Napoleon Dynamite Review

 

        For some weird reason, this movie was shown when I was in a after school program in elementary. Something about it was intriguing to me. Perhaps it was the main character or it was just that the whole movie was really nothing that I have seen before. Keep in mind, I watched animated movies and superhero movies growing up. This was so left field for me when I was young. Years later, this is one of those films that I will re-watch and still laugh. SPOILERS will appear in the review.

1. Not Your Usual High School Movie

        At a glance, this doesn’t look like a typical high school movie. There’s a template on how to do a successful one such as any John Hughes film or Mean Girls. Napoleon Dynamite is that aberration of a high school movie where it adheres to no formula and instead just forges its own path. When you watch it, you feel like nothing is happening. Mostly we follow what Napoleon is doing and just how he is.

        Played by Jon Heder is an anti-social person with the worst people skills. He opens up when the new student Pedro becomes his friend. At his house, his washed-out uncle comes and wreaks havoc when he invites his older brother to join in his get rich quick schemes. You would think it would be about Napoleon trying to figure out who he is. That’s not really it, it’s more or less a slice of life movie, about how yes, figures out what skills he has, and help Pedro run for class president. 

        What it does well is that the whole approach is bizarre. Not that it’s bad, but it gets away with just how Napoleon is just an endearing loser. His idiosyncrasies are hilarious and just the stuff he says is just funny. I think it’s an acquired taste in comedy since its very low energy, but the comedy just comes from the overall weirdness of it. If there is one thing that I noticed is that nobody acts their age. Like Uncle Rico yearning for his football days in high school and Grandma riding the ATV in the Idaho dunes. I think we’re supposed to laugh that they’re clinging to something that they should move on from. It could be just that they are just flawed people. 

2. A Good Bland

        Another thing I noticed is that the film feels like it’s on a time warp. It has the aesthetic of the 80s, despite taking place in the 2000s. I just think that Idaho reacts later than the rest of the country in terms of keeping up with the times. I joke, but I think it just emulates just how small towny it feels. There’s just a lot of white people and the only minority is Pedro. Not that it’s a bad thing, but everything that happens is mostly happening within Napoleon’s world. 

        I think the whole town just screams indie film. Mind you, it’s a studio indie film, meaning that Fox Searchlight Films was created by 20th Century Fox to distribute small budget indie films but carry the name of Fox to increase profits. Other than that, the whole town is like the same bizarre as the characters themselves. 

3. Overall 

        This is one of those aberrations that occur in film where it pops up, and word of mouth give it the right kind of publicity. As far as I can remember, there were t-shirts and an animated show that was aired on Fox back in the early 2010s. Napoleon Dynamite is one of those movies where it’s a good slice of life where you’ll feel good about the characters. 

Napoleon Dynamite gets a four out of five.