Reviews

This film is intense and emotional, it has an outstanding cast, who play there roles very well, especially the lead actress(Keisha Castle-Hughes) who portrays Paikea and Rawiri Paratene as the grand father, also Vicky haughton as Nanny flowers. I just have to comment on some of the negative comments aimed at whale rider, esp of late the comments from PittPantherOne, here is one of the people who have totally missed the point, they obviously know very little about other cultures other than their own, and from what I remember Paikea never killed herself, events did happen which helped bring on change. To try to imply that this film promotes suicide is just plain dumb,this from someone who lives in a country where there are almost 30,000 shootings a year, thats like me condemning any film that involves gunplay, that just isn't going to happen,but you are not the only one,there are others who don't understand the Polynesian culture and they also do not understand whale rider. But judging from comments on the imdb and amazon com and other various reviews sites there are many who have embraced this simple film and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It has its flaws but still a good movie, if you try not to be too judgmental. peace out!!!

i still remember seeing this movie when it first came out on the big screen,i was 17,it may have been 84/85,it was still a time of the big old picture theaters,it was a full house,the audience was fairly young,but i noticed there seemed to be a lot of mature people as well-for the duration of the movie, myself and the people around me were engaged and totally engrossed in the viewing.i also remember something i hadn,t seen before,when the movie finished,the whole audience stood up and started clapping,this at a time in new zealand when not every one owned a video machine-after all this time,even with so many distractions,home computers,playstations and everyday general living this movie still is a classic and even someone my age(34)it helps to take me back to my child hood times-a place filled constantly with dreams,a place where there was no dilemmas,no stress and being a kid was all about playing and having fun-i introduced this movie to my niece and nephew,a few years back and they absolutely loved it-a gentle reminder to the magic of being a kid-enjoy