La Jeune Fille et la Mer

Just finished watching this excellent movie. It's based on a true story, so there won't be any spoilers here. It's the story of Jessica Watsonl who's always dreamed of sailing around the world by herself. She's on a quest to be the younger person to do so.

As you'd expect, she certainly has her share of obstacles. But she shows the true grit needed to complete such an adventure. The film goes from her at sea, to flashbacks of her growing up and all the things that led to this amazing adventure.

I thought the acting was absolutely spot on. The photography and special effects were tremendous as well. And it's full of breathtaking action scenes that make you feel you're on board with her. There's one absolutely gorgeous scene when she's caught in a dead-air zone. She stares at the night sky just full of stars with the David Bowie's "Star Man" quietly playing. It's quite haunting.

If you're looking for a great film the whole family will enjoy, don't miss this one! But be sure to have some tissues handy. There are a couple of emotional scenes where even this jaded film reviewer puddled up a bit.

Jessica Watson (Teagan Croft) is a 16 year old Australian girl planning to sail solo around the globe. Her mentor Ben Bryant (Cliff Curtis) has a troubled past. Her supportive parents (Josh Lawson, Anna Paquin) raised her on the waters. Her dad does have concerns while they face disbelieve and questioning from the outside world.

This is a generally solid inspirational film. Teagan Croft is cute and energetic. Cliff Curtis is the solid veteran actor. Lawson is a character actor and it's funny that I probably know him best from Mortal Kombat. It's great to have Anna Paquin as the mom. She herself won the Oscar when she was twelve. It's all very nice and very safe. The safe part is a bit of a problem. I'm never concerned about her journey except for a small moment during the climatic storm. The movie needs to build more danger into the movie. It needs to start with Bryant's unfortunate sailing incident. It also needs to recount one or two sailors who died during their attempts. It needs to push the danger more. Instead, they leave it to the slimy news guy and the danger disippates. All in all, this is very inspirational and very standard.

I get that the budget for this film was obviously not huge and you can clearly see that in the CGI and in some of the acting. But I feel that the story is so strong and interesting that it overrides all those factors and makes it a film worth watching.

I was fascinated from beginning to end.

Teagan Croft as Jessica Watson was no doubt the best performer in the whole film. She even out shone Anna Paquin who was very flat in this film. She felt very out of place and didn't seem to give it any ounce of energy.

If you can focus on the story and put everything else aside, this is a very enjoyable film.

This film, while somewhat lightweight and breezy, recounts the main things one needs to know about Jessica's incredible story.

Well acted, and spliced beautifully with real footage, this is a tale that will make you feel both inspired and awe struck.

As a fellow Aussie I followed her voyage with excitement at the time and remember vividly her return into Sydney harbour

Watching this film with my 10yr old daughter, and seeing how inspired and amazed she was, reminds me of the hope and excitement for life Jessica inspired in us all back then.

Watch this and know that this young lady (at the time) really was as incredible as the movie makes her out to be.

The true story is remarkable, awe inspiring to think a 16 year old would want to sail solo around the globe let alone have enough about them to actually do it.

Unfortunately the film goes down the sickly route. Ridiculous cringe worthy moments that really didn't need to be added. The story didn't need it, but the Director couldn't help themselves. At its worst it was like a soap opera episode and the music Director shouldn't be allowed anywhere near music, shocking is too polite a word for that.

Also some of the extra characters were so cliche as to be almost rude. They literally put an African lady dancing when she was watching on video, only surprised the Scottish woman wasn't pissed.

Anyway after all that the acting by the lead characters was fine and the story itself is so amazing it was still enjoyable. Just could have been so much better if handled with a bit more sophistication.

I'm going to find the book and read that.