A feel-good inspirational true story

It is 2009, and a young Australian teen, Jessica Watson, already an avid sailor at 16 years old, has pledged to sail around the world by herself. Despite everything set against her, including a failed test run and naysayers wanting to halt her trip due to concerns over her safety, she commits herself to her dream, even though the cost for doing so is incredibly high.

Adding to the already obvious peril set before her is Jessica’s dyslexia. When you’re at sea, it can be hard to read coordinates and maps as it is, but adding dyslexia on top of that is a big struggle.

True Spirit feels very brief because there really isn’t that much to the story. She attempts to sail around the world at only 16; she has struggles; she gets lonely and depressed; she has some dangerous moments; and she has dyslexia.

The importance of music in films is often underrated in biographies like these but to be honest, it’s just as important as the filming and editing. While they get the job done, there’s nothing particularly outstanding here.

All that said, True Spirit is definitely inspiring, and discovering this real-life story throughout the movie reminds us why this is still a great medium. It does leave you with a good feeling and a sense of admiration for Jessica Watson and she truly is an impressive human being.

But as far as evaluating it for entertainment value, True Spirit doesn’t have much. The makers of this film tried to balance out a couple of intense moments at sea with a lot of other positive things (displaying her courage and her wholesome relationship with her family, etc.). They tried to show that she was determined from a young age, but through it all there’s a distinct lack of depth on display. The film never shows why Jessica was so determined, other than that she felt underestimated and wanted to prove people wrong, but again, where is the why?