Original did anyone else get past the first episode of the recent dreadful television version of Picnic at Hanging Rock? Storm Boy is 1000% Superior to that awful insult. BUT! After we saw this new version of Storm Boy today I watched the Classic Award winning 1976 version ,which I much prefer because of its beauty and simplicity and David Gulpilill's ( he has a brief cameo as Fingerbones father in the newest version) superb portrayal of Fingerbone Bill, which to my mind is watered down in this new version and in its place we have Geoffrey Rush's new character the adult and aged Storm Boy Mike Kingsley and the new plot line of greedy Corporate land grabs, my other criticism is not directed at Jay Courtney 's acting in the role of Storm Boys father Hideaway Tom it's just that he's too clean cut and nice compared to Peter Cummins rough castaway personality in the same role in 1976. I'm not saying this is a bad movie ,it's worth seeing the cast is good ,especially Finn Little as Storm Boy and Geoffrey Rush is a fine actor but when I watched the original version I asked myself the question Does this new version add anything more to the story ? And my answer was the opposite I think it diminishes the indigenous spirit and atmosphere of the 1976 version and replaces it with a hard contemporary sub plot that intrudes on the integrity of Colin Thiele's original story and reminds me of the saying " if it ain't broke don't fix it..