Whale Rider (2003)

i must have seen a different film!!

Good movie but grossly overrated

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I heard about "Whale Rider" when it got released but never got around to seeing it. I finally have. What an impressive movie. It looks at a variety of topics: the Maoris' efforts to keep their culture alive, the issue of whether or not tradition is an impediment to social progress, and looking to one's history.The protagonist is a girl named Pai. According to Maori tradition, only the first-born son can become leader. Pai's brother died after he was born, leaving her as the only descendant, and her grandfather does not want to change the tradition.This is one of the few movies that I've seen focusing on the Maoris' traditions, and likely the only one focusing on their mythology (the title is based on the story that their ancestor arrived in New Zealand on the back of a whale). I saw it described as a family movie, probably since a child is the main character. It's a more serious movie than what we usually think of as family movies, but it also gives a sense of hope for the Maoris' future. Keisha Castle-Hughes received an Academy Award nomination for her role.All in all, good movie. I recommend it. Niki Caro more recently directed "The Zookeeper's Wife".

This is a first for me, to hate a movie so much that I sought out to slam it on a review site. I have watched bad movies, the Room was perhaps one of the worst. But at least the Room was funny, it was to me a almost perfect bad movie, one I would give a minus eight out of minus ten. This is because how I rate films is out of general quality, so one to ten, and then minus one to minus ten out of how absolutely hilariously bad it is.But this film was terrible, the lowest score, one or minus one, it had little ironic quality (laugh at the film funny) and lacked any true quality like characters, story or acting (oh child actors). It was a feminist dream movie, and I wish I hadn't suffered through it, the female power message was ham fisted and brought the film down by at least five points, but worst was the use of what appeared to be stock images of whales, and that was the better parts of the film. The perfect female character of the little girl wound me up, and her grandfather committed so many flip flops of reject to his granddaughter, love and then contempt.The way how the Grandfather went about the choosing of the next chieftain was insane, then the little girls refusal to not simply give up being a chieftain, a position she had never been offered and appeared to want simply out of entitlement or desire, she never showed any true leader qualities, and if the fantasy bullshit in the film is to be believed, then all she did in the entire thing was get a bunch or whales killed, yeah.Also a plot point they seemingly ignored was the fact that the father abandoned his child to a man he knew did not want her, and then even after stating 'he had his child now' after the loss of his wife, he decided to move to Germany and abandon his child, when did we jump that leap of logic. Plus back to the grandfather why not chose the other son, the son that remained in their tribe, he seamed to be capable of being leader, let he was ignored for the promised son of the eldest boy. In any line of succession you have contingencies, I'm I to believe the grandfather, chose to embark on a ten year wait for his eldest son who abandon his tribe to return to produce a male heir, when he did not produce the promised grandson he, rather than chose his second son, chose to train boys and he failed.The way the write the film unfortunately failed to deliver suspense, with the granddaughter being so empowered, I new she win, would have been surprising to see her humbled, and might have given the movie something. The shooting of the film felt very dated, when the girl sees the whale, we cut to the whale under water, as the whale in the stock imagery comes to the surface we cut to the reaction shot to the granddaughter, no whale is seen resurfaces from an over the shoulder shot or anything, nothing and made the scene feel very cheep. I got the vibe of a low budget film, and couple this with the view locations in the film, it was bland.Overall I would say this film sucked, with bad acting, boring setting and a weirdo almost nonsensical plot, heavy with its girl power message I would not recommend it. If you looking for a decent new Zealand film check out Once were warriors or what becomes of the broken hearted. Not the best films but you get great acting and good locations, and a plot that is not unbelievable. The messages in those films are also more universal and less restricted by agendas.

This was a very interesting film, and one that I can not relate to other international films, since it was so unique. The main character Paikea was by far my favorite in the film, because she proved her grandpa that she was able to do the same things that the other boys were able to do, and yet was more capable. Paikea's grandfather in the film was not very astonished with Paikea, and would always seem to be degrading her, but towards the end of the film when none of the other boys were able to retrieve the whale tooth necklace, Paikea was the one to swim to the bottom of the ocean and find it, and he became more considerate. Seeing how the grandfather acted in the film will make it seem like he was always disappointed in Paikea, and doesn't show so much emotional feelings around her, but I wouldn't say that. I think the grandfather saw more in Paikea, that he could not see, but once he saw what Paikea was capable of he immediately became more attached. I liked how the whales were a big part of Paikea's culture as well as her ancestors. Overall I would give this film a 4/5 stars, because even though it was a great movie, it did have some flaws. Many times things were not very clear and a bit confusing at some parts in the movie.

I have very mixed emotions about this film. I enjoyed watching it because there were not very many slow scenes. However, it did seem a bit forced in terms of the acting. I did not really particularly like any of the character's roles, because they just seemed to be trying to hard to act in my opinion. If I had to choose a favorite character though, it would be the little girl because she was so under appreciated, it was almost (literally) unbelievable, and unrealistic. Her grandfather was so mean to her, but to me, it was a bit unclear as to why exactly, and why he did not somehow grow to love her. I was also confused about who her father was. In the beginning, I understand that her mother died during childbirth along with her twin brother, and that the man with the long hair at the hospital was her father. However, when the movie fast forwarded after a few minutes about ten years later, I was completely lost as to which man (there were two that looked the same to me) was her father and which was her uncle! As the movie progressed, I grew tired of the grandfather's lousy, mean behavior towards his granddaughter, and his moping. I don't understand how he became so upset when he saw the whale on the beach, yet seemed to have a cold heart of stone when it came to people around him who loved him very much! I really wish that the grandmother would have divorced him during the film, like she kept telling the little girl she would. I think that there should have been more character development for the grandfather's role, because that could have made it more intriguing, and given the audience some insight into his mind. I also wish that the little girl would have had a best friend, or someone she could have stuck with throughout the film, because everyone seemed to be so against her that I wanted to just jump in and hug her! Overall, this film is interesting because of the Maori culture aspect, but I would not recommend it, or watch it again. My favorite thing about this film to be completely honest was their accents.