Paper planes 2014

12 year old Dylan Webber is a paper plane genius in the making. He prepares himself for school that morning, because his dad, Jack Webber, has practically logged out of life since his wife died five months ago. Dylan packs his bag, wrangles the remote out of his dad’s grip, and turns off the tv.

Just to fool around, he turns up the radio and grabs some salmon from the fridge while his dad complains. Dylan escapes the living room and rides his bike into the woods to call out to Clive, a wild hawk he somehow made friends with. He feeds the hawk the salmon he stole from home before continuing his journey to school.

Screeching his bike to a halt, he rushes into his class where every other kid plays games with their androids. Kevin, your friendly neighborhood bully, mocks Dylan’s phone for being made in the stone age.

Their homeroom teacher, Mr Hickenlooper, steps in and notices the engrossed kids. This makes him scratch the board to make a sound so irritating, it gets their attention. He then pulls out a huge sombrero to gather all their devices and spends some extra time with Kevin.

He retrieves close to ten different devices from the youngster before announcing that they’ll be having a pop quiz. It isn’t the usual pop quiz. You see, Mr Hickenlooper introduces the class to a substitute teacher named Jethro who came with a boatload of paper.

He shares one paper per student and announces that they’ll be working on how to make a paper plane. While everyone’s chatting and working, Dylan is engrossed in his art, pinning the edges and making sure the plane comes out as smooth as possible.

They discover that the least distance to be considered is 25 meters or 82 feet.

After a couple of minutes, everyone is done with their planes. Jethro makes them push their chairs backwards to create some space and counts down to liftoff. Everyone throws theirs but Dylan’s doesn’t lose momentum. It makes its way out the door and the entire class chases after it. It just keeps on going until they all lose sight of it, and Jethro is nothing if not impressed. He wonders if Dylan would consider making a career out of it and the both of them just stand there, hands on their hips as he thinks about it.

Dylan rides home after school to see his dad still sleeping and goes on about the Aussie junior championship in Sydney, explaining that he’ll go if he can make a paper plane that’ll fly 25 meters. He manages to get his dad to get off the couch long enough to listen to him and goes on and on about the steps to make a good paper plane.

His dad doesn’t know where he knew all this from, so Dylan admits that his mum taught him. The air grows silent for a split second at the mention of his mom but they quickly switch the topic to dinner.

The next day, Mr Hickenlooper puts up various marks representing meters and has Dylan try to make a paper plane that’ll fly past them. Unfortunately, no matter the amount of effort he puts in, none of them make it past the 4 meter mark. Dylan tries again and again, getting so engrossed that he doesn’t notice Kevin staring through the window.

After failing like most marriages these days, he turns to his teacher for help. Mr Hickenlooper then gives him the most unhelpful advice ever – to figure it out himself.

Anyway, it turns out Kevin is jealous of Dylan, so he does the childish thing and throws a balled piece of paper  at him. Dylan throws it back, and coincidentally, it knocks Kevin off the desk.

Later on, he visits his grandpa, a former pilot named George, at his nursing home to ask him for advice. There, he meets him leaving a lady friend, and they joke about cheating in the paper plane tournament. Dylan doesn’t want to, so George tells him the same thing Mr Hickenlooper told him. He then stops by the door of yet another lady friend, claiming that he has to help her out.

Dylan heads home, and that night, tries to make as many paper planes as his little hands will let him. He eventually dozes off and dreams of his mom swinging him around, the wind blasting against their faces.

His sweet dream gets interrupted by his dad who wakes him up and hurriedly fishes out an old CD player in the middle of the night. Of course, Dylan doesn’t miss a chance to mock him about living like he’s in the 20th century. His dad doesn’t mind him. Instead, he shows Dylan a video about the Australian winged keel, rumored to have helped them in world war 2.

He then asks him to find his winged keel. Dylan only sees this as similar advice to what his grandpa and Mr Hickenlooper said. His dad tries to get him to study everything that flies for inspiration, but dude just wants to go back to bed.

Just before he drifts off, Jack mentions some of George’s toys still in the shed and the next day, Dylan pays the shed a visit.

He finds everything from model rockets to countless shoes but a miniature plane catches his attention the most. He takes it out to play and watches it fly around like a caged bird set free for the first time.

When the time comes to launch the rocket, Kevin stops by to tease him some more, but Dylan puts him in his place. Kinda. Before he leaves, he mentions how he used to work with the rockets, so Dylan gives him a chance. In mere minutes, Kevin gets the rocket running.

They stand back and watch as the rocket launches into the sky. It’s all fun and games until it starts to descend. For some reason, the rocket seems to be chasing them, so both boys run like, well, they run like they’re being chased by a freaking rocket. They manage to duck at some point and the simple machine flies straight through Dylan’s sitting room where his dad’s still sleeping. It makes its way outside once again, only to land head first in the dirt.

Both boys heave sighs of relief and Kevin takes the opportunity to apologize for all the bullying. Dylan graciously forgives him and they shake on it like a couple of grown ups.

Later on, he makes sure to remind his dad about the state competition coming up, repeating how important it is for them to leave early. Jack promises that he’ll be ready but his son doesn’t seem to believe him.

True to his thoughts, Dylan meets his dad fast asleep by the time he’s ready, and every effort to wake him is like stopping an elephant from eating peanuts – an exercise in futility. Anyway, young Dylan simply takes out some cash from his dad’s wallet, stops by to feed Clive, and then rides the bus.

Kids are already participating by the time Dylan arrives and he sees someone named Patrick Jones, a handsome and popular ex golfer. Patrick causes a little stir at the competition, with people trying to get a picture and others trying to get an autograph. Jason Jones, his son, brings up some points about competition and celebration, while Dylan watches with a tinge of envy.

Among all of the referee’s announcements lies one about those who will be shipped off to the National junior paper plane championship Sydney. Apparently, only contestants who cross the 25 meter mark will be chosen.

Everyone throws their planes on his signal and many fall by the wayside. Only Dylan and Jason stay in the running. Both their planes not only cross the 25 meter mark, they even pull close to 30. Of course, everyone goes crazy over this and can’t seem to stop cheering. Afterwards, Dylan and Jason introduce themselves, seeing as they’re the only ones who actually made it.

Dylan makes his way back home that afternoon, and the moment he crosses the threshold to their home, his dad drills him about where he’s been all day.

He explains himself but Jack can’t look past the stealing of money from his wallet. Anyway, he grounds Dylan for a week and the boy slams his invite to the paper plane finals on the dining table.

After school the next day, Dylan steps out to see his grandpa waiting for him. At first, he’s worried that the man broke out of the nursing home, but he later finds out that George also stole an ambulance. Amidst worry and excitement, they ride together, blaring the siren any chance they get.

They arrive at a hangar for airplane simulations where his grandpa breaks yet another law. He pulls out a mystery screwdriver and breaks into said hangar without thinking. They then approach a two man plane for a flying simulation and his grandpa has him buckle in like it’s the real thing. He even gives him the helmet to help.

In his eyes, they’re up against enemy battalions who eventually land multiple shots at them. George loses his control, so Dylan has to play co-pilot to save their lives. He raises the flaps per his grandpa’s instruction and pulls hard enough to eventually  stabilize the plane.

Just then, two cops step into the building, unsurprised to see George in yet another compromising position. Gramps calls it cautioning but they were arrested, they just didn’t get sued or charged with anything. The cops drop off Dylan soon enough, giving him and George say their goodbyes.

He comes home to meet his dad pacing back and forth in their backyard, but does nothing about it. Instead, he heads to his room to draw airplanes. He falls asleep in no time, and like every time, he dreams about a time when his mom was alive and happy.

Kevin’s voice intrudes this beautiful dream, seeing as he mindlessly screams until Dylan wakes up. He claims it’s his own way of being supportive.

Shortly after, they both sit on an elevated platform and throw paper planes until their arms give out. Dylan climbs down to pick up a bunch of them, only to catch a glimpse of his dad peeking out the kitchen door.

Later that day, he approaches Dylan in his room, sits beside him, and asks if their car will make it to Sydney. This statement alone is enough to tell Dylan that his dad is willing to support him too.

It’s all smiles as they fire up the car the next day and head down the open road to sydney. They even fire up some music to set the mood.

Maureen Prescott, champion of 1985, makes a weird plane and claims it took her all the way to south Africa. She’s the spokeswoman for the program but as she talks, Jason laughs because he doesn’t believe such a lame plane could be effective. He gets booed like he just insulted Taylor swift at her own concert.

Anyway, Maureen manages to move past the subject, introducing Kimi Muroyama from Japan. She also happens to be the nation’s current paper plane junior champion. Kimi goes on to say a few words, mentioning how her favorite bird, the emu, is a flightless bird from Australia.

They all applaud her after the speech and Maureen flies her weird plane. It eventually earns a nod of approval from the same Jason who badmouthed it.

Back at their hotel room, Jack is busy taking pictures of the scenery. Dylan traipses in to tell him that parents are invited to the competition, only for his dad to get a picture of him first. Afterwards, Dylan asks to use the phone, telling his dad that he has to talk to some girl. Jack has never looked prouder as he gives Dylan some privacy.

Truthfully, he calls up the front desk to ask for Kimi’s room number and the lady just gives it away. It’s 1612 by the way, and Dylan makes a paper plane with a message written on it – “do emus dream of flying?” – and tries to get it into Kimi’s room. His first two attempts fail but Dylan tries one more time. Unfortunately, it floats right into Jason’s room.

Later on, the kids get transported on an awesome boat, and what makes it more awesome is Dylan getting to sit beside his crush. Their peace doesn’t last two minutes before Jason crashes it though, arriving with the paper plane Dylan threw into his room. Tension fills the air immediately.

Dylan tries to get it back without Kimi seeing it and it becomes quite the problem because of how arrogant Jason is. He eventually tears up the paper plane just to spite Dylan but Kimi stops Dylan before he can react. She picks up a piece of the paper plane and reads his little note. Contrary to what he expected, Kimi finds it beautiful.

Upon arrival, Maureen does the coordination of the Australian finals, informing the kids that the Winner gets to go to Japan for the world junior paper plane championship. The whole time, Dylan keeps scanning the stands for his father but doesn’t see him anywhere.

They break the kids into teams soon enough and give them 90 seconds to make their paper planes. Many of them drop to the ground to use it as a sort of desk but Jason remains standing. It’s the same with Dylan, and by the end of 90 seconds, Maureen tells everyone to stop.

On her signal, a horde of paper planes wafts into the air with a bunch of them dropping like King Kong knocked them down. Luckily, Dylan’s plane makes the cut, but Jason, his new arch nemesis, also succeeds.

During the break, they lounge around the sports center watching people train. Dylan came just to watch Kimi and she put on quite the show with her gymnastics. Afterwards, she sits beside him and they discuss looking at the natural world for life’s answers, advice Kimi got from her dad.

They return to the match in no time and Maureen announces that they have to reach the end of a 50 meter pool without a run up. The first two kids to try suck magnificently and the third goes for an involuntary swim. The fourth actually makes some progress but the overzealous paper plane goes out of bounds and eventually sinks head first into the pool.

It’s Jason’s turn. Ever so confidently, he lets his plane fly, observing as it glides over the top of the water like a hawk searching for unfortunate fish. Let’s just say the hawk successfully reaches the end of the pool.

It’s now time for our boy Dylan, nervous as ever with his crush watching. He swings the paper plane into motion and it floats with such elegance, crossing the bars up high and making a humble descent. Things take a turn for the worse when it lands on the water and the hall goes quiet as everyone watches. Slowly but surely, Dylan’s plane touches the edge of the pool and a rousing applause follows.

Maureen is so overjoyed that she trips and falls into the pool, but the kids make a whole thing out of it. Everyone, including star boy Dylan, jumps into the pool.

Excited, he hurries home to tell his dad, but Jack seems the least bit excited about anything. He informs him about the finals in Japan, but all his dad hears is how expensive the trip will be. Dylan suggests they both get jobs but his dad snuffs the life out of this plan too.

This pushes the boy to anger, – or maybe irritation – either way, he lets his old man have it. Dylan yells for the first time in forever that his mom is dead and will never be coming back. He informs his dad that he can’t stay inside forever but things start to get extra hot. The youngster slams the door behind him and his dad steps into the bathroom for a chance to hit something.

Both of them just really miss her, and even as they both take a breather from each other, she’s all they can think about.

That night, everyone says their goodbyes, bags packed and ready to go. Dylan does the same and comes face to face with Kimi. He asks for her Skype address, hoping to keep in touch, but Jason literally comes between them with a coat hanger.

It turns out that he’ll be giving Kimi a ride to the airport, so she goes with him before she can give Dylan her Skype address. He just watches her get into his arch enemy’s car, powerless to stop it.

Something beautiful happens as the car rides away. Kimi writes her Skype address on a paper plane and sends it flying in Dylan’s direction. Ever so softly, it lands on his palms.

After he gets back Kevin tracks him down at school and Dylan fills him in on everything that happened. They get interrupted by Mr Hickenlooper so they all head to class.

That afternoon, Dylan stops by to see Clive on his way home, amazed by how long the hawk spends floating in the air. He eventually heads home and doesn’t even change his clothes before calling Kimi.

They say hi to each other when she picks up and Dylan shows her his room. Kimi’s mom, like every other mom on the planet, snoops on her daughter, so Dylan just says hi to her too. Afterwards, he tells Kimi what he noticed about Clive and his fluctuating wingspan. This inspires her to teach him how to make a bird out of paper.

That afternoon, while Dylan is snacking on some spaghetti, he sees Maureen on TV talking about the championships. He abandons his meal, quickly calls his father, and they both record the moment. Jason then shows up on the interview talking about how he’s being helped by some scientist to study paper plane movements.

Dylan finds this unfair, seeing as he can’t even afford to fly to Japan. At this point, his dad notices how much his son wants to go and an idea pops into his head – a garage sale, to be exact. In no time, they paint up a sign, and with the help of his teachers, set up quite the garage sale, complete with balloons and haggling in the highest order.

Things seem to be moving quite slowly though, so Dylan approaches Mr Hickenlooper to find out how well they’ve done. Sadly, they’ve made only half of what they need. Given that time isn’t on their side, Dylan begins to lose hope. It’s at this point that his grandpa steps into the building accompanied by a bevy of ladies wielding cakes and scones of all types. Light quickly returns to Dylan’s eyes.

In the garage, his dad is busy gathering more shoes to add to the sale when a fat dude steps in. He heads straight for the piano and tests it out by running his fingers on the keys. Almost immediately, Jack rushes to cover it back up and refuses to sell it no matter the amount offered.  It becomes obvious that it belonged to his wife, not to mention how he can’t bring himself to let it go.

Feeling guilty, the prospective buyer backs off, handing Jack his card and urging him to call when he’s ready to sell. Dylan witnesses most of this from the door and can’t help looking at his dad like a lost puppy.

He pushes past this in no time though, joining Kevin to cart boxes of shoes outside. After this, he approaches Mr Hickenlooper once again, wanting to know how much they made. Luckily, they grossed about 1700 dollars, thanks to the old ladies and their homemade scones. After confirming that he’s sure, Dylan lifts the envelope heroically and announces that he’ll be going to Japan. Everyone offers their standing ovation in response and congratulations fly around the yard.

The boy heads in to tell his dad the good news, but meets him watching a clip of his mom at the beach. Quietly, Dylan sits on the arm of the couch and watches as the man continues to sulk.

Come nightfall, he sits for dinner with his dad and grandpa, only to stop eating and ask his dad to come with him to the airport. Without looking up, Jack says he won’t do it but Dylan is scared to leave him in such a state. He even threatens not to go at all but his dad doesn’t believe him because he loves paper planes too much.

The air becomes tense again and it only results in silent treatment for the rest of the night

Dylan joins his grandpa on the front porch where he gets a sick shirt as a gift. They laugh for a bit before Dylan pleads with him to check in on his dad from time to time. George promises and encourages his grandson to go forth and enjoy his adventure.

A plane ride after and Dylan touches down in Tokyo, Japan. As he rides in the back of a taxi, he’s engrossed by all the tall buildings and shining lights, and the tall buildings with shining lights. Let’s just say he stays pressed against the taxi window.

Later on, he attends a ceremony where paper plane lovers from around the world coincide. There, Dylan sees Kimi again and they can’t stop smiling at each other. But Jason refuses to fraternize with anyone and even tells his dad that the others are his competitors and nothing but that. His dad tries to get him to see reason, but he practically tells Patrick to shut up.

Come daybreak, Dylan struggles with both his food and some chopsticks before joining the others. They’re taken to the ancient Imperial garden where they’re shown the five steps of making paper. As Dylan watches the process in awe, he takes out time to feel the different textures and appreciate the experience.

Jason, on the other hand, thinks it’s funny to make throwing stars and disturb innocent foreigners with it. He does this twice and the poor boy yells at him. Jason tries to play it off but Dylan steps in to challenge him. It almost becomes a fight. You see, Dylan helps him understand how terribly things will turn out if he continues to cause trouble, so Jason just bumps his shoulder and walks away angrily.

Dylan spends most of the day by the lake, watching as strangers fence with each other. Afterwards, everyone returns to the hotel, only for Jason to catch up with Dylan as they’re about to go up the stairs.

He mocks him about his dad not being around and even claims that he’ll come in last place in the race tomorrow. Dylan keeps his cool but it only gets him pushed down the stairs by Jason. Only Kimi notices that something is wrong and she rushes back in search of Dylan.

She helps him to the doctor’s office where they check out his hand. Unfortunately, he has a sprained wrist and will need at least a week to recover. Maureen comes running in moments after Dylan gets the news, wanting to know if he’s alright. He just lies that he tripped, keeping Jason’s name out of it.

Maureen seems quite suspicious but she can’t call Dylan a liar, so she tells him to get some rest. Meanwhile, Kimi talks to the doctor about Dylan’s options and then asks him if he really wants to join the championship. Of course, he gives a positive response and the result is his worst nightmare – needles.

The doctor goes on with his acupuncture and pierces Dylan’s arm with over twelve tiny needles. All the poor boy can do is scream but Maureen doesn’t even flinch when she gets a bunch of them put into her face.

That night, Kimi takes him to a pretty place where they just sit to talk. She notices the notebook in his hand and asks about it. Dylan hands it over with slight reluctance, watching as she scrolls through his drawings and notes. Kimi stumbles upon a copy of his mom’s obituary, so Dylan opens up about how his mom, a piano teacher, died five months ago in a car accident.

Kimi thinks it sucks but soon asks why Dylan’s dad didn’t come. In turn, he explains that Jack hasn’t done much of anything since the accident.

He talks about how he would like to win but Kimi thinks it’s not about that. The way she sees it, it’s about making something beautiful but Dylan still brings up the importance of winning. For some reason, this pisses her off and she claims that he still doesn’t know her. She walks away after this, leaving Dylan to apologize for something he doesn’t fully understand.

He goes to his hotel room to practice making more paper planes and steps out onto the recreational area. There, he sees Jason’s father playing some golf. They get to talking and he encourages Dylan not to give up on his dad. He listens.

Dylan calls his dad that night but all he gets is the answering machine. This doesn’t stop him from dropping one of the most heartwarming messages ever. He narrates everything that has happened and then promises to stick with his dad no matter how long it takes for him to recover. These words push Jack to tears and he heads into the shed to retrieve a card with the piano buyer’s number in it.

The day of the grand finale arrives and Dylan is buzzing. He can’t stop smiling and taking in the sights as hundreds of people from all over the world troop into the auditorium. The emcee welcomes everybody to the world junior paper plane championship, adding that they only have eight finalists.

Different flags rise into the air at this point and they stream the tournament all around the world. Dylan’s mates back in Australia cheer him on like he’s just bought all of them ice cream and he waves them back.

The contestants wish each other good luck, and when Jason claims not to need it, Kimi hopes he gets a terrible paper cut.

The emcee takes over once again, announcing that they have 90 seconds to complete their planes and that it’s all going to be electronically recorded. Up next, he takes out ceremonial daggers and hands out different colors of paper to all the participants. Dylan gets a green sheet and in no time, the emcee shoots a gun to signify the beginning of the race.

It’s a race against time and it’s almost like Kimi cursed Jason because he actually gets a paper cut while making his plane. With half the time left, Dylan remembers Clive, his hawk friend, and immediately makes adjustments to his paper plane. One look and Kimi can tell that he has pulled off something incredible.

They take their positions, only for the emcee to signal the start of the second phase. While everyone does their run-ups, Dylan falls into a trance-like state, reminiscing about the time his mum first taught him to make a paper plane. He snaps out of it in a few seconds and throws his paper plane vertically into the air.

At the same time, Jason watches as his plane beats the existing world record, but it only lasts a few seconds, seeing as Kimi’s plane goes farther than his. He drops to his knees in pain but no one pays him any attention because Dylan’s plane, much like a bird, begins to circle the hall. It’s so captivating that everyone claps in unison, even the hateful Jason Jones finds himself clapping.

Elegantly, the plane surpasses Kimi’s for the world record and continues to fly until it lands on the palm of Dylan’s father. He runs into his dad’s embrace and they share quite the beautiful moment. They then renew their promise to stick with each other no matter how long it takes.

Jason gets announced for third place, Kimi comes in second, and king Dylan gets announced as the winner. The crowd has no choice but to go wild, his friends at home go wild, practically everyone goes wild. Confetti falls from every angle while Dylan and his dad share knowing looks. He then lifts the hands of Kimi and Jason in celebration.

A small town boy from Australia followed his love for paper planes, pushing past his grief, poverty, and depressed father to reach the peak of his field. If Dylan can do it, what’s stopping you?