Jojo Rabbit ( 2019) film review

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Star – Taika Waititi My Rating *** Genre – Black Comedy Run Time – 108 Minutes. Certificate – PG13 Country – U.S.A Awards – 33 Wins & 158 Nominations = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = So should you make comedy films about Hitler and the Jews? Well Mel Brooks did but he was Jewish so had a free pass I guess whilst one or two other B-Movies have popped up here and there. Well Kiwi Taika Waititi is not Jewish but an extremely funny guy who makes very funny movies and so ideal to have a crack at it with Jojo Rabbit. You should checkout his other movies like Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Eagle V Shark, Boy and seminal vampire movie ‘What We do in the Shadows’. He also did the last Thor movie to add some much needed self parody in that particular and now tired Marvel Universe. No one Jewish kicked up too much about Jojo and worth a watch if you like his work. ===Cast=== Roman Griffin Davis ... Jojo Thomasin McKenzie ... Elsa Scarlett Johansson ... Rosie Taika Waititi ... Adolf Sam Rockwell ... Captain Klenzendorf Rebel Wilson ... Fraulein Rahm Alfie Allen ... Finkel Stephen Merchant ... Deertz Archie Yates ... Yorki Luke Brandon Field ... Christoph Sam Haygarth ... Hans Stanislav Callas ... Russian Soldier Joe Weintraub ... Herr Junker (as Joseph Weintraub) Brian Caspe ... Herr Mueller Gabriel Andrews Gabriel Andrews ... Herr Klum ===Plot=== It’s late in World War Two and little 10-year-old Johannes Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) is enjoying his patriotic participation in the ‘Deutsches Jungvolk’ (the junior group of the Hitler youth) in Berlin. Jojo has been heavily indoctrinated with Nazi ideals, antagonized by his imaginary friend Adolf, a buffoonish and rather camp version of Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi). At a training camp run by Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell), Jojo earns the nickname of "Jojo Rabbit" after he refuses to kill a rabbit to prove his worthiness to the cause. Pumped up by Adolf, he returns 10 minutes later after a good sob to prove his bravery to Germany, foolishly resulting in a rather unfortunate grenade accident on the range. He is eventually rewarded for his enthusiasm. Mum (Scarlett Johansson) persuades Klenzendorf to keep Jojo in the Hitler Youth and so given small tasks away from live weaponry, such as spreading propaganda leaflets and collecting scrap for the war effort. Twiddling his thumbs at home, little Jojo discovers a teenage Jewish girl hidden in the wall (Thomasin McKenzie) At first Jojo is terrified and confused towards Elsa, his duty to Nazi Germany to hand her in. Mom tells him she must be a ghost and to stop going on about it and being silly. What to do with the new housemate? ===Results=== So this one starts well in that rather unique comic Taika Waititi way to set up the movie you are expecting and then sort of drifts off into something else more conventional. I’m not saying the director bottled it or anything due to the tricky subject matter but it does decelerate somewhat into familiar adolescent small boy likes girl stuff. With all these big stars in the movie and the rave reviews you just expected a little bit more. That saying I enjoyed it enough not to do too many other things whilst watching it and could recommend it on bravery alone although it doesn’t get too controversial around Hitler and the Jews. I laughed here and there but Rockwell and Johansson don’t really add much but their name in lights on the marketing for the film and Rebel Wilson a complete waste here, standing out like a turd on the red carpet. Funny but not funny enough guys… It cost $14 MILLION to make and did $90 MILLION back and so success if judged on attendance by the punters. ===RATINGS=== Imdb.com 7.9/10.0 (278,234 votes) Rottentomatos.com –80% critic’s approval Metacritic.com – 56critic’s approval ===Trailer=== https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2663366425?playlistId=tt2584384&ref_=tt_ov_vi