Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) – Review

Director Taika Waititi has shown with movies like Boy and the hilarious What We Do in The Shadows that he is able to make movies which have their own voice. He is also directing the new Thor movie and was responsible for the recent short about what Thor was doing during Civil War. With Hunt for The Wilderpeople he brings the book with the same name about a rebellious orphan who moves into a house of an older couple to the screen.

The story is about Ricky (Julian Dennison) who has already been going to various foster parents, but constantly gets into trouble. He keeps experimenting and trying out things, often breaking stuff. His next foster family is an older couple who live in the countryside. The woman welcomes him with lots of love, but her husband Hec (Sam Neill) is silent and is a cold, distant man. Because of various circumstances foster care decides that Ricky can no longer stay with the couple, but Ricky doesn’t want to leave and together with Hec decides to get away from the authorities. It’s the start of an adventurous journey through the wilderness of New Zealand. Ricky has no idea to survive that and he’s travelling with someone who doesn’t like communicating.

 The movie has some obvious similarities with the movie Up. A boy who goes on an adventure with a grumpy man and a bird even plays a role in their adventure. It goes no further than that though as Waititi makes a feel good movie which is filled with lots of jokes and clever dialog. Besides a wonderful Sam Neill and Julian Dennison the movie is full of funny smaller characters. It even has a cool action scene. If Waititi manages to make the new Thor movie with the same energy as this movie it might be one of the most enjoyable Marvel movies.