Bizarre and brilliant.

Rating: 9/10 (8 January 2020)

It's hard to define the genre of Taika Watiti's JoJo Rabbit, it's a comedy, drama, War story and sort of satire rolled into one.
The film shifts from having actors play over the top caricatures of nazi stereotypes to a tense stand-off between the SS and a Jewish girl pretending to be German to avoid certain death.
Sprinkled through this mashup of genres is Taika's daring style, for a film set in 1940s Germany there's plenty of colour, slow motion and visual humour. The script has an almost improvised feel to it, with some actors verging onto a cartoonish feel, however fans of his work so far should know what to expect.
The stand out performances for me where Scarlett Johansson as JoJo's mother. A face of optimism in Germany's approaching defeat and the voice of reason for our main character. Taika himself plays Adolf Hitler, well JoJos imaginary friend version of Adolf Hitler. He mainly provides absurd comic relief with his whacky behaviour.
There's enough sublte references to the Nazi regime that will provide the extra laughs for the keen eyed, however JoJo Rabbit's story gradually shifts at such a pace that it catches you off guard when the genre goes into a more serious drama. The humour is still there but there's only so long a family hiding a Jew in Germany before the repercussions come forward.
Overall this movie is a definite watch, part comedy part drama sprinkled with Taika Watiti's wonderful originality.