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Pug
The Movie Geek
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 Posted: 11/06/03 - 12:26 Post subject: Movie Review: Whale Rider (2003)
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.
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MastrBrewr
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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Posted: 11/06/03 - 12:37 Post subject:
I thought you were going to fill us in on one of the latest animal pornos. 
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Pug
The Movie Geek
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Posted: 11/06/03 - 12:57 Post subject:
| MastrBrewr wrote: | | I thought you were going to fill us in on one of the latest animal pornos. |
That's "Hippo Rider", you've got your movies mixed up.
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MastrBrewr
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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Posted: 11/06/03 - 12:58 Post subject:
| Pug wrote: | | MastrBrewr wrote: | | I thought you were going to fill us in on one of the latest animal pornos. |
That's "Hippo Rider", you've got your movies mixed up. |
my bad 
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brie k
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Posted: 11/06/03 - 13:02 Post subject:
sounds a little bit like Disney's Mulan... You see it at the theatre, or can I rent the dvd now?
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Pug
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Posted: 11/06/03 - 13:32 Post subject:
| brie k wrote: | | sounds a little bit like Disney's Mulan... You see it at the theatre, or can I rent the dvd now? |
You can rent the DVD now. Good stuff.
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brie k
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Posted: 11/06/03 - 13:44 Post subject:
| Pug wrote: | | brie k wrote: | | sounds a little bit like Disney's Mulan... You see it at the theatre, or can I rent the dvd now? |
You can rent the DVD now. Good stuff. |
Cool. I have a free rental waiting for me at blockbuster, and have to go over there tonite anyway, so I'll see if they have it. 
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PackerBacker
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Posted: 11/06/03 - 14:32 Post subject:
I agree that this is a pretty good movie. We watched it and A Mighty Wind. Both were good movies.
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gretriever
Hipster Doofus
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Posted: 11/06/03 - 15:41 Post subject:
You need some sort of rating system. Borrow a pic from Shelf and rate the movies at the end from one to four pugs.
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Pug
The Movie Geek
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Posted: 11/06/03 - 16:05 Post subject:
I love the pug rating system! I'm so going to do that!
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Phar lap
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Posted: 11/06/03 - 19:30 Post subject:
I very much enjoyed it too Pug.
Would be interested to know how you handled the N.Z. accent.
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runaroundsue
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Posted: 12/01/03 - 21:48 Post subject:
I enjoyed this movie. Did you catch the kitchen scene where they keep the camera on the wall hanging that said New Zealand so you could figure out where the film takes place?
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Pug
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Posted: 12/02/03 - 10:27 Post subject:
| Phar lap wrote: | I very much enjoyed it too Pug.
Would be interested to know how you handled the N.Z. accent. |
I didn't have too much trouble with the accent at all.
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Soigneur
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Posted: 12/03/03 - 16:25 Post subject:
| Pug wrote: | | Phar lap wrote: | I very much enjoyed it too Pug.
Would be interested to know how you handled the N.Z. accent. |
I didn't have too much trouble with the accent at all. |
Me neither 
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