Poster © Fox Searchlight Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
|
GenreComedy, Drama & War
RatedPG-13
Runtime1 hr 48 mins
ReleasedOctober 18, 2019
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorTaika Waititi
StarringRoman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi
|
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Jojo Rabbit's Details | |
| Genre | Comedy, Drama & War |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 09/08/2019 (TIFF); 10/18/2019 (United States); 10/24/2019 (New Zealand) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 48 mins |
| Budget | $14M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Caging Skies by Christine Leunens |
| Country | United States, Czech Republic, New Zealand |
| Language | English |
| Jojo Rabbit's Interests | |
| General | Rabbits, hidden rooms, sketchbooks, bicycles, dancing, a small town in wartime. |
| Music | Michael Giacchino, plus German-language versions of songs by The Beatles and David Bowie. |
| Movies | Life Is Beautiful (1997). Another story that finds tenderness in a terrible time. |
| Television | What We Do in the Shadows. Taika Waititi's sillier side, with vampires. |
| Heroes | Yorki (Archie Yates). Jojo's best friend, and the kindest kid in the whole movie. |
| Jojo Rabbit's Crew | |
| Director | Taika Waititi |
| Writers | Taika Waititi |
| Producers | Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi, Chelsea Winstanley |
| Cinematography | Mihai Mălaimare Jr. |
| Music | Michael Giacchino |
| Edited By | Tom Eagles |
| Production | Fox Searchlight Pictures, Defender Films, Piki Films |
| Distributed By | Fox Searchlight Pictures |
Making Hitler a goofy imaginary friend is a huge swing, and Jojo Rabbit doesn’t always connect. The first half leans so hard on bits, Rebel Wilson and the training camp gags, that it sometimes plays like a sketch show set in the wrong decade. Then Thomasin McKenzie shows up as Elsa, the girl hiding in the walls, and the movie gets quiet and real. Roman Griffin Davis is a find, a kid who can play brainwashed and heartbroken in the same scene. Scarlett Johansson as his mom is the warmest thing in it, and Sam Rockwell turns a washed-up captain into someone you end up rooting for. The jokes always punch at the Nazis, never at the people they hurt, and that matters. Audiences liked it more than critics did: a 7.9 on IMDb against a 58 on Metacritic. A 7.3 because the heart is real even when the jokes wobble. $3,872 says you go looking for the soundtrack before the credits finish.
What works: Roman Griffin Davis and Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson’s warmth, and a satire that always aims its jokes at the Nazis.
What doesn’t: The early camp comedy is broad and scattered, and the tone lurches around before the story finds its footing.
Who it’s for: Teens and adults ready for a hard chapter of history told through the eyes of a lonely, confused kid.
Rosie is caught helping the resistance and is killed, and Jojo finds out in a quiet moment that stays with you. When the war ends, Jojo tells Elsa the truth, kicks his imaginary Hitler out a window, and the two of them dance in the street.
Germany, near the end of World War II. Ten-year-old Jojo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) is a lonely kid who has swallowed every bit of propaganda he has been fed, so much that his imaginary friend is a goofy version of Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi). At a youth training camp run by Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell), Jojo cannot bring himself to hurt a rabbit, and the older boys give him a cruel nickname. Back home with his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), he discovers she has been hiding a Jewish teenager named Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) inside the walls. Taika Waititi directs. One hundred eight minutes, one boy learning to think for himself.
Anyone who needs a reminder that hate is learned, and that it can be unlearned.
| Roman Griffin Davis | Johannes "Jojo" Betzler |
| Thomasin McKenzie | Elsa Korr |
| Taika Waititi | "Adolf Hitler" |
| Rebel Wilson | Fräulein Rahm |
| Stephen Merchant | Herman Deertz |
| Alfie Allen | Unteroffizier Freddy Finkel |
| Archie Yates | Yorki |
| Luke Brandon Field | Deutsches Jungvolk senior Christoph |
| Sam Haygarth | Deutsches Jungvolk senior Hans |
| Stanislav Callas | a Russian soldier |
| Gabriel Andrews | Herr Klum |
| Joe Weintraub | Herr Junker |
| Brian Caspe | Herr Mueller |
| Billy Rayner | Herr Frosch |
| Judith Georgi | German Translator |
| Christian Holwings | Bazooka Boy |
| Gilby and Hardy Griffin Davis | Hitler Youth doubles in the care of Fräulein Rahm |
| Curtis Matthew | a Deutsches Jungvolk camp doctor |
| Robert East | Herr Grusch |