I was a little sceptical ...but ... i was wrong.

Rating: 8/10 (20 March 2020)

After seeing the trailer i wasn't sure this would be a movie that I'd appreciate. It's quite a heavy subject that's hardly suitable to be put into a comedic perspective. Just, don't do it! It's so easy to screw this up, so yes, i was quite sceptical and actually planning not to watch it. But my wife was really curious, and this guy also made "What We Do in the Shadows" and "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" ... so after some debating we decided to give it a go.
After 5 minutes it already became clear that it wasn't what i thought. I won't go into the details to prevent spoilers, but it turned out rather charming and mostly from a point of view of the 10 year old main character, JoJo, which puts everything in the right perspective.
There's a dip somewhere halfway where things start to get a little stale, but that quickly turns into a interesting and captivating finale.
No, it's definitely not as heavy, deep and captivating as Schindler's List or The Pianist, and for sure will rub on some people the wrong way considering the light-hearted and comedic nature. But there's definitely a more deep and moving storyline that i find charming and reminded me somewhat of Pan's labyrinth.
WO2 was nothing like what this movie is portraying. But it's also not ignoring it. It just shows it from the naive view of a 10 year old. Not sure what's so wrong about that. Especially since it's absurdism is so obvious. It's not trying to kick people against the knees.
Still, maybe Waititi shouldn't have picked this subject, because it's on one hand a little cheap to pick one of the biggest horrors in history as contrast for your jokes, but on the other hand, it's working because of the horrors of the subject.
For me it's way more interesting and less offensive as the mainstream pulp like the 101 brainless superhero movies that comes from Hollywood.
Keep going Waititi, i've been a fan since "What We Do in the Shadows" and will look forward to your next flick.