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If you’re watching a movie where Elijah Wood plays a character who wanders out into the beautiful lands of New Zealand, you know it’s going to be a long trek to reach the destination. Alas, while the actor’s latest film Bookworm shares the same shooting country as Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films, it also does a great deal of wandering around, while persistently lacking in cinematic wonder. Directed by Ant Timpson, who previously made the similarly familial, though more audaciously violent Come to Daddy, with Wood and co-writer Toby Harvard, it’s another tale of reconnection that isn’t afraid to see a father and child roasting each other a bit. However, it’s much more family-friendly in focus, proving to be occasionally clever in many parts, though mostly tame compared to Timpson’s prior work.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, and there is still much to love the longer Bookworm goes on before arriving at a joyous conclusion, though it frequently gets lost in the woods without the necessary verve to make it feel truly adventurous. There is just enough magic that it discovers by the end to give it a closing spark, but there is a mighty long road to get there, ensuring it all just remains merely okay as opposed to comprehensively good.

What Is ‘Bookworm’ About?

The film most benefits from a great performance by Evil Dead Rise’s Nell Fisher as Mildred, the titular bookworm who is dealing with the fact that her mother is in a coma after an unfortunate accident involving a malfunctioning toaster. Enter Strawn Wise (Wood), her absent father who she’s never met, yet has come back to look after her. A struggling magician, or the more classy descriptor of illusionist as he likes to be called, he’s completely ill-equipped to look after a child. From the moment he first arrives, not only is Mildred completely unimpressed with his hacky magic tricks, but she seems far more mature about the whole situation than he is. Thus, she manages to convince him to go on an adventure into the wilderness in search of the Canterbury Panther, a mysterious being that has long been believed to be roaming around. In addition to the thrill of capturing video evidence of it, Mildred also wants to use the rather substantial monetary prize to pay off her mother’s debts.

The troubles come in that Timpson’s film falls prey to repetitive comedy beats and often awkward dramatic ones. I hope you like jokes about magic and extended references to those like David Blaine because there are enough in this movie to last many lifetimes. The problem is most of them rely on the same premise about Strawn being not very good at doing tricks. Once you’ve gone through several minutes stretching these out, including one surrounding “levitation” near the very beginning when the adventure grinds to a screeching halt before it’s even gotten started, you’ll begin to wish it had other tricks up its sleeve. The amount of times a day comes to a close with the duo setting up camp after not much has happened starts to grow tiresome. Thankfully, even in the darkest moments, the film has a saving grace in Fisher.

Nell Fisher Brings Enough Humor to Hold ‘Bookworm’ Together

Though Wood is still sufficiently funny with what’s he given and remains quite a charming screen presence, it’s his co-star who is the reason to see the movie. Not only does Fisher’s delivery take what could be rather ho-hum interactions and make them into delightfully withering retorts, but she provides a surprising amount of emotional depth at key moments as well. That Bookworm finally starts to find its stride near the middle is primarily because she is the one leading us there. No matter how much it can feel like it’s stumbling about, whenever Fisher is given center stage to both crack jokes and bring us into the young Mildred’s mind, you forget about all the other missteps it was making up until then. She has not just the comedic timing, but the dramatic range to make you buy into the heart of the film.

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Even when the adventure can be a little scattershot, with it feeling like it’s simultaneously going a mighty long distance while remaining stuck in the same tonal register until a sudden forced twist is thrown in to keep things moving in a plot sense, she manages to keep it all on course. The adults around her, well, that’s another thing entirely. While they would benefit from hitting the books, she is the one who aces every test thrown her way. This all pays off in a more audacious and wild finale where it finds real “magic” from an unexpected source. It ensures that, even when it takes a couple more tumbles here and there, the final moments we get with Fisher are fantastic. No matter how much it gets beat up on the way there and seems like it may go to pieces, her closing smile will be enough to draw one out from you as well.

REVIEW

Bookworm (2024)

Though the so-so adventure movie Bookworm sees Elijah Wood playing a magician, it’s his co-star Nell Fisher who brings the magic and keeps everything on track.

Pros

• Nell Fisher gives a great performance, with the comedic timing and dramatic range to bring you into its heart.
• The film finds its stride in the middle and manages to build to a fantastic conclusion.

Cons

• Much of the jokes rely on the same premise and begin to feel repetitive after you’ve heard them so many times.
• Though it travels a mighty long distance, there is still the sense that this film is operating in an unchanging tonal register.

Bookworm had its World Premiere at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival.