Merry Christmas one and all. Many thanks for all the reads, rates and comments - all are appreciated...
Merry Christmas one and all. Many thanks for all the reads, rates and comments - all are appreciated. An accountant by day and a random reviewer by night I am not a professional writer, nor do I have any ambitions to be I guess I am just opinionated.
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Written by the Hess Brothers, Jared and Hess, and directed by Jared Hess Napoleon Dynamite was released back in December 2004.
****Story line****
Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder) is a typical teenage misfit. Because of his geeky appearance and dress sense, eccentric behaviour, love for weird things and fabricating his life style Napoleon is the least popular boy at school. Napoleon’s weird ways are hardly surprising given his home life. Napoleon lives with his (even more eccentric) grandmother (Sandy Martin) and his older brother Kip (Aaron Ruell), who is a bit simple and looking for love on the internet.
Naploeon’s grandma suffers a freak accident and Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) arrives to look after the two brothers. With Rico’s general outlook on life and his ‘get rich quick’ schemes his visit turns out to be anything but boring.
At school a new kid arrives, Pedro (Efren Ramirez), and Napoleon takes it upon himself to help him run for class president. The pair have some strange encounters along the way and end up falling for the same girl, Debs (Tina Majorino), resulting in a bit of a love triangle.
Does Grandma recover and return home to look after
the boys? Does Uncle Rico realise his life is going nowhere? Does Pedro make class president? Who wins the heart of Debs?
Whilst there are loads of supporting actors in this film none of them have a significant or memorable part. In fact, most of them remain un-named although that is not really unexpected given that they consist of school children.
This film definitely focuses on the main characters and these really do steal the limelight. All the other actors are pretty insignificant.
****My opinion****
If it weren’t for a former housemate there is no way that I would have even contemplated watching this film and I would definitely have missed out.
This is a difficult film to categorise or pigeonhole, and it is probably easier to describe what it isn’t. It is not an action packed thriller or suspense, it is not a horror and it definitely is not a film that had a large budget.
I would say it is a comedy, but not the laugh out loud and side splitting comedy of films like Knocked up. This film does not rely on gags, innuendo, nudity, crudeness or foul language for its humour. The audience needs a bit of a dry sense of humour to enjoy this so I guess it will not be to everyone’s taste. Despite being a PG I would not recommend this as a film to sit down with your family and watch as I don’t think younger viewers would appreciate it.
I like schoolboy humour, innuendo, nudity, foul language (in moderation and only where necessary) and crudeness but I still really enjoyed this film. However, it did take a couple of ‘forced’ viewings before I really understood it and actually found it funny so I would definitely recommend giving this film a chance and seeing it more than once. The first couple of viewings were definitely “What is this?” moments.
The acting is superb and very clever. The interaction between the characters is great and there are many memorable scenes showing what it is like growing up. The awkward silences, the squabbles and the general interaction that are sometimes cringe worthy but endearing at the same time.
The whole cast do a great job and I admire how they kept their composure during filming. Whilst all of the main cast (Napoleon, Pedro, Debs and Uncle Rico) do a great job the best character has to be Kip. He is absolutely brilliant and makes me crease. He looks comical, his mannerism is comical, what he says is comical and he has to be credited for two of the best one liners ever with the “Your mum goes to college” and “I used to be a cage fighter”.
The “Your mum goes to college” line is so versatile since you can replace the “goes to college” with a whole host of other words to come up with very childish, but funny (well my mates and I find it funny on nights out) phrases. I guess this shows how immature I really am.
As well as the memorable one-liners this film has to be credited with one of the best dancing scenes of all films. Forget about the final dance in Dirty Dancing, forget about the dance off in White Chicks, this is the best dance ever.
The story line is a bit drab and unexciting but it matches the overall ambience of the film. Anything other than this storyline just wouldn’t work.
Overall this is a great film this is a great film and one that I would definitely recommend. Whilst you may not ‘get it’ after the first viewing (I definitely did not) I would suggest giving it a chance and watch it a few times.
****Other*****
Run time – 82 minutes Certificate – PG 10 awards and 18 nominations
(Originally posted on Dooyoou nder the name of Yackers1)
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He's out to prove he's got nothing to prove. From Preston Idaho comes Napoleon Dynamite ... more
(Jon Heder) a new kind of hero complete with a tight red 'fro some sweet moon boots and skills that can't be topped. Napoleon lives with his Grandma (Sandy Mar...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Napoleon Dynamite is a new kind of hero, complete with a tight 'fro, sweet moon boots, and ... more
skills that can't be topped. Napoleon spends his days drawing mythical beasts, duking it out with his brother Kip and avoiding his scheming Uncle Rico. When two ...
Advantages: Quirky, interesting characters, some funny moments, good performance from Jon Heder Disadvantages: Not everyone will 'get' it/Wont appeal to everyone, the end is perhaps a little predictable
IzzyS 30.03.2008 (30.03.2008)
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Review of Napoleon Dynamite (DVD)
Mar 7th, 2009
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