Story
Paper Planes is about Dylan Webber (Ed Oxenbould), a young boy who lives with his father Jack (Sam Worthington). His mother has recently died in a car accident. One day at school, the students are given the assignment of making paper planes and getting them to fly further than 25 m. They are told that the world record is 69.13 m. When Dylan’s plane stays in the air long enough to fly around the entire grounds of the school, his teacher encourages him to go in a real competition.
Dylan successfully makes it through the Australian National Competition, along with another student named Jason (Nicholas Bakopoulos-Cooke). During the Nationals, a student from Japan, Kimi (Ena Imai), visits to inspire and mentor the Australian students. Dylan begins to develop deep feelings for her. Dylan and his father have a garage sale to raise money for a ticket to Japan, but Jack is still feeling too depressed and grief-stricken to go with Dylan.
The day before the world finals in Japan, Jason deliberately pushes Dylan down a flight of stairs to injure him. Dylan sprains his wrist, and doubts whether he will be able to compete. But Dylan goes through with the competition after a session of acupuncture. To his joy, his father arrives to see him compete.
Themes
Relationships and family; death of a family member and associated grief; competition
Violence
There is some violence in Paper Planes. For example:
Sexual references
Paper Planes includes some sexual references. For example, when Dylan goes to visit his Grandpa in a nursing home, people refer to Grandpa having sexual relations with the women in the home. After Grandpa approaches a woman, Dylan asks, ‘Are you gonna help her out too?’
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
None of concern
Nudity and sexual activity
None of concern
Product placement
The following products are displayed or used in Paper Planes: Skype, Nokia, Apple devices and Gameboy.
Coarse language
None of concern
Ideas to discuss with your children
Paper Planes is an inspirational and heart-warming movie. Dylan’s determination helps to ignite passion in everyone around him, as he works to overcome incredible obstacles.
After the death of Dylan’s mother, Dylan’s father has fallen into a deep depression and has stopped taking care of Dylan. As a result, Dylan is forced to study planes and flight on his own, make new friendships, and attempt to win the world championship for paper plane flight. He does all this while also helping his father come out of his depression.
The movie highlights the strength of character that can develop as a result of overcoming challenges, as well as the importance of building strong and supportive relationships. It is a holiday movie for the whole family, although children under six years might need parent help with a few scenes and themes.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include:
- acting independently to overcome obstacles
- being creative and seeing the value in doing something unique
- having supportive friends, and taking chances with romantic relationships
- supporting your family and standing by them when they’re going through difficult times.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues such as:
- the devastating impact of grief, loss and depression
- the nature of bullying, and the impact it can have on people who are affected
- the positive and negative aspects of competition, as well as the sacrifices and determination it takes to succeed.