H Is for Happiness

A wonderful kid's movie that parents should enjoy too. The two main child actors were perfect. A great story with laughter and sadness, but mainly laughter.

This delightful quirky comedy can be enjoyed by adults and children alike. Daisy Axon plays Candice Phee, a cheery, red-headed, dictionary-reading, bicycle-riding swot, who wants to restore the happiness of her mum (Emma Booth), who can't get over the cot-death of Candice's baby brother, and dad (Richard Roxburgh), who is still angry over business bust-up with his brother, 'Rich Uncle Brian' (Joel Jackson). Full of other interesting side characters (her friend, 'Douglas Benson from another dimension' (Wesley Patten), her eccentric teacher with one rolling eye (Miriam Margolyes of course) and Douglas' full-on mum (Deborah Mailman)) and animals; well-written and acted; and set in a beautiful sun-drenched coastal town, this film will delight the open-hearted. It also made me want to travel to Albany to see if it is really is so lovely.

This is a hypothetical kind of feature film. The story is not too great but has very interesting and funny character that carry to entire story along. There is a cultural mix which is shown in the classroom sequences, a kid with the orange turban is shown as Punjabi but he is not wearing it properly. Major mistake on that. The idea and the concept is great. A small girl tried to fix the family issues and her story amidst all these situations is really a delight to watch but as some point it looked like an exaggerated version. Anyways, can watch for a change of mood.

It's a new kind of Parent Trap! Candice does not fit in with the other kids, she's very literal and loves school. People call her odd. Douglas is also odd. Meeting him inspires her to try something miraculous- to reunite her grieving family and get her parents back together. A huge adventure that starts with meeting the new kid and getting a new homework assignment! This is a cute family comedy!

Parents should know that there is a family death that's central to the storyline as well as a lot of bullying around special needs. For more parent info, check out our full review on down the hobbit hole blog dot com. Based on the popular Australian YA Book- My Life as an Alphabet (released in the US as The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee). It's a great movie/book combo for 10+! A dramedy with a lot of heart!

H is For Happiness has a lot of tonal shifts; some of which work, some don't. There is trauma and dysfunction at the base of this film, but there is a sunny disposition that might work for some kids, but the darker elements certainly won't, and likewise the adults will struggle with some of the twee and tweenie elements but appreciate the more substantial themes here of healing, redemptive love and tolerance.

Emma Booth and Richard Roxburgh make for an odd couple - both excellent actors in their own right, but the age difference immediately struck me as a problem. Joel Jackson as the brother to Roxburgh is also bizarre as there is at least 20 + years age difference between them. Nevertheless, the young child actor Daisy Axon is wonderful and truly shines in the leading role. Also impressive here is the quirky Bi National Miriam Margolyes as the very haughty and optically challenged school teacher. She is a lot of fun and quite poignant.

I am not sure that the various themes and tones of the competing narrative threads sit all that well together here, but at the end of the day, there's lots to enjoy here. Exactly who the audience is though is a conundrum as it often is for the Aussie film industry when a story as interesting as this one comes along.