Whale Rider review

WHALE RIDER:

WHILE THE FILM DRAGS IN THE BEGINNING, OVERALL IT’S AN UPLIFTING AND IMPRESSIVE JOURNEY!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: B (3 stars)

NEW MARKET FILMS

Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider

            Here we go again, another story about a kid and an animal, and to think we had plenty of those back in the 90s, this time it’s a movie about a whale (Now that sounds familiar), only in this film it takes place in New Zealand. The film I am talking about is Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro and starring Keisha Castle-Hughes (Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, The Nativity Story) as a little girl named Pai, living on the eastern coast of New Zealand. 

            In New Zealand, the Whangara people believed that their ancestor, Paikea was saved from drowning by a whale. Since then, the tribal group has granted leadership positions for first-born males, believing they are descendants of Paikea.

            The tradition is tested when a young mother dies during childbirth along with her newborn son. His twin sister manages to survive and the father runs off with grief.

            The little girl, now going under the name, Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is brought up by her stubborn grandfather and caring grandmother.

            Koro, the leader of the tribe is upset because Pai’s twin brother was supposed to be the new leader. Soon Pai joins the tribe and discovers a secret that she may be a descendant of Paikea.

            Honestly, I couldn’t completely get into this movie, it’s not terrible and I could tell a lot of effort was put into it, but I found it to be rather overrated and could have used more whale scenes.

            Once the whale showed up, it became more interesting and the scenes of the whale swimming in the water are absolutely beautiful.

            Besides the whale scenes, I also have to give Keisha Castle-Hughes credit for her performance as Pai, she portrays the character very well and you want to know what happens to her.

            If the film had more scenes involving the whale and a more interesting plot, I probably would have had more positive things to say about it. But for what it is, it’s a decent flick, not really my type but I’m glad I checked it out.