Review of Napoleon Dynamite (2004) by Christian S — 21 Dec 2013

Napoleon Dynamite is a one of a kind movie that only really happens once. This movie is either hated, not liked, or loved. I actually love it. It's a movie about Napoleon the most awkward and weird kid in his school, and his two friends.

Napoleon does some of the most random and strange things in this movie, and you really don't know what's going on in his brain. It's like he's trying to be cool, but fails epically. But maybe he doesn't care, you don't really know.

And along the way there is a very weird cast, featuring Kip (I don't care what anyone says, Kip is a bad ass) Uncle Rico, Pedro, and of course Tina the Llama. One sad thing I'd like to add, this is sadly one of the most realistic movies in my collection.

It's almost taped like nobody gives a shit. Like there are two dance like scenes, and even though Napoleon is only in one, they don't even bother to make the dancing match up that great, and it makes it more realistic.

It's either nobody gave a shit, or they cared so much, they made it looked like nobody cared. And whoever thought of this movie, was either really dumb, or really smart. there is no happy ending, (although there is closure) there is no romance between the friends, there is no big scene where Pedro becomes cool or all his hopes and dreams pay off, and even the friendship between Napoleon and his own friends isn't groundbreaking, you could wonder if some of them are even friends.

But somehow it works, and it feels like your in Napoleon's brain remembering, or your one of the bystanders to his awkward teenage years. Somehow your placed with Napoleon in his very awkward life, but it's not like your ever like you want to leave the room, because they made it so awkward you can't even watch.

Your just fascinated. Yep, fascinated. And I could see somebody who just doesn't get the movie, and say they hate it, and I totally could understand it. If somebody butchered this movie, and told me they hated it, I'd be completely fine with it.

But there are just so many good moments in this movie, and so many little things that go to epic proportions like a simple quote. And I could watch this movie at least a hundred times, I don't know why.

As a person who's been in awkward moments like this, although not nearly as bad, I find it even more funny. And the movie isn't trying to make a message, it's not trying to be a fantasy of the biggest loser becoming a hero, it's just how it is.

Napoleon, being Napoleon. And the characters I feel could be real people, and although a lot of them are weird, I can totally picture meeting them. I could see this family out in the middle of nowhere with a llama and a kid named Napoleon who doesn't know how to be normal.

And it's like he wants to be cool, like all awkward people, but he won't. He just can't. And you don't know behind that random face if he's stupid, a genius, or has brain damage. And it is funny, most of my laughs came from Kip, but Napoleon gets enough laughs too.

And it's not a ground breaking movie that you have to watch, it's just a good movie that I don't think a lot of people really get. And while watching this movie only one word will come across your lips.

Why. Why the hell do they have a llama? You don't know. Why does Napoleon like bow-staffs, ligers, and all these other things? You don't know. Why is Kip over thirty and still live at home? You don't know! But Kip is bad ass enough anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Anyway, the movie I feel is just really hard to do anything like again. If somebody tires to copy it, it'll most likely fall apart. And if they make a sequel, that would probably suck too. I heard they recently tried to make a cartoon, and that it only got like six episodes in before being canceled, but even if they succeeded, I don't know if you can truly capture the gold that they got on camera for that period.

I feel like half the people in the making of the movie were just looking at the scenes like, "We're really doing this? This is the scene?" And I don't know why, but I could watch a three to four hour movie of Napoleon Dynamite, just like that.

So Napoleon Dynamite is a weird little movie that could be the work of genius, or the work of clueless idiots throwing things all over the place. Either way, it's surprisingly a great movie, and for what it tries to be, doesn't really have any flaws.

It's a triumph, in the best and most awkward of ways.