GO
This is a funny, heartwarming, immensely entertaining, brilliant film for the whole family. The scenery is of course beautiful because it’s set in New Zealand’s stunning landscape.

SPOILER ALERT
Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) is fat, unwanted and unloved – hopping from foster home to foster home in the New Zealand child care system, until he is taken in by Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and Hec (Sam Neill), in whose house he seems to have finally found a family of his own. When Bella suddenly dies, however, he is told that he will be sent back to “juvie,” and Ricky decides instead to run away into the nearby forest, but Hec can’t let him just run off on his own, so he goes too; and soon the entire police force and Army are out searching for the fugitives….There was a terrific film a year or so ago called “What We Do In The Shadows,” about modern-day vampires just trying to fit in; “Wilderpeople” comes from the same director, Taika Waititi, and while the story here is completely different, it’s just as wacky, off- beat, flat-out hilarious and occasionally poignant as that first film. New Zealand has only looked more beautiful in “LotR” (which is, of course referenced here in a very amusing aside); but it’s really the people, especially Julian Dennison as the unforgettable Ricky, who are the stars of the film.