There's something inherently nice about Taika Waititi's vision of the world; even when he's dealing with superheroes and world-ending calamities as he did in "Thor: Ragnarok", he's more interested in friendship and hope than about villainy. In fact, Waititi's on-screen villainy always seems to have some jocular edge poking out somewhere.
In this wonderful examination of boyhood, the villain, if there is one at all, ends up being simply a flawed, silly man, while the protagonist, Boy, earns our affection slowly and steadily as he discovers those flaws.
This film is a classic coming-of-age film: a boy on the cusp of adolescence learns about love, dreams and disappointment, all while keeping his spirit intact. On the other hand, it's also a film about not coming-of-age, and how that can happen to some of us, without it being a tragedy.
The tone is playful, the performances are great and the world that's created is absolutely believable, if perhaps just a little too nice. But then again, it's Waititi's world, so what should we expect?
In this wonderful examination of boyhood, the villain, if there is one at all, ends up being simply a flawed, silly man, while the protagonist, Boy, earns our affection slowly and steadily as he discovers those flaws.
This film is a classic coming-of-age film: a boy on the cusp of adolescence learns about love, dreams and disappointment, all while keeping his spirit intact. On the other hand, it's also a film about not coming-of-age, and how that can happen to some of us, without it being a tragedy.
The tone is playful, the performances are great and the world that's created is absolutely believable, if perhaps just a little too nice. But then again, it's Waititi's world, so what should we expect?