Here to guide you through the best school holiday viewing at the movies is David Michael Brown.
Robots, crayons, stray dogs and an ark full of animals—welcome to the films that will be entertaining your offspring over the forthcoming school holidays.
200% Wolf
Expect more lycanthropic fun in this sequel to the fun 100% Wolf that will have your younglings howling at the moon. Heroic were-poodle Freddy Lupin (Ilai Swindells) still wishes he was more… wolfish. Then he could take his position as the leader of the pack. He just needs to prove himself to his werewolf elders that he is more than just tuft of pink hair.
Freddy’s chance comes when a wayward wish deposits a mischievous moon sprite on earth and the young hero must restore the cosmic order before the earth and moon collide. Samara Weaving, Ab Fab star Jennifer Saunders and comedian Akmal Saleh are amongst the vocal cast sinking their teeth into 200% Wolf.
Bookworm
Directed by Turbo Kid and Housebound producer Ant Timpson, Bookworm is a hugely entertaining kids adventure harking back to that bygone era of the ‘70s when filmmakers weren’t afraid to show their young stars in perilous situations. It plays like a coming-of-age adventure for both young Mildred (an astonishing Nell Fisher who will soon be seen in the fifth season of Stranger Things) and her estranged washed-up magician father Strawn (Elijah Wood, reuniting with Timpson after the pair’s excursion into horror with Come to Daddy) when the pair are thrust together on a camping expedition to find a panther, rumoured to be at large in the New Zealand wilderness.
The development of their relationship is beautifully judged. From her exasperation at his hapless tricks to his slow transformation into a parent, it’s a piece of close-up movie magic.
Harold & the Purple Crayon
Based on Crockett Johnson’s children’s book of the same name, this bright and breezy adaptation stars Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel, Lil Rel Howery, Sex Education’s Tanya Reynolds and a scene-stealing turn by Jemaine Clement. Levi plays the human form of Harold, a young boy who lives inside the book with Moose, Porcupine and a magical purple crayon that can make anything it draws come to life.
Harold’s idyllic life is shatter when the narrator mysteriously disappears, so he ventures of the page and into the real world to search for him. Full of invention, especially when the crayon is put to use during a quick drawing duel, the family fantasy will have the younglings in your life spellbound and wanting to crack open the crayons while adults titter at the gags about the state of fantasy literature.
Runt
With an engaging script written by Craig Silvey (Jasper Jones) based on his own best seller, Runt is a fun shaggy dog tale about Annie (Lily LaTorre), a young girl who travels to London with a scruffy stray mongrel to try and win a lucrative cash prize at the Krumpets Dog Show and save her family farm. LaTorre is a delight and is surely a name to watch, as is her actual brother Jack, who plays her onscreen brother Max.
The young stars-on-ascendant are joined by a homegrown ensemble including Jai Courtney, Jack Thompson, Deborah Mailman, Celeste Barber and an amped-up Matt Day dressed like he has stepped off the set of Strictly Ballroom on steroids. He plays fiendish dog-handler Fergus Fink, the flamboyant big bad of the piece. Throw in some ear-pleasing local needle drops by the Divinyls, Regurgitator and a new Paul Kelly track inspired by the film—plus a Palme Dog worthy performance by the talented Squid as the titular pooch—and Runt follows Red Dog in a fine line of Aussie family friendly canines.
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
For a generation of parents, there was only one Superman. Whether making us believe that a man could fly or flashing those blue eyes as he put on his glasses as his alter-ego Clark Kent, Christopher Reeve was perfect in Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie. A Hollywood career followed but never soared, despite three Super sequels of diminishing quality.
Directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui’s emotional documentary greatly benefits from extensive home movies and audio recordings of the actor as they document Reeve’s life from the innocence of his Superman screentests to the tragic moment that a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 left him paralysed from the neck down and his painful rise to becoming an inspirational disability advocate.
Transformers One
There may be more than meets the eye to the Hasbro toy behemoth but when it comes to the movies, nothing is hidden. Michael Bay’s soulless live-action blockbusters certainly delivered on the explosive high-tech thrills but, in Shia LaBeouf and Mark Wahlberg, found two leads who displayed less humanity than the Decepticons. At least Bumblebee had glorious ‘80s needle drops and Hailee Steinfeld to save the day…
Now, Transformers One sees the robots in disguise get animated for an origin story. With an all-star vocal cast including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm, Transformers One promises to return of the franchise to its core values. Optimus Prime says, “At the end of this day, one shall stand, one shall fall!” Hopefully, this one will stand.
The Wild Robot
Lavished with a dazzling visual aesthetic, an exemplary vocal cast including Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy and Mark Hamill and an environmentally conscious message, this adaptation of Peter Brown’s international best seller The Wild Robot promises to be a spectacular, heart-warming and thrilling experience.
The action follows an abandoned robot—a ROZZUM unit 7134, nicknamed “Roz” for short—that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited heavily forested island. Our metallic hero befriends the local wildlife as they learn to adapt to their new harsh environs and takes an orphaned flightless goose Brightbill (Kit Connor) under its metallic wing. Say hello to your new favourite cinematic odd couple.
