Storm Boy

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

They say that history repeats itself and this is certainly the case for Mike ‘Storm Boy’ Kingley (Geoffrey Rush). There is a beauty in the journey of Mike and his birds growing together before taking flight, but with it comes the sadness of adulthood – sometimes we fly too far from home and need help finding our way back.

Mike Kingley, whom audiences may have met as a young boy in the 1976 film of the same name, is now a grown man haunted by the ghosts of his past and the demons of his present. Mr. Kingley, a wealthy and retired business man, finds himself in the midst of an environmental debate that’s partially of his doing. Mike’s company is now owned by a hard-headed son and is dangerously close to destroying Western Austrailia’s indigenous homelands. Mike’s granddaughter Madeline (Morgana Davies) disagrees with her family’s business choices and vocalizes her pro-environment perspective to her grandfather.

Mike, who is haunted by images of anti-Hitchcockian birds and an Aboriginal friend from his past, settles into a conversation with Madeline about the boy he used to be. Through a series of flashbacks spliced between glimpses of his mature present Michael invites Madeline into his memories and explores his long-gone relationship with orphaned Pelicans he found and raised when he was a lonely boy on the coastline. The home Mike had lived in with his father became much fuller when he adopted his resilient pelican friends. Of course, Mike wasn’t alone in his new caretaker role. His pal Fingerbone Bill (Trevor Jamieson) believed in Mike’s ability to keep the pelican babes safe. Though there were three pelicans, Mike favors the runt of the group Mr. Percival.

Storm Boy is heartwarming in the way that only films featuring the bond between wayward humans and exceptional animals can be. As Mr. Kingley is reminded of his joyous and remarkable past, audiences too may find themselves happily nostalgic. It’s not all sardines and pelicans though, as all wild animals must return home if they’re able. Mike needed to let his pelican friends fly free. Storm Boy is a little bit Free Willy and a little bit Fly Away Home. In the same way Mr. Percival returned to young Mike (Finn Little) all those years ago, Mike comes back home to Mr. Percival by allowing himself the luxury of remembering their adventures together.

Storm Boy is a solid choice if you’re looking for a film the whole family can enjoy. It excels at creating an emotionally compelling story about a man rediscovering his youth late in life and goes beyond the boy-meets-bird tagline. It has all the ingredients for a perfect family film – cute animals, hard life lessons and love that transcends time and space.