Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful and uplifting
Review: Twelve-year-old Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes)is the only surviving heir to the chief(Rawiri Paratene)of a Maori tribe that is losing touch with its traditions. As a girl, however, she is not qualified to assume this position. Pai feels a tremendous load of guilt and responsibility toward both her people and her stern grandfather as a result--she feels that she can be the kind of leader her people need if only she were given a chance. This fine film explores the tension between the necessity and inevitability of change as well as the importance of respecting tradition.The cast of this film is magnificent. Castle-Hughes gives the finest performance by a child actor that I have ever seen--even better than Sean Nelson in "Fresh." Her Pai seems completely natural, strong yet vulnerable. Paratene and Vicky Haughton, who plays Pai's grandmother, also deserve special mention.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: The problem with "feel good" movies is that they almost always stick to the same tired script. Hero faces challenges, hero triumphs, everyone goes home happy. If pulled off really well, the viewer can go home satisfied, but anything less than perfect execution usually leads to boredom or a general sense of wasted time. Whale Rider trumps all those deficiencies however with a wonderfully patient script that incorporates a truly interesting cast of characters with a fascinating cultural study. The movie is carried by the performance of the young female lead Keisha Castle Hughes who avoids the pitfalls of the child lead role and delivers a really powerful female role model in the process. Pai is a twelve year old member of the Maori tribe, a struggling native group that makes its home on the shores of New Zealand. Pai is descended from royalty, as her grandfather, played with gruff precision by Wariri Paratene, struggles with his role as chief. He is faced with a population losing its connection to the traditions of the past, an outcome he cannot allow to happen. His son, Porourangi, is a feckless figure who lost touch with his family when his wife died giving birth to Pai. Pai has had a difficult time growing up, as she has been raised by an absent father and a grandfather stuck in the old ways, resentful of the fact that she is not a boy. Through all this, however, Pai has grown up to be an amazingly strong little girl, determined to win over her grandfather and assume her role as a tribal leader. The movie centers around Paratene's effort to teach the old ways to a group of Maori young people. Of course, as the chief demands, they are all males. Pai, loathe to give in, spurns his rejection and tries everything to get close to him. This dynamic is where the movie really shines, as this "feel good" movie sticks to a very realistic clash between tradition and new ideas to make a point. The two, although they love each other very much, are locked in a battle that neither wants to lose. Pai's struggle is embodied in her immensely powerful closing speech in front of her tribe, where she compares her struggle to that of a mythical whale rider. Soon after, she physically embodies this mythic representation as the tribe struggles to rescue a group of beached whales, animals who represent so much to the native people. It is her actions at this point which lead to the heartwarming, but believable, ending. Whale Rider is a movie that can serve as an inspiration to young people and can easily be enjoyed by older people. It has a good amount of humor, and keeps the story going along at an entertaining pace. The ending, and the themes that it embodies, are just refreshing and a lot of fun to watch.
Rating:
Summary: A lovely, poignant tale simply told
Review: "Whale Rider" is a remarkable and exquisite movie from New Zealand. Disregard the MPAA's clueless "PG-13" rating. This film is suitable for viewers aged ten to a hundred. And, for once, we have a movie which lifts one's spirits - indeed, makes them soar - without resorting to gross sentimentality, banal, manipulative dialog or predictable plot turns. This is the story of a young girl, Paikea [Keisha Castle-Hughes]. and her family, all of whom are part of the Maori population in New Zealand. The Maori were the original settlers of the island. They arrived many hundreds of years before the British, and in the remote part of the country where Paikea lives, they have retained much of their culture. One of their legends is that the original chief arrived in New Zealand on the back of a whale. Paikea is born in tragedy. Her mother dies in childbirth, and her twin brother is stillborn. Her grandfather, Koro [Rawiri Paratene], is a local Maori chief who begs the baby's father, Poro [Cliff Curtis], to start another family as soon as possible, but the heartbroken Poro decides to leave the country and pursue his ambitions as an artist. This leaves Koro and his wife, Flower [Vicky Haugton], to raise Paikea. The movie moves quickly forward to Paikea at age twelve. It is obvious that the girl and her grandfather have closely bonded. Their rift is simple: Koro can not accept the idea that a girl could ever be a Maori chief, but Paikea otherwise embodies everything that is Maori. She is almost literally the whale rider reborn. Castle-Hughes is the center of the movie, and she is, as other critics have noted, a star in the making. I have not seen a child carry a movie as well as she does since Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense". Hers is a stunning performance, and one can only hope that she can build from this role, as opposed to being defined by it. The photography is magnificent, as is the music score. All of the movie's elements work together to produce a work that is both magical and meaningful.
Rating:
Summary: Pai is a very special character that has a lot to offer
Review: I hate to call this a great family movie because of the connotations that term has acquired. This is a very fine film for adults, kids, and teenagers. Some make a great deal out of the "girl power" or feminist aspects of the story. I don't see that as much as I see "people power". The hero of the story is a heroine. She happens to be a girl in a dying male dominated Maori. Her being a female excludes her - but it could have been anything that made her an outsider. And this otherness blinds the grandfather to all her magnificent qualities. And the blindness creates more hurt and loneliness than should be borne by anyone. The young girl, Pai, has such strength that her ache is not a burden so much as it is a furnace that heats her passion for the sacred in her culture. She will not stop or quit. She cannot be discouraged by the hurt and pain in her life because she has never known anything else. She demands her own place and her own life not be defeating anyone else, but by simply taking her own place without asking permission. She becomes a source of strength and uplift for everyone else. Pai's is a quiet determination. She cannot be dominated, but she doesn't destroy that which rejects her. She ignores that which rejects her while embracing and nourishing herself on the Maori legends. She is just a magnificent person and the actress who plays her is superb. Well, the whole cast is superb. You will want to watch it with your whole family because of the strength of this child and the way it handles family pain. It can spark some wonderful discussions. The photography is beautiful and adds to the poetry and mystery of the story. It is worth watching many times.
Rating:
Summary: one of the year's best
Review: A film by Niki Caro This movie opens in a hospital. A Maori woman is giving birth to twins. The grandfather of the children has been waiting for the birth of a child to be the new chief of the tribe. Two children are born: one male, one female. The male child dies along with the mother. The grandfather is disappointed and already starts on his son to find a new wife so that the son can have another male child. The son rebels and runs away from his family. The baby girl that the grandfather resented is left in his care. We skip forward enough years to get us into the present and the baby girl has grown into a young girl (early teenage years, perhaps) named Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes). With the tribe needing a chief, and Pai not being a boy, Pai's grandfather decides to train the tribe's youth in the old ways, in the hopes that one of them will grow to be the next chief. Pai is the closest to living the old ways as any of the children of the tribe, but the little problem of her being a girl keeps coming up. She is forbidden to train with the boys, but practices on her own. The movie is mostly the conflict between Pai and her grandfather and how she fits into the tribe. We all know how this movie has to end, but there is little (or no) cliché in the journey Whale Rider takes us on. The movie succeeds on the strength of young Keisha Castle-Hughes' performance. With a theme that suggests the movie will be nothing more than yet another "uplifting" story filled with emotion and cheese, Whale Rider turns out to be one of the year's best (and I say this with confidence) as it rises above the cheese-potential and succeeds as a powerful film.
Rating:
Summary: Deeply Moving
Review: This film is simply astonishing. It is so simple, and yet, sweet, and ultimately, profound. Somehow, it encapsulates in a timely fashion what has become the greatest challenge to ALL of our tribes, the painful and challenging encounter between the modern world, and the archaic realities. Each of us blindly and steadfastly carries on the traditions of the culture into which we were born. For many, loyalty and adherrance to tradition and ceremony give them their most important sense of identity and the greatest meaning to their lives. To suggest that they abandon these traditions, or alter them, can be the most threatening experience they can know. And yet...A crab, a snake, even a toad must shed its skin in order to grow larger. If evolution and growth mean constant change, how can one be rigidly loyal to a tradition and yet nurture and support helpful, healing growth? This issue lies at the heart of this story. When one is deep in a tradition, it is easy to forget the original, monumental events that gave rise to the perseverance of the tradition in the first place. These events are always seminal. They are primary. They frequently define the prevailing fashions in terms of shock! and awe! They are generally a significant and dramatic breakthrough of some kind. Then comes the repetition of blind submission to the original events. In this film, the conflict between hide bound adherance to the old, and natures attempt to create something new and fresh, give rise to a great struggle between the present and the past that ultimately is only reconciled when the mighty voices of the Old Ones speak, with ultimate authority, what can only be the final word on the subject. There is so much to be enriched by, spiritually, in this film that it is almost too much to bear. Exquisitely beautiful, haunting, there are subtle lessons upon which one may reflect at great length. It is a film to drink deeply.
Rating:
Summary: Clash of Cultures
Review: Niki Caro's Whale Rider is one of the small films that makes you think about your place in the world. The film delves into the hard questions with such ease that the casual viewer finds himself swept up in the story without really thinking about its implications. The story follows the Maori legend of the Whale Rider who came to New Zealand on the back of a whale and established a colony for his people. Every generation chooses as its chief the first born son of the current tribal chief.Problem is that the current son of the chief is an artist in Germany and hisd first born son died at birth leaving only his daughter Pai (Keisha Castle Hughes). What develops is a conflict between Pai and the old ways of the tribe represented by her grandfather. Maori actor Rawini Paratene in what should be an Oscar nominated performance plays the old chief with great power. The principle issue is empowerment and the film deals with the young girl who would be chief with great emotion. This is family filmaking of the highest order and a great film to watch over again. All in all this is what independent filmaking is about: its smart, friendly and not afraid to embrace the larger questions of life. The DVD offers a director commentary, deleted scenes, two featurettes on the making of the film and a neat soundtrack feature featuring highlights of the score by composer Lisa Gerrard. Do yourself a favor and see this one. You'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: The enchanting and exquisite story of Paikea Apirana
Review: One of the rarest things in movies is a kid who comes across as a real kid on screen. The performance of Henry Thomas in "E.T." had even more to do with that film's success that the animatronic alien and "Whale Rider" is graced by a similar performance by young Keisha Castle-Hughes. But there is also a captivating story that challenges the audience rather than simply following convention. No wonder this film kept winning audience awards from Toronto to Sundance. The story is of young Paikea Apirana, a Maori girl of New Zealand. The day she was born both her mother and her twin brother died. Her father, Porourangi (Cliff Curtis) is the eldest son of the chief, Koro (Rawiri Paratene), who has been awaiting the birth of his grandson, convinced the boy will grow up to reunify the Maori and lead them into the future. But Koro has no need for a granddaughter. His son, who is an artist and not a leader, leaves New Zealand, his father, and his daughter behind, but not before one final act of defiance: he names his daughter Paikea, after the legendary ancestor of their people who rode the whale from Hawaiiki to this land. Koro tells his wife (Vicky Haughton) to take the baby away, but she thrusts the baby into his arms, demanding he acknowledge his granddaughter, telling her husband, "She likes you." The story continues a dozen years alter. Pai's father returns for a brief visit to renew the ancient conflict with his father by bringing news of a pregnant girlfriend in Germany. In a burst of anger Koro tells Porourangi to take Pai with him when he leaves because she is of no use to him. Pai overhears this and while we would expect her to be devastated, she is not: she knows her grandfather's heart better than he does himself and even to be with her father she will not leave Koro and her community. Without ever forcing the matter director Niki Caro, who also did the screenplay from Witi Ihimaera's novel, makes it clear that young Pai is the future of her people and wise beyond her years. At one point in the film Pai says recalls her family history and adds, "But I was not the leader that my grandfather was expecting." This is certainly true, but the great irony of this 2003 film is that Pai a leader beyond the old man's expectations. She proves this not only in the wonderful climatic scene of "Whale Rider," but during the most poignant and heartrending scene, when she gives a speech at a school concert that makes it clear that before she becomes a teenager she already knows exactly what her people need in terms of leadership for the future. She also knows that she is keeping faith with her ancestors and her ancient namesake. It is clear from the start that "Whale Rider" is a very good film. It has the tone, the characters, and the story line of one. But where it becomes a great movie is where it sets up the pivotal moment in the film, the point at which Koro will recognize the truth about his granddaughter and acknowledge that she is the leader he has been awaiting. All of the pieces are in place and I would not be surprised if many viewers already have tears running down their cheeks. But instead of the providing the obvious, "Whale Rider" transcends the awaited moment and gives us something larger and more wonderful. We should not have been surprised because the film had an earlier opportunity to bridge the gap between Koro and Pai, as she has been successfully completing on her own all of the tests her grandfather is giving to the young boys of the village in his search for a new leader, but her grandmother, in a moment of understated epiphany declares, "No. He is not ready yet." The obvious impulse is to call this a magical film, but that misses the mark for me on two scores. "Whale Rider" is not only mystical instead of magical, it has a grounded sense of reality as well. Both Pai and Koro speak of their family and their people as going back countless generations to the ancient ones. How else do you explain a climax that transcends mere metaphor and visual beauty? "Whale Rider" should not be considered a children's movie, because few children of Pai's age would be able to appreciate the depth of this exquisite film.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical, Enchanting Film Blends Tradition and Modern Life
Review: In a New Zealand coastal community, the long-awaited arrival of a Maori tribe's next leader is frustrated when the male grandchild of the Maori Chief dies in childbirth, along with his mother, leaving a surviving twin sister. The infant's father, Porourangi (Cliff Curtis) names the girl Paikea after the first Maori of legend who came to New Zealand on the back of a whale, the name intended for her deceased brother. Unable to face his father's expectations and tribal life after the death of his wife and son, Porourangi leaves New Zealand to pursue a career abroad and leaves his young daughter in the care of her grandparents, Koro (Rawiri Paratene), the tribe's Chief, and Nanny Flowers (Vicky Haughton). The precocious and fearless child, whom everyone calls Pai, wins the heart of her grandparents. But her grandfather still openly laments that Pai is not a boy who could inherit the responsibilities of chief, and he is anxious about his people's fate without a leader to guide them. When Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is 12 years old, she begins to think that she might be that leader, in spite of her gender. And her refusal to yield to the traditions which prohibit her from assuming a leadership role threaten to irreparably damage her relationship with her grandfather. "Whale Rider" is inspired by the children's novel of the same name by Maori novelist Witi Ihimaera. It was adapted for the screen and expertly directed by New Zealander Niki Caro. This is a very lyrical film that is perfectly paced, so the audience never has a chance to get bored. The characters are all down-to-earth people who are nevertheless not simplistic, and each is sympathetic in his or her own way. The beautiful imagery of the New Zealand coast and the Maori traditions are a pleasure to watch. But the film deals with the universal themes of the traditional coming into conflict with the new and the younger generation with the old. The entire cast is excellent. And newcomer Keisha Castle-Hughes is nothing short of astounding. Her portrayal of Pai is luminous and completely convincing. She pulls the audience into this story the minute she appears on screen. "Whale Rider" is an enchanting film which both children and adults will enjoy. The DVD: Bonus features include: theatrical trailers, tv spots, deleted scenes, a "behind the scenes" documentary, a documentary of the construction of a Maori war canoe for the film, 5 tracks from the film's score, and a photo gallery. I recommend both documentaries. One is a "making of" sort of thing, with interviews with the film's director and cast. The other is called "Te Waka: Building the Canoe" and explains how artists used both traditional and modern methods to construct a ceremonial Maori war canoe for the film in less than a month. The 5 complete tracks from the film's score are also a very nice bonus and may help you decide if you want to purchase the film's original score by composer Lisa Gerrard.
Rating:
Summary: Moving and memorable
Review: This amazing film is set in New Zealand and without giving too much away is a true folk tale with a great modern twist!
It's NOT a commercial movie - no pretty people with Prada handbags. It's very artful and has lots of insightful and symbolic imagery. The acting is believeable, genuine and poetic. The setting is just stunning and the plot is mythical and real at the same time.
If you have already found Nemo - two or three times - hehehehe go get this dvd. If you have an open mind you'll love it.
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