I have found that I am usually right along with the general critical consensus when it comes to evaluations of film. Every now and then though, I’ll find myself looking in a whole other direction. This is the case with Whale Rider, which gained very high praise from the vast majority of critics, but whose “magic” was just lost on me.

Whale Rider tells the story of a modern Maori tribe that has been struggling in some way. Koro (Rawiri Paratene), who is something of a leader among the people, is looking for a new leader or even a “prophet” to bring unity and prosperity to the tribe and looks for it in his newly born grandson. The grandson dies at birth but leaves behind a twin sister named Pai. A large part of the rest of the story shows us Koro resisting the idea of Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) as the new leader while Pai struggles to learn and mastaer her cultural traditions to prove herself as a competent leader.

I like it all on the surface. I like Pai’s character – her courage, sincerity and ingenuity. I like the way she overcomes her circumstances and I love what she does in the end. I also like Koro’s character – his concern, his fear and his final change of heart. I like all the other characters, from the young, apathetic boys preparing to be chieftain to the lowlife adult members of the tribe.

But it never feels like it all connects. I was never concerned or very engaged in the characters’ situations. The pacing is way too slow and each scene seemed to roll on longer than it needed to. As interesting as these characters are, Whale Rider manages to be just plain boring.

It seems like it wants to be some sort of reverse Billy Elliot. In this case a young girl struggling against gender roles that would keep her from achieving what she wants. But it’s only comparable on paper. Because we have to struggle to maintain interest in what’s going on, we struggle to be as captivated by the “magical” ending – an ending that would have been a heck of a lot stronger if the build up weren’t so weak.

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