![]() (He is currently resident in Adelaide Zoo). And Salty who plays Mr Percival is excellent. Jai Courtney, Trevor Jamieson and newcomer Finn Little put in solid performances in the flashback scenes. Although youngsters who enjoy the trade dispute parts of STAR WARS EPISODE 1 – THE PHANTOM MENACE may find some joy here. It is difficult to see how the abstract idea of boardroom politics will connect with the children in the audience. The modern section of the story seems tacked on, confusing and largely pointless. Madeline’s storyline is a sledgehammer attempt to link contemporary environmental attitudes with the original tale. Filmed (as was the 1976 movie) in the Coorong, the images and soundscape are beautiful. The pelicans, the cinematography and the music do a powerful job at evoking the natural forces of the land and ocean. All the material that involves young Mike, Hideaway Tom and Fingerbone Bill is great. Unfortunately, this adaptation relies too much on tying the present to the past. Remaking it for current audiences is a sound idea. It was a local story that was well received by audiences and critics and is remembered fondly by many who saw it as children. The 1976 film STORM BOY had quite the impact on the South Australian film industry and on the wider national film industry. For the first time in years, he is also reminded of what Mr Percival meant to him. Meanwhile, Mike is troubled because he keeps having flashback memories to his rocky relationship with his father. She is seventeen and not yet old enough to take her place on the company’s board and have a full vote in its activities. The company is doing some environmentally questionable things that are opposed by Mike’s granddaughter, Madeline ( Morgana Davies). He is a grandfather and formerly the head of a large company which is now run by his son-in-law Malcolm ( Erik Thomson). The rest of STORM BOY is about Mike in the present day (as played by Geoffrey Rush). Meanwhile, Hideaway Tom slowly becomes aware that his choice to raise Mike without the influence of regular society and formal education might be detrimental to his son. He particularly bonds with Mr Percival who is always by his side. Mike names the birds Mr Ponder, Mr Proud and Mr Percival. Mike takes them home, and with help from Bill, they work out a way to feed the hungry babies on mashed-up fish. One day, young Mike and Bill rescue three hatchling pelicans whose mother has died. The only other person who lives nearby is Fingerbone Bill ( Trevor Jamieson). The story at the centre is set somewhere in the 1950s and focusses on a young boy, Mike Kingley ( Finn Little) who is being raised by his father, Hideaway Tom ( Jai Courtney) in a shack on wild, mostly uninhabited, Ninety Mile Beach. There is definitely something about this fifty-year-old tale that attracts reimagining and retelling. Now it has been adapted to film for a second time. Since then, it has been made into an audio dramatisation, a stage play and a 1976 award-winning feature film. South Australian author Colin Thiele published his popular children’s novel Storm Boy in 1964.
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