A wannabe-gangster foster kid develops an uneasy bond with a reluctant parental figure as they trek through the New Zealand bush in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, a familiar sort of coming-of-age movie made more interesting by the uniqueness of its setting and its off-kilter Kiwi humor. The film has already broken box office records in its native New Zealand. It’s a bit too tame to catch fire here in the same way, however, despite writer-director Taika Waititi’s growing track record as a cult comedy hero.
The mischief starts with Ricky (Julian Dennison), an overweight, undisciplined 13-year-old Maori boy who’s blazed through a series of foster homes and reached the end of the line. He’s taken under the wing of an older couple: Bella (Rima Te Wiata), who wins the young man over with unrelenting sweetness, and Hec (Sam Neill), who hunts critters in the woods and wants nothing to do with this obnoxious kid. At first, Hec’s position seems reasonable: Ricky is a poorly defined character, introduced to us as a little hellion who’s terrorized half the country before pulling an abrupt 180 in the first ten minutes and becoming a haiku-writing softie who’s only looking for love. When a series of events causes Ricky and Hec to set off into the wild, some slightly off-color male bonding ensues.
Neill makes for a pretty great crusty outcast, even if he isn’t given much to do beyond the broadest outlines of an outdoorsman persona. The chemistry between him and Dennison helps propel the story as the two are chased, The Fugitive-style, by a relentless figure from social services played by the great Rachel House.
“I’m the Terminator, and you’re Sarah Connor,” she barks at Ricky from the other side of a gorge, in possibly the least threatening smack talk ever. Because the authorities suspect kidnapping or worse, Ricky and Hec are forced to stick it out in the bush, hunting for food as, back in civilization, their legend grows. (The film’s title comes from Ricky’s comment that he and Hec are engaged in a lengthy state of migration, like the wildebeest.)