An incredibly smart girl and her estranged American father search for a mythical beast in the Canterbury wilderness in Aotearoa adventure flick Bookworm. It makes for a hearty and heart-filled adventure Liam Maguren writes, despite a sometimes wobbly momentum.
For a country with relatively few family films under its name, it’s been a pleasant surprise to have received not one but two quality family-friendly adventures from Aotearoa New Zealand this year. Rachel House made her feature directorial debut at the top of 2024 with jaunty charmer The Mountain, centred on three young friends and the mighty presence of Taranaki Maunga, and now we have Ant Timpson’s strong sophomore effort with Bookworm, a father-daughter story nestled in the photogenic Canterbury wilderness.
Nell Fisher gives an almost effortlessly energetic performance as titular bookworm Mildred. Spending most of her days nose-deep in novels in a dope jungle-inspired bedroom, Mildred’s life takes a hard turn when her mother (Morgana O’Reilly) falls into a coma. This triggers the arrival of her estranged American father Strawn, played to a perfectly pathetic tune by the ever-reliable Elijah Wood. If he wasn’t a big enough loser thinking his daughter would automatically love him for showing up ten years too late, he’s also a D-grade illusionist.
It’s a lot for poor Mildred to absorb. Fortunately, this desperate deadbeat dad presents her with a dual opportunity to: A) finally go on a camping adventure and B) snap a photo of the elusive Canterbury Panther. The latter comes with a monetary reward that would pay for her mum’s hospital bills as well as being the kind of scientific discovery this little nerd would love to claim. Clueless but eager to impress his kid, Strawn agrees to the adventure—despite having no knowledge or experience with tramping in the NZ bush.
Mildred and Strawn make for an interesting flip on a typical parent-child odd couple, where the adult is all about wonderment and the kid is the stern realist. I’m personally not a fan of films and shows that lean too hard on precocious children tropes, and there are times where Mildred’s loquacious dialogue feels forced and overwritten.
At the same time, those films and shows can learn a lesson from Bookworm: everyone in the film acknowledges that this is no ordinary child, and Mildred has enough self-awareness to feel some kind of insecurity and loneliness about the way she is. You don’t necessarily have to be a superhumanly intelligent kid to relate to those feelings, and it’s to Bookworm’s credit that it finds these emotional touchpoints by digging further into a stereotypical character. It’s also to Bookworm’s credit that they have the talented Fisher, who makes the most of the role.
We’ve also seen the loser magician cliché a million times before but Wood somehow makes his Criss-Angel-if-ordered-from-Temu character his own. Perhaps it’s his gnawing need to be liked that’s so nakedly visible in his eyes, not just by his daughter but also by anyone who cares about magic, but there’s some part in you that wants him to get that acknowledgement—if he can make a proper effort in sorting his life out first. Like Mildred, he eventually becomes a bit more than his initial cartoonish persona, and when the film finally allows the pair to bond, they dish out some genuinely sweet moments.
But an adventure film is nothing without the actual adventure, and Bookworm does its duty to warrant a big-screen family experience. A tremendously fun shift in aspect ratio primes the audience for the quest ahead, showcasing DOP Daniel Katz’s fine work capturing Canterbury’s natural beauty. The film’s also not afraid to put its young hero and her doofus dad in proper peril, adding necessary stakes that feed the thrill of a journey well trekked.
Sometimes the momentum wobbles. Mildred and Strawn get to their goal fairly early, which leaves them to essentially wander around for the rest of the film, affecting the story’s overall drive. This lull is jump-started by a midway twist that I don’t imagine anyone will see coming, a turn that’s both sneakily sinister and leads the way to some of the film’s funniest moments. More could have been done to raise the jeopardy of this situation, but what’s there lifts the chain from dragging too much.
Capped with a climax that knows how to work the tension from a traditional cinematic set-piece, Bookworm makes for a hearty and heart-filled venture with a story that doesn’t talk down to kids, complemented with the type of edginess that feels sadly lost in the modern family film landscape. The film also makes for an outstanding showcase for Fisher, who we’ll see more of in the fifth season of Netflix mega-hit Stranger Things.
