Aimless and formulaic - why the love?

Not bad - 7.5

"She let me go."
~White Oleander

Sort of agree. Liked the first half hour or so, then the tone of the movie seemed to get too farcical. The swat teams creeping through the woods, the car chases (I guess calling up "Thelma & Louise") all just created this feeling of watching a comedy skit, thus divesting the movie of any poignancy it might otherwise have had.

The wise-cracking kid never seemed real to me, just some adult's scripting of a funny, clever, kid for curmudgeon Sam Neil to play off of. And the scene in the bunk beds where the kid says his mother must not have wanted (or loved, can't remember - either will work) him, and Hector reassures him she was just young etc. - was embarrassingly predictable and trite.

Beautiful scenery and Sam Neil; as they say, a missed opportunity.

Here's the deal and it's obvious (and contrite and predictable): Different strokes for different folks. I, myself, am OVER THE MOON about this film!!! I saw it 3 times on the big screen and it got better with each viewing. Let me be clear, I loved it the first time -- that's why I went two more times. I would have gone again but it only played for 2 weeks.

But...I think I understand where you are coming from -- you didn't enjoy it, didn't like it and you just want some kind of validation. You didn't really need people to respond with all of their reasons why they loved it. I mean, come on, all you have to do is read the reviews written about it. But, hey, you were decent about your critique about it and you can't deny how you feel. And...you got a few like-minded people to respond. Feelings and viewpoint validated.

So....while I know you aren't really interested in my take in it, just the same, I am going to expound. I loved everything about this movie (check ratings breakdown of IMDb users -- women liked this one more than men, but both are high). It was pure escapism for me. It was a feast for the eye, I loved the music, I thought the acting was pretty much flawless (actor playing Ricky Baker did have a moment or two that I didn't feel were exactly "spot on" -- if I were to be extremely critical, but he MORE than made up for those 1 or 2 moments by the rest of his performance). But...probably what I was impressed with the most was the pacing, and the overall style of the director. It was just so much fun...pure and simple. I left the theater and I was beaming. Just so happy inside. That's what I want when I go see a film and it seldom happens. Thank you Taika Waititi...

It was a great, feel-good kind of movie. I loved it and rated it a 9/10 for it being fun.

nah it's fine, maybe you're just too cynical.

Yes, there are some themes we have seen in other movies, but there has been thousands of movies made over the years and it is nearly impossible to make a movie in the modern era without at least a little of that happening, but aimless? That criticism is way off base.

And yes, just like with any other variable, opinions follow a distribution, and in this instance, yours in the lower left tail.

It was off-beat. Different. Majestical.

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