Hailed as an "emotional masterpiece" and "favorite on the festival circuit," Niki Caro's "Whale Rider" pretends to be a heartwarming tale of female self-realization. Set in a Maori village (it's important to have a quaint community, complete with wacky uncles and generous grandmothers), it tells the story of Pai, the gutsy young tomboy (11-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes performance is good but overhyped). Pai's twin brother died at birth, leaving the tribe without an heir. But Pai is courageous, smart, curious, and stubborn. Even though her tough-minded grandfather Koro (Rawiri Paratene) cannot accept a female chief, Pai studies and practices the ancient traditions on the sly. She also has a preternatural, mystic connection to the whales that sometimes swim across the screen in full Discovery Channel glory. Too bad they're all digital.
You know where "Whale Rider" is headed: Through a succession of rote scenes in which characters speak the subtext and are helped in their emoting by a cushy synthesizer soundtrack, Pai eventually manages to establish her worthiness by literally riding a whale, and is accepted by the tribe as the new chief. Some exotic dancing follows, and viewers everywhere can congratulate themselves on being more open-minded about ancient traditions than the stubborn chieftain.
There's nothing wrong with a formula film per se, but when it's done as shallowly as here, I feel insulted. The scene where the grandfather throws the ancient whale tooth in the sea and watches his boys fail at retrieving it is followed immediately, without so much as a narrative excuse, by Pai jumping in and finding it without any trouble at all. Despite cinematographic pretensions of artiness (those fake whale shots), the telling of this story is as pedestrian as it could be.
I was tempted to give "Whale Rider" a pass as well-intentioned childrens' movie, but children deserve better than this.
But if you're still in the mood for an artful, entertaining, and poignant film about whales, I recommend "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home."
