Napoleon Dynamite

Year: 2004 Rating: PG Overall Evaluation: 7.0 Significance Suppositions Story Style 7.0 / 10 7.0 / 10 6.0 / 10 9.0 / 10 Click HERE for evaluation criteria.

Style

Rated PG for thematic elements and language. No nudity, strong cussing, violence, etc. Pretty tame but not in a lame way.

Story

I did not rate this story low because it was bad - there just is not much of a story here at least in the classical sense. It is really more of a vignette of the life of the "hero" and his bizarre family. The movie has all the basic High School movie elements - friends, jealousy, popularity, bullies, etc. The spin is that we are going through the experience with ND. Now, ND is a geek. No, that's not quite right. He is the über-geek. There has not been, in my experience, anyone who has even come close to attaining the dorkness level that ND does. That alone made the movie worth watching because it was just so disturbingly geeky. ND finds a new friend, helps him run for class president against "the popular girl" and in the meantime finds romance of a sort. Around him are his wanna-be football star uncle, his internet romancer brother, the brother's online hip-hop girlfriend, and their "extreme" grandma who gets more dates than any of them . . . it's all very strange.

Suppositions

The film's setting is some Midwest town with a lot of trying-to-not-be-country people. I would like to believe that the characters are only believable as caricature but I think we've all known some of these folks. It is surreal in many respects but a bit too close to reality in others.

Significance

The movie's message comes not so much from plot structure as it does in the contrast between ND's dullish movements through life and that of those around him. The tagline for the film is that ND is "out to prove that he has nothing to prove." That about sums it up. While the rest of the world is madly seeking after transformation, ND is just kind of tripping through life living moment to moment. He is not really presented as an icon which is good because in reality this kid would not make it through life very well. Rather we are shown the silliness of those around him by their juxtaposition to him - making their silliness even more ridiculous. The fact is that, in the end, everyone is a dork about some things - especially when trying to re-create themselves. In contrast, ND starts off as a dork and simply accepts it. I don't know that there is a message to this movie other than "be yourself even if you don't fit in," but you know what, that's not too bad actually.