Within the first minute of the film, Jojo Rabbit gives you the “Oh” moment. With a German cover of I want to hold to hold your hand in the background, Johannes (Roman Griffin Davis) and his camp imaginary friend Hitler (Taika Watiti) are practising their Heil Hitlers in the mirror, before he runs down the street in excitement as today is his first day in the Hitler Youth. His joyous face and childish motion in this silly scenario along with the upbeat music may lead you to crack a smile. However, this is interlinked with Nazi propoganda videos of smiling crowds. This is when having being swept away with Jojo’s commotion, you realise “Hold on a minute. Why am I going along so happily with this?” This smart ploy is one of cleverest scenes in the film as you recompose yourself and remember that you’re in 1940’s Austria.

Based on the book Chasing Skies (which I have read two thirds of), Jojo Rabbit is a film about a young boy called Jojo who is part of the Hitler Youth and would do anything for the Nazi party. However, his world changes when he finds a Jewish girl called Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) has been hidden in his house by his mother (Scarlett Johansson). From here, we get the sort of film you’d expect where Jojo has to challenge his preconceptions around Jewish people.

When looking at such a comedy, I think there are two questions we should consider. Firstly, is it funny? Secondly, do the heartfelt moments hit home?

In terms of humour, more often than not it is funny. Elsa and Jojo’s opening moments have a sense of tension, yet they also have playful undertones. She clearly enjoys her interactions with Jojo, ridiculing his believes as he tries to learn about Jews from her. There is also a brilliant outside cast as well. Rebel Wilson and Sam Rockwell both provide a great number of laughs as HItler youth workers. They clearly do this in a parody and the ridiculousness of their situations and lines ease you.

The controversial nature of “Imaginary Hitler” is also worth talking about. While Nazi comedy is nothing new, it has stirred up many a hot take. However, this Hitler looks nothing like Hitler, sounds nothing like Hitler and acts nothing like Hitler. The parody is so over done, he is nothing like Hitler. The comedy becomes so ridiculous and almost innocent from the childish perspective of Jojo, that I didn’t feel that the film seemed overly offensive. It does ignore the atrocities of World War II, yet it doesn’t feel like it’s covering them up. One character’s arc doesn’t quite work with me, however that wasn’t enough to spoil the tone or the movie.

Midway through the film we pivot from humour to emotional.

It’s during the heartfelt moments that this film felt mundane. Whether it was down to poor directing, writing or acting I can’t be sure, but something was missing. The film’s emotional crux (albeit one I knew was happening) didn’t really hit home or change anything too much. There were scenes of combat which seemed ridiculous and tragic at the same time which worked, but there weren’t any great turning points where Jojo realises what he’s done wrong. While Johansson was okay as the mother, I wasn’t blown away and frankly don’t see why she was worthy of an Oscar nomination for her part. I felt the devil on the shoulder of Hitler would’ve been much better countered by the angel on the shoulder of Archie Yates’ character Yorki. Thankfully the film is resolved relatively quickly as this is the point where the book starts to drag.

Credit where it’s due, I did think Thomasin Mckenzie’s portrayal of Elsa was absolutely brilliant.

Summary

While the funny moments are funny, with Watiti’s oddball humour permeating the screen, the heartfelt moments just don’t quite work well enough to always justify these. [Grade: B-]