Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2020)

On the whole, I feel positively about "Jojo Rabbit", though I do accept and can see the reasons why some people might not enjoy it.
As the WW2 turns against the Germans, young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) a committed if incapable member of the Hitler Youth, discovers that his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a young Jewish Girl in her attic. Torn between his desire to be a good Nazi and to not get his mother in trouble, Jojo's life is complicated further by his imaginary friend, the Furher himself (Taika Waititi) who tells him that Jews cannot be trusted.
So, the positives first. Roman Davis is great and his relationships with all the other characters is spot on. The film is gently funny, rather than a laugh riot, which is absolutely the right call and helps make the shifts to tragedy less jarring than they otherwise might be. The do still resonate though. Despite being a focus for the films marketing, Jojo's relationship with Hitler is actually a relatively minor part of the film, it could even have been dropped altogether without losing much, maybe just a little clarity on Jojo's thinking about his guest.
I don't see what there is to find offensive, the film is clearly meant to be a parody and is patently absurd for most of its runtime.
So why not a perfect review?
It is, for my money, a little heavy handed with its story, each committed Nazi is ridiculous, in their own way. A few aspects of the farce wear a little thin, as the show goes on. Sam Rockwell's battle armour, for example, just doesn't tie in with the character we've seen leading up to it. It also doesn't really have anything new to say. Innocence being the first casualty of war is a long acknowledged idea.
That said, I enjoyed the experience.