Hunt For The Wilderpeople (2016): A Sweet Charmer

Looking for a light, funny, warmhearted live-action adventure-comedy that won’t jar your sensibilities and, should the occasion arise, would even be suitable to entertain your elders or/and your kids (or grandkids)? Hunt For The Wilderpeople may be just the ticket. It’s funny, clever, a bit quirky in that down-under manner, and endearing. I saw it a couple months ago at the Tribeca film fest, and a couple weeks later it won the audience award at the SF International Film Festival as best narrative feature. I still smile inwardly as I recall it.

Written and directed by talented New Zealand director, Taika Waititi (Boy [2010], What We Do In The Shadows [2014]), Hunt For The Wilderpeople tells the story of Ricky, a chunky, rebellious lad of about 13, who has spent most of his short life in the foster care system, getting moved from place to place, apparently with considerable frequency; and who has developed a pretty large chip on his shoulder. According to Paula (Rachel House), the foster care agency lady, Ricky is simply an incorrigible badass; but he’s being given one last chance: this urban delinquent is to be placed way out in the country with an older couple – “Aunt” Bella (Rima Te Wiatta) and “Uncle” Hec (Sam Neill – Jurassic Park [1993], The Tudors (series)[2007]); who knows, maybe the rustic setting will do him some good (but the callous and cynical Paula doubts it).

Ricky puts on his I-don’t-give-a-shit-about-anything attitude at first, figuring that these people will reject him like everyone else has, but Aunt Bella isn’t playing that game. She’s a big-hearted, no bullshit woman; and pretty soon Ricky is won over. Uncle Hec too is a no-BS individual, but where Bella is a people person, Hec’s a rough, gruff loner, not particularly domesticated himself, who is, let’s say, less than enthusiastic about children in general and this foster kid project in particular. Of course, circumstances conspire to throw these two guys together. I won’t reveal the how and why, but they become outlaws of a sort, the subject of a massive manhunt in the great New Zealand bush – a mountainous, heavily forested wilderness. So we get a sort-of buddy movie in which the crusty old outdoorsman and the annoying/cute city kid eventually bond as they gradually come to understand one another and, in the process, to learn a bit about themselves.

This could come across as trite, but mostly it’s just delightful. The story moves along, there are adventures and setbacks, a witty and occasionally touching script, and some surprising twists. Waititi knows how to walk that delicate line balancing humor and emotional elements, comically yet sensitively exploring human foibles, insecurities and yearnings. He did this beautifully in his 2010 movie Boy; but the current movie has a lighter touch. Paula, the foster care lady, is the villain of the piece, and while she may seem scary to younger children, she’s pretty much a cardboard baddie, and indeed is often pretty funny in her fervent, off-kilter pursuit of our heroes (reminiscent  of the late, great Herbert Lom as Dreyfus in pursuit of Clouseau in the Pink Panther series of films).

Hunt For The Wilderpeople also boasts some beautiful and inventive cinematography. The New Zealand outback is beautifully evoked, and there are some very cool and unusual kaleidoscopic episodes depicting the hunters and the hunted.

The principal actors give outstanding performances, particularly Neill – and Dennison is quite effervescent and delightfully charming as the kid.

In sum, this is a wholesome, fun crowd pleaser. It ain’t deep, but it sure is sweet. 

Opened June 24, 2016. Available online in early September 2016.