- Actors: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, Cliff Curtis, Grant Roa
- Directors: Niki Caro
- Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
- Language English
- Subtitles: English, Spanish
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 2.35:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Sony Pictures
- DVD Release Date: 28 Oct 2003
- Run Time: 101 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B0000CABBW
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 122,335 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the most charming and critically acclaimed films of 2003, the New Zealand hit Whale Rider effectively combines Maori tribal tradition with the timely "girl power" of a vibrant new millennium. Despite the discouragement of her gruff and disapproving grandfather (Rawiri Paratene), who nearly disowns her because she is female and therefore traditionally disqualified from tribal leadership, 12-year-old Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is convinced that she is a tribal leader and sets out to prove it.
Rather than inflate this story (from a novel by Witi Ihimaera) with artificial sentiment, writer-director Niki Caro develops very real and turbulent family relationships, intimate and yet torn by a collision between stubborn tradition and changing attitudes. The mythic whale rider--the ultimate symbol of Maori connection to nature--is also the harbinger of Pai's destiny, and the appealing Castle-Hughes gives a luminous, astonishingly powerful performance that won't leave a dry eye in the house. With its fresh take on a familiar tale, Whale Rider is definitely one from the heart. --Jeff Shannon
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Whale Rider is a rare and wonderful film. It is set in a small seaside Maori village in New Zealand and concerns the chief, who has no first-born grandson to carry on the old ways. He does have a loveable and plucky granddaughter, Pai, named for the legendary founder of the Maoris who came there on the back of a whale. Pai adores her grandfather, but he has forbidden her to study the old ways because she is a girl.
This is one of those movies that draws you into its world completely with its honesty. The 12-year old star, Keisha Castle-Hughes is so genuine and charismatic, it is no wonder she has been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. She is a natural talent, beautiful, inspiring, and delightful to watch.
Whale Rider has the art-house feel to it, because it deals almost exclusively with emotions. Village life and underwater scenes of whales are lovingly photographed and accompanied by a haunting score. There is a lot of Maori culture in it, but the desire for acceptance and respect are universally understood. If you like character-driven stories with heartwarming elements of the supernatural, you'll enjoy Whale Rider.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
There are those films that everyone should see. There are those that everyone should own. Then there are those that everyone should cherish. Whale Rider is all of these.
Breathtakingly emotional, beautifully heartbreaking and wonderfully funny, this outstanding film deserves much more recognition than the lone best actress Oscar nomination for Keisha Castle-Hughes. This brilliant young girl should have received the award for the speech scene alone.
Simply an excellent story by Witi Ihimaera, adapted perfectly for the screen by Niki Caro, casted with genius by Diana Rowan, acted magnificently by all the actors, completed with a hauntingly stunning score by Lisa Gerrard.
Every now and then a film comes along that makes the world a better place to live in. Whale Rider does this. Watch it now.
Breathtakingly emotional, beautifully heartbreaking and wonderfully funny, this outstanding film deserves much more recognition than the lone best actress Oscar nomination for Keisha Castle-Hughes. This brilliant young girl should have received the award for the speech scene alone.
Simply an excellent story by Witi Ihimaera, adapted perfectly for the screen by Niki Caro, casted with genius by Diana Rowan, acted magnificently by all the actors, completed with a hauntingly stunning score by Lisa Gerrard.
Every now and then a film comes along that makes the world a better place to live in. Whale Rider does this. Watch it now.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This film of a Maori chieftain's search for a successor who will keep the rural community's culture alive is also an appraisal of the culture itself and the values it represents. The community is dying as its young people leave for the city and do not return, except briefly as visitors, and the chief, Koro (Rawiri Paratene) has no successor. His own firstborn son, Porourangi (Cliff Curtis), who would normally have succeeded him, has left the community after his wife died giving birth to twins--a son who died, and a daughter who lived. Naming the surviving daughter (Keisha Castle-Hughes) Paikea, after the whale rider who formed the culture a thousand years ago, Porourangi (Cliff Curtis) abandons her to the care of her grandmother and the community and goes to Germany to promote his artwork.
Paikea's difficult relationship with her grandfather, who scorns her because she is a girl and not the male heir he needs, is beautifully played here, and Keisha Castle-Hughes is a sensitive and winning actress who endows Paikea with the "strength, courage, intelligence, and leadership" which are the hallmarks of the culture. Always trying to learn the old ways so that she can win her grandfather's love, she is, instead, constantly berated for trying to break the taboo of the marai by assuming a boy's role.
The striking cinematography (Leon Narbey) captures the spirit of the land, while the underwater photography of whales, as Paikea's spirit is drawn to them throughout the film, is stunning. Maori chants and ceremonial dances convey many of the Maori cultural traditions and illustrate their similarities with those of the Hawaiians, who share a common origin. The exchange of breath between Maori as a greeting represents a sharing of each person's essence, a factor which achieves tremendous symbolic significance in a climactic moment at the end of the film.
Because this is a film which conveys a message, it is not surprising that some of the characters here are two-dimensional, especially Koro, the grandfather, so consumed with the need to find a successor that he is unable to be a person. But Paikea and the other children in the film more than make up for some of the adults' predictability with their palpable delight and pride in their culture and the fun they have learning the old ways. A fascinating glimpse at a vanishing culture, this magnificent and moving film will itself help preserve its history and traditions. Mary Whipple
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
WHALE RIDER
What a fantastic tale! Southern right whales and New Zealand's Maori culture, where females are relegated to "useless" as potential leaders, Paikea Apirana fights Poko, her grand... Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2009 by Nat Hall
Political correctness served with gooey sentimentality.
Ugh! The current self-flagellation so fashionable in N.Z. is brought to its apogee in this movie. Setting aside the fact that the European settlers have nothing to apologise for... Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2008 by Neil French
A MAORI MASTERPIECE.
I come from Aotearoa (new zealand) and though i am from white descendents i have always felt close to Maori people. Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2007 by Tom Simenauer
Very moving film
Even when is a predictable film, is a beautiful one where we can see, over and over again the cultural lost of the old tribes, their problem with their lack of identity and... Read more
Published on 7 Jun 2007 by Ms. B. Fesser Almerigogna
Slow, uses stereotypes and predictable
I watched this film yesterday and was a little disappointed. The story is simple enough our heroine, Paikea (Castle-Hughes) is the next in line for chiefship. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2006 by Francisco
Life-affirming cinema
There are many reviews already, so I'll try and tell you my take without telling you the story: this film opens the door to Maori culture. Read more
Published on 21 Aug 2006 by PB
christine
An excellent film, unusual topic and well acted. Even the whales looked real
Thought I might have need of the subtitles to cut through the thick Maori dialect
Thought I might have need of the subtitles to cut through the thick Maori dialect
Published on 19 Feb 2006
A whale of a tale
WHALE RIDER comes from New Zealand, and opens with a Maori mother giving birth to twins, a son and a daughter. Unfortunately, the mother and son die in the delivery room. Read more
Published on 14 Jan 2006 by Joseph Haschka
Ride the whale
I was lucky enough to be at a Princeton limited-run theatre in 2003, on the week when "Whale Rider" was playing. Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2006 by E. A Solinas
amazing
This is a beautiful moving film. Its incedibly acted by the young girl and has an incredible soundtrack and cinematography. At this price it should not be missed!!
Published on 9 Dec 2005 by Russell LEAK
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