An imperfect, but not entirely unsuccessful, attempt at a grown-up movie for children from director Shawn Seet. It teaches the little tykes about parallel stories: a present-day drama over whether to open a chunk of Australia for mining set against a back-when drama over whether to open a chunk of Australia for hunting — connected by both generational conflict and the central character (Geoffrey Rush and Finn Little). It traffics in ambiguity: Grandpa Rush telling his granddaughter, “Your father’s not a bad man; he’s just a businessman,” and meaning it. It deals with memory, and the recovery of what can be recovered —and the honoring of what cannot. It dabbles in the supernatural (a near-sentient pelican, a storm surge that rises up in protest against interference with nature) while giving the natural its due (chopping fish into paste to simulate regurgitation). It confronts loss, champions wisdom and love, and avoids easy solutions. True, several dramatic moments are flubbed, and the pace is meditative bordering on stately, and there is surely more resistance to the Magical Aboriginal today than there was in the days of the 1976 original. But it feels honest and alive, however modestly so. (2019) — Matthew Lickona
This movie is not currently in theaters.