What’s It About

11 year old Mildred’s world is turned upside-down when her estranged father, the washed-up magician Strawn Wise comes to look after her and agrees to take her camping to find a mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.

MOVIESinMO REVIEW

“Bookworm” is a movie that’s kind of for kids but also for grown-ups. Even though it’s only 96 minutes long, some parts feel a bit stretched out, and sometimes it tries too hard to be cute. However, the movie stays sweet and innocent throughout, mostly because of how well the main actors, Elijah Wood and Nell Fisher, perform their roles. The beautiful New Zealand countryside also helps make the movie special. The main character is Mildred, nicknamed “Bookworm.” She’s a young girl who uses big words and acts more grown-up than most kids her age. She even asks people if they know about complicated things like “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.” Mildred is like many other smart movie kids who end up taking care of their parents instead of the other way around. The parent who needs taking care of is Mildred’s dad, Strawn. He’s an American who wears his hair long and acts kind of childish sometimes. He tries to make a living as a magician, though he likes to call himself an “illusionist” instead. He hasn’t been around since Mildred was very little, but he comes back into her life after something terrible happens – her mom’s toaster explodes and puts her in a coma. After this accident, eleven-year-old Mildred finds herself alone. She doesn’t have any real friends because she doesn’t talk like other kids her age. She’s so smart that she could probably start college next year, but she’d probably annoy everyone in the admissions office with her super-direct way of talking. Their neighbor doesn’t want to take care of her because they’re worried about getting sued. This means her only choice is to live with her dad, the magician from America whom she’s never really known. To his credit, Strawn does come to help when he’s needed. The funny thing is, Mildred ends up taking care of him more than he takes care of her. Because of this, it’s pretty easy for her to convince him to go camping in the New Zealand wilderness. He feels guilty about not being there for her before, and he realizes she’s much smarter than him, so he can’t say no – especially since it might help them both think about something other than her mom being sick. Strawn thinks the camping trip will be a good chance for them to get to know each other better. But Mildred has a different plan – she wants to find a famous “giant panther” that people say lives in the mountains. If she can get a picture of it, she could win a $50,000 reward. This isn’t just about the money – Mildred’s mom has lots of bills to pay, and Mildred wants to surprise her by paying them off when she wakes up. (By the way, the Canterbury Panther isn’t real, so don’t plan a trip to New Zealand to look for it!) Most of the movie shows just these two people in the outdoors. There’s a part where they meet some hikers who aren’t who they say they are and cause some problems. But since this isn’t a sad movie, you know things will work out okay in the end. The first half of the movie is a pretty normal adventure story with lots of funny and touching moments. There are some silly scenes, like when they meet one of Strawn’s magic fans (which Mildred ruins in a funny way), and there’s even a funny fart joke when they’re in their tent. While the movie doesn’t do anything super surprising, these sweet and funny moments make it really enjoyable to watch. However, the second half of the movie starts to lose its way a bit, kind of like getting lost in the woods. It’s as if the story forgets what it was supposed to be about when these strange hikers show up and cause trouble. The movie slows down a lot, but people still like watching because the characters are so likable – especially the way the actors play them. Both Elijah Wood and Nell Fisher do a great job with their parts, even when the story gets a bit messy. They work really well together, especially when they switch typical parent-child roles. There’s this really funny moment when Mildred laughs about how her “forty-two-year-old father woke up his eleven-year-old daughter because he heard a scary noise.” She’s the one who stays calm and makes plans when things go wrong, while he’s the one who panics and might run off a cliff if he gets scared enough. Does this help them when they really need it? Not really. But they’re both learning important things from their adventure together. They’re figuring out that even though they’re not what the other person expected in a father or daughter, they might be exactly what each other needs.

OUR RATING – A KINDRED 6