Napoleon Dynamite
for thematic elements and language.
Reviewed by: Chris Monroe
STAFF WRITER
| Moral Rating: | Good |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Teens Adults |
| Genre: | Teen Comedy |
| Length: | 1 hr. 26 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2004 |
| USA Release: |
June 11, 2004 DVD: October 19, 2006 |
| Featuring |
Jon Heder … Napoleon Dynamite Jon Gries (Uncle Rico), Aaron Ruell (Kip), Efren Ramirez (Pedro), Diedrich Bader (Rex), Tina Majorino (Deb), Sandy Martin (Grandma), Haylie Duff (Summer Wheatly), Trevor Snarr (Don), Shondrella Avery (Lafawnduh), Bracken Johnson (Randy), Carmen Brady (Starla), Ellen Dubin (Ilene), J.C. Cunningham (Jock #1), James Stevens (Jock #2—as James Smooth), Brian Petersen (Lance), Brett Taylor (Nathan), Tom Lefler (Principal Svadean), Elizabeth Miklavcic (Renae), Scott Thomas (Sheldon), See all » |
| Director |
Jared Hess |
| Producer | Fox Searchlight Pictures, Paramount Pictures, MTV Films, Access Films, Jeremy Coon, Sean Covel, Frederick Wedler, Jory Weitz, Chris Wyatt |
| Distributor |
 Fox Searchlight Pictures, a sister company of 20th Century Fox, a division of The Walt Disney Company |
“He’s out to prove he’s got nothing to prove.”
Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “From Preston, Idaho comes Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder), a new kind of hero complete with a tight red ’fro, some sweet moon boots, and skills that can’t be topped. Napoleon lives with his Grandma (Sandy Martin) and his 30-year-old, unemployed brother Kip (Aaron Ruell), who spends his days looking for love in Internet chat rooms. When Grandma hits the road on her quad runner, Napoleon and Kip’s meddling Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) comes to town to stay with them and ruin their lives.
Napoleon is left to his own devices to impress the chicks at school and help his new best friend Pedro (Efren Ramirez) win the election for Student Body President against the stuck-up Summer Wheatley (Haylie Duff); all the while making sure to feed Grandma’s pet llama Tina, and avoiding association with Uncle Rico and the herbal breast enhancers he sells door to door. Napoleon and Pedro put their skills and knowledge of piñatas, cows and drawing to good use, but it is a surprise talent that leads the two to triumph in the end.”
Expecting a film about the nineteenth century French emperor? If so, the movie could entail a fabricated story about how the fascist leader tried unsuccessfully to invent explosives. But the title of that flick would be “Napoleon Blownapart.” No, Napoleon Dynamite is a totally new, modern character, and as authentic and uniquely drawn as the film that is named after him. In this forum, you’ll be infused with independent cinema and explode with laughter.
Perhaps adhering to the idea that it’s “chic to be geek,” newbe director, Jared Hess, has spared no expense in celebrating his anti-hero, Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder), a completely socially inept high school student in a small Idahoan town. Napoleon lives with his gruff, four-wheeling grandmother (Sandy Martin) and his thirty-two year old effeminate brother, Kip (Aaron Ruell), and is the epitome of the passé idea of “nerd.” Centered around typical teenage issues involving high school dances, student government elections and frustrated adolescent love, the uncomplicated plot is clearly a platform to highlight the quirkoholic character Napoleon.
As conventional as some of the story choices are, they work, and the film is so well built with other refreshingly original choices that it’s nothing to scoff at. Beyond his name, Napoleon amuses us with his usual abrasive tone and fantastic stories. In the locker room, the jocks pick on him and ask what he did last summer. He irritatingly replies, “I told you, I was hunting wolverines with my uncle in Alaska!” Also entertaining is Kip’s relationship with his Internet girlfriend, LaFawnduh (Shondrella Avery), and Uncle Rico (Jon Gries), who comes to be guardian over Kip and Napoleon while their grandma is away. And their karate lesson at the local dojo gives us more to laugh at.
As raw as this film is, the cleanliness is quite incomparable to most contemporary comedies. At no point was any cuss word detected. The closest it comes is when Napoleon is frustrated and adds in a “freakin’” or “flippin’” to what he says. The most offensive thing might be a business Uncle Rico starts later, working with breast enhancers. It is only mentioned a couple of times and over the course of the film as we have learned to dislike Uncle Rico, our distaste for him is associated with this business. This film does not try to be anything other than it is: a newfangled, straightforward comedy to incite honest laughter.
With blatant attempts to make us laugh, there are a few moments where we hit our head on the ceiling of the humor. Still, the reason we can find Napoleon so amusing is because, to some degree, we might identify with being the outcast or with the awkward adolescent era of our lives. Underneath all of the mockery, we can have sympathy for people like Napoleon struggling to find acceptance and their place in this world. Where Gus van Saint’s “Elephant” might be a depiction of the tragedy of high school misfits, “Napoleon Dynamite” is the comedy. And the ending is capped off with a euphoric experience that leaves you uplifted.
Violence: None / Profanity: Minor / Sex/Nudity: Minor
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
[Good/4½]
Napoleon’s character in itself is quite unique and therefore refreshing. There’s nothing cliche about him.
I wasn’t offended with the uncle selling the breast cream because the uncle is an unlikeable character and all the characters thought he was an idiot for trying to sell it.
If you rent it, let the credits roll and wait for the last scene which occurs AFTER the credits (kind of surprise I noticed on the 4th or 5th viewing). I think we should all go out and buy or rent this movie and send Hollywood a message that movies with NO foul language and NO sex do sell!
[Good/5]
[Better than Average/3]
[Good/1]
[Better than Average/2]
[Good/1]
[Good/2]
[Average/2]
Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 3
[Good/2]
I didn’t like all the slang Napoleon used (cr*p, friggin, flippin…) and there was more of that than I expected. However, I appreciated the positive elements of this film a LOT! 1.) Napoleon is friendly to new kids, he is loyal to his friends and helps them out when they are in need. 2.) It is made quite clear that being poular and pretty do not guarantee success. Superficiality is not glorified in any way. 3.) Some of the real effects of bullying (especially bullying today) are shown when Napoleon gets picked on. The audience (and both bullied and bulliers will most likely be watching) see how getting picked on affects Napoleon and his friends. Since this whole movie is about having the audience live in Napoleon’s shoes for a time, by the end of the movie, you get a feeling for what it feels like to get picked on and ridiculed.
All things considered, I would recommend “Napoleon Dynamite.” (But be prepared for a slower-paced, more “random” movie… i.e, if your in the mood for something like “Pirates of the Carribbean,” this isn’t the movie to rent!)
[Better than Average/3]
[Good/5]
[Good/5]
[Good/5]
[Better than Average/2]
[Good/4½]
[Good/4½]
[Good/5]
[Better than Average/4]
[Better than Average/4½]
You have to be thankful there is not one misuse of our Father’s or Savior’s names, and for that alone, coming from Hollywood, it deserves praise. There’s an unspoken theory where many writers and producers actually use a database showing what movies with what words were “tolerated” by Christians. From that, “some of them” elect to either continue to use them, or refrain or diminish their use. Basically it amounts to this, and whether the unspoken rule is true or not, it only makes sense… If any movie full of the blasphemous (and to me painful to hear) misuses of my Savior’s name makes a smash at the box office, it’s only natural to think, there had to be a lot of Christians in attendance? To them, that translates to; “they (we) don’t care, my bottom line wasn’t hurt, let’s do it again!” Just imagine if we truly respected Heaven’s precious and Holy names across the board and never bought a single ticket to any of them? You can bet by now, Hollywood would have gotten the opposite message they obviously have today, since it doesn’t seem to bother anyone today. WOW! We all know what happens when God is given the “least we can do” in respecting His Name. Once the Holy Names of God and Christ Jesus are given the respect they are so deserving of, the spiritual idea of “their” Holiness returns—even if Hollywood producers are unbelievers, Holy Spirit begins an amazing work in their hearts that they don’t even realize is happening.
Imagine Hollywood producers saying to themselves; “I can’t have that in there,” and the spiritual/psychological effect it would have? Maybe we should have a new attitude that says; “I’m ‘entertained’ when the world is not ‘entertained’ by mocking my Jesus?” For that alone, any nitpicking of weird stereotyping (which it wasn’t) in Napoleon gets an A+++, here, and I bet in Heaven!
Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 5
Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4
My Ratings: [Good/5]