Film

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Name: Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family
Released: 2016
Cast: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata, Rachel House, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne

Survival adventure

A cranky old bushman and a defiant, overweight foster kid end up fugitives in the New Zealand wilderness, hunted by a zealous social worker convinced they're dangerous. Taika Waititi's film is warm, ridiculous, and quietly devastating in turns — deadpan Kiwi humour wrapped around real grief about family and belonging. Funny enough for kids, sharp enough for adults, gorgeous to look at.

TMDb rating

3.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like odd-couple banter that slowly softens into real affection, with deadpan humour and a bush landscape that feels like a character in its own right.

Skip it if you want a tightly plotted thriller, since the chase is loose and episodic, and its sweetness can feel calculated to anyone allergic to cute kids.

What it asks of you: It moves at an easy amble through a long stretch of woods, so settle in and let the mood carry you rather than waiting for the plot to tighten.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Last Boy Scout1991

Same writer-director, same warmth-under-scruff comic instinct, and another rural New Zealand kid inventing a better father than the one he's got. It's rawer, sadder, and just as funny.

But Slower pace, no chase-movie momentum, and a heavier emotional gut-punch waiting quietly at the end for you.

What We Do in the Shadows2014

Same deadpan New Zealand comic sensibility from the same creative stable, just aimed at flatmate vampires instead of foster kids. Mockumentary style, endlessly quotable, a masterclass in playing absurd things completely straight.

But No emotional ballast — it's pure comedy without the family heartbreak underlying the film you already loved.

Jojo Rabbit2019

The same director's later, riskier trick: comedy and real horror sharing a frame without either one blinking. It pushes that tonal high-wire act even further into genuinely dark territory.

But The subject matter — Nazi Germany, a child indoctrinated into it — is far darker terrain, and the tonal whiplash isn't for everyone.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Hunt for the Wilderpeople

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Iron Giant1999

Both films are, underneath the genre dressing, about a kid protecting an unlikely outsider from a government determined to hunt them down, and both let a chase plot double as a story about found family.

A boy shelters a huge, hunted outsider from authorities determined to destroy it, and has to decide what loyalty and family actually mean. Same manhunt structure, same tenderness, told through gorgeous 90s hand-drawn animation.

But It's a kids' cartoon on the surface, and some viewers will bounce off its Cold War sci-fi framing expecting something more grounded.

Little Miss Sunshine2006

A broken-down family forced into close quarters on a cross-country trip, bickering their way into something like love. Same mix of deadpan comedy and quiet ache, with a similarly ragtag ensemble cast.

But American indie-quirk instead of bush survival — no wilderness, no manhunt, just a battered van and a beauty pageant.

Paper Moon1973

A cynical drifter and a sharp-tongued kid con their way across Depression-era America, growing attached against their better judgment. That exact grumpy-adult-meets-defiant-child chemistry, done in gorgeous black and white.

But Older, slower, and considerably less sentimental — this one keeps its warmth mostly hidden beneath the wit.

Moonrise Kingdom2012

Kids on the run through the wilderness while the adult world scrambles to find them, told with Wes Anderson's precise, storybook whimsy. Same fugitive-innocence thrill, dialled up to maximum stylisation.

But Anderson's symmetrical, deadpan artifice is an acquired taste — it can feel more like a diorama than a story.

Captain Fantastic2016

A family living wild and off-grid, forced by circumstance to rejoin a civilisation they've spent years rejecting. Same questions about what the bush actually teaches you that the ordinary world can't.

But Heavier and more political, with grief at its centre rather than comic escape — not the same easy ride.

The Way Back2010

A withdrawn kid finds an unlikely, unqualified father figure over one summer, and gets nudged toward becoming himself. Same slow thaw between a reluctant grown-up and a kid who badly needs one.

But Coming-of-age with a water park, not a national manhunt — gentler stakes throughout, no survivalist thrills at all.

Napoleon Dynamite2004

If it's the oddball, deadpan defiance of the kid you loved, here's a whole film built entirely from that same comic register — awkward, weird, strangely tender underneath it all.

But Plotless by design and far more absurd throughout — the humour sits on a specific, dry frequency not everyone tunes into.

It Happened One Night1934

It's the blueprint this film is quietly running: two people who can't stand each other, forced together, on the run, growing fond of each other against their will.

The original mismatched-fugitives comedy: a runaway heiress and a broke reporter thrown together on the road, bickering their way toward affection while dodging the people looking for them. Whip-smart, still funny nine decades on.

But Black-and-white and stagey by modern standards, and the 'manhunt' here is more tabloid scandal than actual SWAT team.

Grizzly Man2005

Both ask what the wilderness offers someone that civilisation can't, and what it actually costs to try living there rather than just visiting.

Werner Herzog's real documentary about a man who chose to live among Alaskan grizzlies rather than people, using his own extraordinary, eventually fatal, footage. Funny, tender, and finally devastating in ways that recontextualise the fantasy of vanishing into the bush.

But It's a true story that ends in death, filmed by the victim himself — a much harder, sadder watch than any comedy prepares you for.