Told in chapters and featuring a simple storyline – based on Barry Crump’s novel - about a wayward boy who finds his place in the world after embarking on an adventure with a curmudgeonly guardian, Hunt for Wilderpeople could play as pure family entertainment. Thankfully for adults, the writer/director is Taika Waititi, whose distinctive brand of humour made vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows was such a fresh delight. The visual gags and broad jokes come loose and fast.
Waititi is ably supported by a uniformly hilarious and committed cast led by a real discovery: Julian Dennison. The actor, in his third Kiwi feature, proves to be a distinctive comic performer as problem child Ricky, dropped off on a remote farm by nutty child-services worker Paula (Rachel House), and into the care of maternal Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and gruff mountain man Hec (Sam Neill). Described as “very bad egg” by Paula, the heavy-set Ricky proves to be a charmer after a few days spent under the care of Bella, who comes to love the hip-hop loving boy.
But when Bella unexpectedly exits the picture, child services inform Hec that Ricky is to be placed with another foster family. Scared of going back into the public system, Rick flees the mountain hut to go on the lam in the wilderness. Being an kid accustomed to city living, it isn’t long before Ricky finds himself lost and hungry in the bush. But once Hec comes to his eventual rescue, an accident strands the pair, causing Paula to believe that Hec has kidnapped the boy.
What follows is essentially a long-winded chase film that finds the mismatched duo on the run from Paula and her daft colleague (Oscar Kightley). The hunt morphs into an all-out farce as it escalates to include bounty hunters, police and finally, the army.
As the proceedings grow increasingly more far-fetched, the story starts to feel thinner, any semblance of reality increasingly abandoned. What keeps Hunt for the Wilderpeople afloat are the full-blooded characters that populate it.
Dennison holds his own opposite Neill, who hasn’t been tasked with such a gravely amusing role in years. Together, the two are comic dynamite. Waititi also gives ample room for his supporting cast to shine: most notably House, who is uncomfortably committed as a child-services worker on the edge, and Wiata, an actor with enormous heart.
