Johannes "Jojo" Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) is a 10 year-old German boy who is proud to be in the Hitler Youth. On this day, he is leaving for training. The leader of the training camp is Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell), an experienced soldier who has been demoted to this menial task. Jojo does not do as well as he hoped and is soon marked by the trainers for special attention. They give him a live rabbit and demand he wring its neck. He can't do it and is soon called Jojo Rabbit for his cowardice. To try to reverse his fortunes, he grabs a grenade and throws it; he blows himself up. Back home, he now has a scarred face and a bum leg. His mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), dotes on him. Now spending a lot of time at home, Jojo discovers a Jewish girl hiding in the attic: Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie). Though he naturally hates and fears her, he also realizes that her discovery would be dangerous to his mother. To top off Jojo's problems, Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi) is his imaginary friend. Whenever Jojo doesn't know what to do, Hitler is at his side to give horrible advice.
The movie is a funny and tragic story told in the last months of the war. Jojo is a lovable kid who is just following the trends of his time and place. That he eventually sees that such beliefs were wrong even given his youth makes for a good character arc. The imaginary Hitler is mostly a goofball, an almost Monty Python-like version of him. Sam Rockwell is a soldier but not a Nazi. Rosie clearly does not approve of what has become of Germany and, much to Jojo's consternation, roots for the allies and an end to the war.
A surprisingly good film that is sometimes a knee-slapper, other times a tear-jerker, and overall good popcorn fun. Highly recommended.
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