Story

Eleven-year-old Mildred (Nell Fisher) is a self-proclaimed bookworm. Her overprotective mother (Morgana O’Reilly) won’t allow her much in the way of real-life adventures, but Mildred’s daring spirit is set free in the pages of books.

When an accident lands her mother in the hospital, Mildred’s estranged American father, washed-up magician Strawn Wise (Elijah Wood), arrives to look after her. To endear himself to his daughter, Strawn agrees to take Mildred camping in the wilderness. Against his better judgment, Strawn also agrees to help Mildred prove the existence of a mysterious creature known as the Canterbury Panther.

As Mildred and Strawn come closer to reaching their goal, a chance encounter threatens to ruin everything. Finding themselves more alone than ever, they must rely on each other, confront their fears, and focus on what they have rather than what they lack.

Themes

Children separated from parents; family breakdown; legendary creatures; overprotectiveness; betrayal; kidnapping and theft; cowardice and fear

Violence

Bookworm has some violence. For example:

• A scene briefly shows jars filled with severed animal parts.
• Mildred and Strawn stumble upon the body of a deer, which has been attacked by an animal. There are gashes in its sides and flies buzzing all around.
• Mildred tells Strawn that she will try not to ‘punch him in the goolies’. She mentions punching him ‘in the goolies’ several times.
• Strawn gets very upset when he sees a huge bug crawling on his shoulder. He jumps up, knocks it to the ground and stamps on it repeatedly.
• Strawn mentions how another magician repeatedly stabbed him in the back.
• A stranger tells Strawn that he has kidnapped his daughter and orders him to give up all his valuables, otherwise she’ll be killed. The stranger’s partner makes a slicing gesture with her hand across her throat.
• A character chases Mildred and Strawn as they run for their lives across a mountainside.
• Strawn steals a car to get medical attention for Mildred. He nearly hits a panther and flips the car before he goes very far.

Sexual references

Bookworm has some sexual references. For example:

• A neighbour asks Strawn for ID and gives him the third degree before allowing him into the house to meet Mildred. She says, ‘You can’t be too careful with kids these days, touching them and all’.
• Mildred says that her mother has terrible taste in men.
• Mildred tells Strawn that she has a boyfriend who looks like Hercules.
• Strawn tells Mildred that he had only met her mother once for a couple of hours. He says he told her to stay with him in Vegas when he found out she was pregnant.
• Mildred says she found her mother’s diary, which mentions that she was conceived in the parking lot of a convenience store. Strawn is forced to admit that this is true.
• One character accuses another of ‘snogging my sister’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Bookworm shows some use of substances. For example:

• Mildred tells Strawn that her aunt has substance abuse problems and that her mother has had to work 3 jobs to pay for her to get into rehab.
• Mildred instructs Strawn to feed her forest mushrooms to help her with pain. She begins to hallucinate after eating them.

Nudity and sexual activity

Bookworm has some nudity and sexual activity. For example, a video shows 2 characters flirting in a tent. The woman flips her hair seductively and her partner says that she’s flipping her hair like her sister. The woman gets very angry.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in Bookworm:

• The illusionist David Copperfield is briefly discussed, as is the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.
• The illusionist David Blaine is repeatedly mentioned in relation to magic.

Coarse language

Bookworm has some coarse language, insults and name-calling, including ‘crap’, ‘God damn it’, ‘ass’, ‘bloody’, ‘Jesus’, ‘bugger’, ‘bastard’, ‘shite’, ‘pretentious, prickly asshole’, ‘hell’, ‘screw that’, ‘Christ’, ‘d-bag’, ‘idiotic’, ‘runt’, ‘dumb’ and ‘dopey’. The f-word is beeped out twice.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Bookworm is a father-daughter adventure set in the stunning New Zealand wilderness. The movie features excellent performances, especially from young Nell Fisher, and beautiful cinematography.

Because of its language and content, Bookworm isn’t a movie for younger children. It’s best suited to viewers aged 12 years and older.

The main messages from Bookworm are to be true to yourself, face your fears, and never give up on your dreams.

Values in Bookworm that you could reinforce with your children include courage, determination, honesty, composure and studiousness.

Bookworm could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

• running away from your fears and challenges instead of facing them
• letting others take advantage of you
• putting yourself in dangerous situations for the sake of a photo or video
• failing to adequately prepare for a trip into the wilderness.