Compared to the Dawson casting an American studio would do, that's not out of line.
They’re playing 17, actually. But it’s not bad considering that they didn’t churn out one movie every year, but it at least they didn’t make one movie every 2-3 years. That would’ve been ridiculous. At this pace, they were able to use the same actors, which would be preferable to replacing them and getting new interpretations on the role.