Movie Review - Finding 'Ohana

There's kind of an inside joke in this film that I thought was interesting. I'm not sure if it was an intended joke, but the joke is there, if one considers it. Maybe, it's not a joke as just a subtle piece of cultural commentary. The film is about a family of three, a mother and her two teenage children moving from Brooklyn, New York, to O'ahu, Hawaii. In one scene, one of the teenage children visits the places where the film Jurassic Park (1993) and the ABC series Lost (2004) were made, places that are now tourist attractions. Yet, a lot of these Hollywood productions that shoot on Hawaii rarely if ever use or incorporate native Hawaiians in their casts. A lot of these Hollywood productions are just tourists, interlopers, wanting to bask in the beauty of the land but ignore or overlook the people who have always inhabited that land. This film in a sense calls out this kind of exploitation, for lack of a better word.

Written by Christina Strain and directed by Jude Weng, this film centers itself on those native Hawaiians or at least it tries to do so. It's not trafficking in the kind of tourism that bypasses the actual culture and history. It's by far a children's film, so there isn't the kind of depth and nuance that would make this a true push-back against the kind of exploitation or just sheer ignorance that have denied Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders the kind of leading presence in a mainstream film that they've lacked. This is Strain's feature debut as a writer and it's Weng's feature debut as a director, so the weight and gravitas not being there are understandable. Weng has a decade or so career of television directing, so it's not to say that Weng couldn't have added some weight and gravitas, but the tone being for children, probably under 16, didn't require much weight or gravitas.

Kea Peahu, in her feature debut, stars as Pili, a 12-year-old girl who moves with her single mother and brother from Brooklyn to O'ahu. Her maternal grandfather has become ill and is in trouble financially, so Pili's mother decides to go back home and help him in both cases. Pili is more interested than her brother in learning about and connecting to her Hawaiian roots. She's a bit of a tomboy and doesn't mind being out of the city and roughing it in the more country lifestyle that her grandfather has and rather demands.

 

When Pili learns of a hidden treasure, she goes on a treasure hunt. A new friend she meets in Hawaii, the token white kid, joins her. Her brother and the girl he likes also join along. It's obvious that Weng and Strain are doing a Hawaiian version of The Goonies (1985). Where Pili goes, the comparison is clear that Weng is copying or paying homage to The Goonies. Strain's script has various pop culture references, but The Goonies isn't one that's expressed in dialogue. Instead, Strain references Indiana Jones and we get allusions to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). Of course, they're just allusions and this film never rises to the quality of those films. This film feels more like a parody of those films with children. It would be more akin to 7 Guardians of the Tomb (2018) or Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019).

Alex Aiono, in his feature debut, co-stars as Ioane or just called "E." He's the older brother to Pili. He's supposed to be about 16. He's the typical, annoying, older brother who picks on his little sister. If this were The Goonies, he'd be the equivalent to Josh Brolin's character. Ioane is the opposite of his sister in that he's less country. He'd prefer to stay in Brooklyn because he's more a city boy and plus he has a burgeoning social life where he's crushing on girls. Ioane is also the comic relief in a lot of ways and the audience proxy. Aiono is an up-and-coming pop star who does a lot of singing and performing on YouTube, so he certainly has the boldness and theatrics to pull it off.

It's just unfortunate that the adventure that Pili and Ioane have is rather unimpressive and also rather boring. It's also super safe and super tame compared to The Goonies. There are more thrills and more illicit things in the first, ten minutes of The Goonies than in this entire film. This means that you feel the danger more in The Goonies than you do here. At no point did I ever feel like anyone here was in danger. Even when Ioane is bitten by a poisonous spider and a ticking clock is potentially put on his life, still the danger of that is never felt. It never raises the stakes and is virtually ignored almost immediately after it happens.

As a result, two-thirds of the film feel practically meaningless. The conclusion of the film is also an admission that the adventure that Pili and Ioane have was really pointless. Basically, Pili goes on a treasure hunt, only to determine that she shouldn't have gone on the hunt and she literally won't have any physical takeaway. Even Indiana Jones had physical takeaways from his adventures. They simply weren't profit-driven takeaways. They were for museums or charity. This film even poo-poos that notion.

The very end introduces a Hawaiian legend or myth called the Nightmarchers. The Nightmarchers are the ghosts or spirits of Hawaii warriors. They can be helpful or harmful. The film though literally introduces them in the last few minutes of the film. The film spends so much time on Pili's treasure hunt and doing a kind of Drunk History type retelling of the pirates that left the treasure. Given that this treasure hunt turns out to be pointless, I would have preferred the film spend more time on building up the Nightmarchers, especially since Pili and Ioane's father who has died turns out to be one of the Nightmarchers. Their father is Kua Kawena, played by Brad Kalilimoku. Kua could have been like the deceased parent in Onward (2020) but the film wants him to be more like the father in The Lion King (1994). Yet, it doesn't do the work to develop him in that way. It's a shame because Kalilimoku is a beautiful, muscular man who could probably give Dwayne Johnson a run for his money.

Rated PG for language, crude references and action adventure.

Running Time: 2 hrs. and 3 mins.

Available on Netflix.