You know, if all we knew of New Zealand came from films, I’d guess that the natives just wander endlessly, constantly looking for wizards, whale riders, or pianists. What Kiwi doesn’t enjoy a good forest? None. You all do.
Ricky (Julian Dennison) is a troubled teen. In this country, he’d probably just be seen as free-spirited or tragic – to me, he doesn’t seem to heading down the Bloods/Crips road – but in New Zealand, he’s a guy who gets a police escort between his endless chain of foster homes. You can tell Ricky is a city kid. Decked out in gaudy dollar-sign apparel and completely attuned to something electronic, he ain’t cut out for the sheep farm in rural What-The-Fauckland. This part is cute. “Ricky, come see your new home.” The kid makes one circuit of the premises and gets right back into the police car.
However, Bella (Rima Te Wiata) is determined to make Ricky a home. Even when he runs away –the obese child gets all of 300 feet before succumbing to exhaustion and the night—Bella still greets him open-armed. Her husband Hec (Sam Neill) isn’t as sold. You know Hec’s just doing this to keep Bella happy. So when Bella drops dead a week later … the kid didn’t do it, I swear! … Ricky and Hec are on their own. And thanks to some arson and an ill-timed flight into the forest next door, the authorities now think Hec has kidnapped the foster child. And Hec broke and ankle, so returning back to the farm to explain the situation in earnest is also not an option. The Hunt for the Wilderpeople is on!
You see this, right? The kid doesn’t know jack about survivalism, but the man who does is relatively helpless and both are wanted by the law. It’s a buddy pic, NZ style, yo. And it is a classic buddy pic in the slow bonding of the
roughneck Hec and the city-slickin’ Ricky. And amusing in that every.single.person looking for the pair is a total moron.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople is amiable if less-than–memorable. I grew to like both leads, yet at the same time found increasingly unlikely their ability to avoid capture. They survive the forest literally for months, winter months at that, and yet Ricky doesn’t strike me as any more wily or hardy for the trials faced. He also seems to have lost no weight off his enormous frame which is downright unbelievable. You can’t lose your entire diet without getting thinner, can you?
If nothing else, New Zealand is still scenic; the hobbits have not joined the planet-spoiling ranks. Yet.
♪Listen, to what the wilder people say
Listen, they could be coming right this way
Follow, look for those two way up on high
Follow, I think that fat kid just went by
Wilder people where’d you go?
Wilder people in the snow
I want bounty
Some amount-y♫
Rated PG-13, 101 Minutes
D: Taika Waititi
W: Taika Waititi
Genre: More tales from Fangorn Forest
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Survivalists
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Agents of Child Protective Services
♪ Parody inspired by “(Listen to the) Flower people”
