Bookworm is a film that proves my whole theory: you want Elijah Wood in your movie? Film it in New Zealand. Boom, there goes the dynamite.

Bookworm indeed stars Elijah Wood as a street magician and American dad of a spunky New Zealand girl. When her mom winds up in the hospital, he flies out to take care of her. But all she wants to do is wander Middle Ea… I mean New Zealand’s wilderness in order to capture valuable video of a panther in the wild.

Yeah, plenty of jokes to be made about Elijah Wood as a magician roaming the wilds of New Zealand. They even have the good grace to drop a joke about visiting a filming location of The Chronicles of Narnia… but they never actually go so meta as to mention another heroic fantasy franchise. Though he does have a close encounter with a Weta… the giant bug they named Peter Jackson’s effects studio after. Har.

But what the movie really is is a daddy/daughter bonding trip. She’s booksmart, adventurous, and sarcastic while he’s still soar about being screwed over by competing street magician David Blaine. And he has no idea how to exist in nature or how to be a dad in the first place.

But it’s a family movie so they bond and it’s cute. Elijah Wood tries real hard to not still look like a teenager (or a hobbit) so he’s a little on the edge performance-wise. The little girl is usually very good. They work well together since his character is as out of his depths as Woods seems in the part.

Unfortunately, the film eventually gooses its own plot with a string of ridiculous and unconvincing crime and nature adventures. While the film was just a trek across the countryside, it was fun. But all the knobby-kneed adventure stuff felt forced and poorly executed. It drags the second half of the film down quite a bit.

But it doesn’t kill the movie. It remains a charming and sweet parental bonding flick that just makes a few bad choices. Still watchable, still entertaining… and New Zealand still looks amazing.

Score: 76