Released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Out Now to Rent

Taking the traditional theme of family conflict and giving it an ancient destiny fulfilled twist Whale Rider is an emotional journey and a truly wonderful movie.

The biggest movie to come out of New Zealand since a certain trilogy, the multi award winning Whale Rider tells the story of a Moari tribe living in a remote coastal New Zealand town, Koro is King of the tribe and only a male can continue the Kingly line, when his grandchildren are born (twins) and the boy dies Koro is not willing to accept his grand-daughter Paikea as a future leader of the tribe. To make matters worse Paikea has been named after the fabled Whale Rider and not only that Koro is convinced that Paikea is to blame for the misfortune that is plaguing the tribe. Further trouble befalls the tribe when a whale is stranded on the beach, does this spell the end of the tribe or is this the chance for Paikea to prove her true worth.

If all this sounds somewhat serious or even dour then don’t believe it, Whale Rider is very very witty, albeit with a serious heart, Keisha Castle-Hughes is a real find as young Paikea and there won’t be a dry eye to be seen during Paikea’s emotional speech sequence. Although set in modern times the film could just have easily been set anytime in the last few thousand years, Whale Rider is a real joy, a film the whole family can watch, which is something of a rarity in today's modern world.

EXTRAS A good package of extras is featured and include a commentary from director Niki Caro, a  batch of deleted scenes, a featurette on Te Waka - Building the Canoe, a couple of trailers, a photo gallery, a DVD Rom feature of a knitting pattern from designer Margaret Lewis (not your usual type of extra it has to be said!), best of all though is the chance to see Keisha Castle-Hughes original audition footage which makes it obvious that film makers could have chosen no-on else for the part.