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My Review of "Jojo Rabbit"

I have to admit that I initially didn't like this movie but I started to warm up to it as it grew on me.

By Brian AnonymousPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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Jojo Rabbit is a really oddball movie that came out in 2019 by Taika Waititi. It seemed like everything that he was touching turned to gold at the time. The problem is that the subject matter of this movie was pretty controversial. It kind of turned me off from watching it but I'm a fan of his work so I decided to eventually check it out.

This movie starts out with a 10 year old German boy by the name of Jojo. For the most part he's an amicable kid. He wants to be accepted by his peers just like anyone at his age. The big issue is that the time that he lived in was during World War II. He's basically an idealistic Nazi child. He blindly follows whatever society deems acceptable.

He's all excited to go to some camp where they develop child warriors for the war. During his preparations for the camp we realize he has a wild imagination. His imaginary friend is none other than his depiction of Hitler. It's quite comical because Hitler is a friendly character that wants the best for Jojo. When he finally gets to the camp he realizes that it isn't the kind of camp that he anticipated.

Pretty soon he's bullied by his fellow peers because he's not willing to go to extremes to aid the war efforts. They nicknamed him Jojo Rabbit because he's afraid just like the rabbit he wasn't able to kill as one of their exercises. This results in a terrible incident that cripples Jojo and disfigures him.

As Jojo is no longer able to continue with the activities of these young would be soldiers he's brought back home where he would have to perform menial tasks around town. He's brought back to his loving mother and learns more about what's really going on during the war. His mind has internal conflicts as he's trying to decipher what is right and wrong. In addition to this he's growing up to be a young man so his priorities start to change.

When the movie started off I wasn't too sure what I was getting myself into. I was wondering if this was going to be some sort of Nazi sympathy movie. They made a few of the Nazi's very likable and it's in the perspective of Jojo who is an adamant Nazi.

As the movie progressed I started wondering if it was going to be a Nazi conversion movie as he realized that maybe not all Jewish people are bad. Maybe all of the propaganda that he's been hearing isn't all correct? Then they got passed that and the movie turned out to be even bigger than that.

The movie seems to be more of an exploration of characters and consequences of war. It talks about all of the contradictions and similarities between enemies and how World War II turned out. The focus of the war dramatically shifts close to the end of the movie and you see a lot of the attitudes of the characters change.

It is a surprisingly funny movie regardless of the heavy subject matter. I wasn't sure if it was able to balance the two but we've seen this happen in the movie Life is Beautiful many years back. There are a lot of wacky scenes that border at the line of slapstick.

The relationships between some of the characters is pretty interesting. Jojo and his mother have a really beautiful relationship. She teaches Jojo in a different way than most parents teach their children and you understand why she has to choose this approach. In addition the is a phantom character that he meets in the movie that I feel came off as very unlikable but in the end you love the relationship that they shared together.

I have to say that I wish I saw a little more of Jojo's friend Yorki. The two kids have such an adorable relationship with one another. You just want more scenes with the two of them together as they're really good friends and support one another despite the distance that's placed between them.

Overall, I really liked the movie by the end of the movie. It had a lot more substance than I had expected. There is a midpoint of the film where the movie really starts and I feel that they almost lost me with the relationship between the phantom and Jojo. I have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. It was a really interesting watch but I wouldn't want to watch it over and over again.

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About the Creator

Brian Anonymous

I have tons of opinions that change constantly. I watch a lot of movies and play video games. There are some articles on my struggles with languages and dance as well.

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