Storm Boy

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.

Storm Boy is a drama film based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Colin Thiele. Starring Geoffrey Rush and Jai Courtney, it is a mostly well made modern adaptation of the classic Australian story that marginally improves upon the original 1976 film.

In South Australia, retired businessman Michael Kingley (Geoffrey Rush) recounts a story of his childhood to his grand-daughter Madeline (Morgana Davies). When he was young, Michael (Finn Little) lived with his father Tom (Jai Courtney) on the isolated coastline of Coorong, and was good friends with a local Aboriginal man named Fingerbone Bill (Trevor Jamieson). One day, Fingerbone Bill and the young Michael discover three orphaned baby pelicans which Michael rescues and cares for until they grow to full size. Forming a close bond with the pelicans, Michael names them Mr. Proud, Mr. Ponder, and Mr. Percival, the latter of which he becomes the closest with.

Perhaps the best told version of Colin Thiele's classic novel, Storm Boy is an entertaining update that is respectful to its source material, even if it does take the occasional unnecessary liberty. The flashbacks to the modern day scenes didn't always work and did end up feeling out of place at times. Thankfully, the ever-reliable Geoffrey Rush playing the older Michael helped make them much more tolerable. However, the moments that occurred in the original story were handled quite well. I particularly liked the scenes where the young Michael was feeding the baby pelicans and teaching them how to fly. This is made even better by the great performance from relative newcomer Finn Little, whose natural playful banter with the pelicans was nice to watch. Overall, this is a fine retelling of the classic novel, if one were to ignore some of the contemporary modern changes.

I rate it 7.5/10

This is a really nice fictional story about a young Australian boy in the 1950s finding three new Pelican hatchlings on the shore after some hunters had killed a number of birds. He took them home and in spite of his dad's thought that they would die overnight, they in fact survived and grew to adulthood, fed hacked up fish. It immediately reminded me of the 1996 "Fly Away Home" where the girl finds Canadian geese eggs, hatches them, and raises the geese.

The other half of the story is in modern times, the boy as an older man retired from his company but still on the board, being encouraged by his 17-yr-old granddaughter to prevent a project that would threaten natural habitats. His experiences with the Pelicans all those years earlier will be an influence.

Good movie, speaks to friendship, family values, and trying to do the right thing. I found it on Kanopy streaming movies via my public library's subscription. My wife skipped.

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.

A visually stunning Australian film that has worldwide appeal for people of ALL ages. The themes about family, friendship, love, loss and loneliness are universal and rounded out with a message of hope for a better future. This is a throughly enjoyable and emotional "retelling" of Colin Thiele's book of the same name which has been in print for over 55 years. This is not a remake - this is a retelling and should not be compared to the 1976 version. This film stands on its on merit, it is beautifully shot and superbly acted. It's a remarkable film that will stay with you forever.