Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing 2019’s JoJo Rabbit. While at first I was a bit tentative about seeing the movie out of concern that its silliness would be more on the ridiculous side, I’m quite happy that I took the risk. The movie was quite enjoyable.

Let me begin by saying that I loved Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of Rosie. Johansson (to my surprise) played a loving and fun mother, one that will easily melt any audience member’s heart. There was not a single moment in which I didn’t absolutely love her character. Her performance was golden.

Along with Johansson, we have Roman Griffin Davis who plays the loving, yet naive ten year old JoJo. We soon see that while dedicated to being a ‘loyal German’, JoJo is against cruelty; something that gives the movie’s audience much hope, as prior to this realization, while done in a funny way, we see just how frightening it is that such young individuals were raised to be so immoral.

Roman Griffin Davis does a superb job of showing how, if taught certain things, children will grow up misinformed and, unfortunately, go through life believing things that are far from the truth. At the same time, Davis is phenomenal at playing a character who does want to discover the truth and whose curious nature never expires.

The last actor I’d like to mention is Thomasin McKenzie, whom I actually consider the funniest character of the movie (though Taika Waititi certainly has his moments as Adolf). McKenzie plays Elsa, the Jewish girl discovered hidden in young JoJo’s home. McKenzie’s use of wit, sarcasm, and overall humor made my night and the movie. Being part Jewish myself, the way she jokingly messed with JoJo’s head cracked me up.

There is more to this movie’s greatness than just the actors and their respective roles. JoJo Rabbit is a movie that explores many topics: the cruelty of the Nazi regime, the way that cultures can easily be misinformed about other cultures, the fact that even in difficult times, there are loving individuals who choose to fight for what is right, and the importance of humor.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. Yes, it was goofy at times and yes, maybe some would see the humor placed throughout the movie as inappropriate, but I saw it as something else. I saw the humor as a way to relieve the tension of what was clearly at the core of this film – young people and people in general being manipulated into believing something that is untrue about another religion, culture, or creed.

All in all, I give this movie a B. The only reason I don’t give it a B+ is because parts of the movie came off to me as a little too silly, bordering on just plain obnoxious. Still, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see something that is funny, sincere, and has an important underlying message.