Jojo Rabbit Movie Review
Bold satire at it’s finest
*SPOILER WARNING: This review may contain spoilers. I’ll try to be careful but in reviewing the film I may go into detail.*
OK, I’ll be the first to admit that I genuinely think Taika Waititi is one of the best comic directors of the decade. In fact, the only movie of his I’ve not enjoyed was Thor: Ragnarok (controversial, I know but honest at least.)
I always get the sense that Waititi is best when he’s at the reins, got nothing to lose and free to do as he pleases.
Plot
Jojo Rabbit is a comedy movie centred around Jojo and his family and friends. Jojo is training in the Hitler youth and he finds that he’s not a very good nazi. In order to make himself feel better he creates an imaginary friend. Who just so happens to take the form of an idolized Adolf Hitler.
Jojo then finds a Jewish girl secretly living in his house and despite everything ends up becoming good friends with her.
Review
This movie was a masterpiece for me. It got the balance between the humourous and the heart wrenching totally spot on!
If I had to say a single negative it’d be that during the middle of the movie the pacing tapers off a bit and the film does start to feel a bit slow. Individually that’s fine but within a movie which is almost perfectly directed up to that point it does throw you off and make the movie seem a little longer than it is. It’s not even two hours but because of that one pacing snafu it feels, as a whole, almost 2 or 3 hours.
Thankfully the pacing gets back on track during the second half and boy does it deliver. From the very get go I was belly laughing harder than I have in a long time.
Stand out performances for me were Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo) Scarlett Johansson (Rosie, Jojos mum) and Taika Waititi as Hitler.
Hitler’s scenes were hysterical. Even when he’s just there in the scene and not interacting with Jojo the physical comedy coming from Waititi is genius.
Overall I’d say the main message I thought the movie was trying to portray is this; in war nobody wins. There are only losers.
It delivers this message in a humorous, touching and charming way that left me wanting to see it multiple more times.
