The Hunt for the Wilderpeople is not just another profanity induced coming of age story but one with charisma.
This isn’t just your average coming of age story. This is a coming of age story that is reminiscent of a Wes Anderson film if Wes Anderson was from New Zealand and was slightly more comical and a lot blunter. Yes, it’s really that good.
The story follows a young boy in foster care (Julian Dennison) and his foster father (Sam Neill) as they escape to the New Zealand wilderness as a wild manhunt for them ensues. Wild is one way to explain it and just plain funny is another, with quippy lines (Mostly from Julian), referring to things such as the skuxx life, molestation, and his profanity induced haikus.
As explained on IMDB, “Nature just got gangster.” And just got a lot funnier. Shown originally at Sundance (as most good movies are) one critic from slashfilm.com is calling it, “a new childhood classic.”
Dazzling, eccentric and charismatic are a few other ways to explain The Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Barry Crump, a New Zealand author wrote the book and the movie was directed by Taika Waitit. who’s other movie last year, What We Do in the Shadows (that also appeared at Sundance) gave the director a boost that her name needed.
Fans and critiques alike are speaking-they like what they see. As for most movies the best critics are the critics that go online to rant or rave about a movie. From a whopping 100% on Rotten Tomato’s, to an 8.2/10 on IMDB it will leave viewers pondering things like family values and life and death all while getting a good chuckle in.
Funny, inappropriate, but relatable this movie transcends genres, gets it right what it’s like being an adolescent, and has something for the teens and adults to appreciate (I wouldn’t recommend for children).
The Goggleworks was showing this movie until September 29th, but just because you missed it doesn’t mean there’s no hope to ever see it. Showtime’s are daily, 3:00pm and 7:00pm. They also change up the movie schedule every two weeks. It’s a good time to watch some indie flicks, especially the price being so cheap for students, six dollars with an ID.