Jojo Rabbit A Delightful Cute Satire Grade: B

Source: IMDB

I’ve officially watched 100 films in theaters today, for the third straight year in a row... It’s always a dope feeling hitting your 100th. In 2019 my 100th film watched theaters was Jojo Rabbit. Jojo Rabbit tells a story about a ten year old Nazi boy Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), whom is dedicated to serving Nazi leader Hitler. His own imaginary friend is Hitler (Taika Waititi), giving Jojo confidence to take on the world. Jojo will be up for a big challenge: Discovering his mother (Scarlet Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl named Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) in their house. Enjoy this cute comedic hate satire from Waititi. The Cinematography and Costume Design were pretty solid, the costume design really stood out in this. Quite a few shots I really liked including a scene where Jojo and his mother were outside, as imaginary Hitler spies on them. The best shot in my opinion came from the swimming pool scene, great lovely shot indeed. I liked the Score in this film, the German version of Hold my Hand was wonderful, as I certainly loved that last musical number in the closing minutes. The cast in this film all in all were good all around. Jojo played by Roman Griffin Davis played a solid performance, kind of reminds me of Jared Gilman in Moonrise Kingdom. Jojo perhaps is quite an adorable character despite being a Nazi, though represents hate you can see early on there is a great amount of kindness in his heart, as he just couldn’t bare to kill an innocent bunny. With the help from Elsa, Jojo becomes more aware that his race isn’t something one wouldn’t want to be apart of, nor should be proud of. Thomasin McKenzie playing Elsa yet again had a pretty good performance, her character was quite adorable like Jojo, both had great chemistry with each other as the odd pair was adorable to watch. I liked Taika Waititi playing Hitler, though I was underwhelmed with the lack of laughs I got out of this performance, I did believe he did a solid job mocking him out basically. I also enjoyed a couple supporting performances from Scarlet Johansson and Sam Rockwell, both were pretty good. I do have my flaws with Jojo Rabbit. Though I chuckle a few times... I still felt underwhelmed with the comedy material. It’s rare because Waititi’s humor is pretty good, but with his recent two films including this... I’m surprised that I’ve come to the fact where I’m just unimpressed with the comedy material I’ve been receiving lately out of him. Unfortunately this film reminds me of other films including Moonrise Kingdom and The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas, so it doesn’t feel completely original as well. I like Taika Waititi as a film maker I’ve seen all his films, I liked them all except I thought Eagle vs Shark is average and Thor: Ragnarok was ok. Jojo Rabbit hops its way towards my liking just above those films I just listed, as I thought this was cute. Though the humor didn’t impress me, I did however liked the story. Comparing to other World War 2 films, I like just how simple this one is. It’s not trying to wow you or being a huge spectacular epic film, it’s just a simple story trying to deliver a thoughtful message, it’s refreshing to see something different for a change. I like how this film is only centered around our main character, I felt this film could’ve been easily mediocre if it tried exploring what other characters were doing in the story. Jojo is an interesting playful funny character as I’m glad the film had their eyes on only him. My favorite part about this film is certainly the closing minutes... I flashed a big smile because it was a wonderful scene, followed by a beautiful quote as I left the theater feeling happy. Overall, Jojo Rabbit is a good film, quite adorable if you ask me. I recommend this film, for better recommendations try Moonrise Kingdom and The Boy in Stripped Pajamas. -Mitch Smietana