Paper Planes

In an era when so many children are inseparable from their handheld devices, who’d imagine that a simple piece of paper could provide so much fun? So kudos to this bright and breezy half-term Aussie kids flick for realising that competitive paper plane flying (it really happens, apparently) can unleash young imaginations.

The film is a pretty standard underdog tale starring Ed Oxenbould as lively 12-year-old Dylan, who wins the paper plane flying heats in nowheresville Australia, where he lives with his grieving dad (Sam Worthington); his mum died in a car crash. With the regionals under his belt, Dylan is off to the finals, picking up helpful tips along the way from a Japanese champ with improbably good English (tip: study the natural world) and meeting a villainously over-competitive Australian rival. Warning to parents: stock up on paper beforehand. Kids will definitely want a go afterwards