Review of Whale Rider (2003) by Hans V — 10 Apr 2010
This film gets a lower rating than it probably deserves, mainly because I thought it was boring. The story itself is not that bad, and I enjoyed the film's subtle mystical elements, but the film also left a lot unexplained.
For example there was this one boy who was trained to be the chief of his people because the promised chief - the twin to the main character, a girl named Pai - died at birth. This boy was cast out from the training because he lost to Pai in a staff fight, which wasn't allowed in the sacred ways of his people.
Also, his father was a newly-freed criminal. But they never told us what happened to this boy after he was rejected. I wanted to know that! The film has a lot of plot devices like this that are left unexplained, and it pissed me off.
But it's not a bad film actually. It has good characters, reasonably good story, beautiful sound effects and an interesting setting. It's just that this could have been a lot better with relatively little effort.
This review of Whale Rider (2003) was written by Hans V on 10 Apr 2010.
Whale Rider has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
