User:Gerald Waldo Luis/reception

Critical reviews of Jojo Rabbit were mixed, according to aggregations. Rotten Tomatoes, who reported an overall "certified fresh" rating based on 421 reviews, summarized critical reviews with the fact that "Jojo Rabbit's blend of irreverent humor and serious ideas definitely won't be to everyone's taste—but either way, this anti-hate satire is audacious to a fault." Another aggregator, the Movie Review Query Engine, observed that majority of their 92 sampled reviews showed leaning rave towards the film. However Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, sampled 57 critics and got a less favorable result, one indicating mixed, yet leaning-positive, critical enjoyment. Audiences were found to be more liking of the film: those polled by CinemaScore gave it an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, and those at PostTrak gave the film a 96% overall positive score, with 87% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Most of the critical polarization were credited to the film's comedic take on Nazi Germany. Many critics found the goal to be creative and daring, with a large portion of them highlighting how the film teaches that hate is planted at a young age, and that fascism is masqueraded by absurdity, allowing for a universal spread of it. This side of critics observed many varying moral messages of the film. However, others find themselves incapable of accepting this thematic center, arguing that the film exploits the violence committed the Nazis for entertainment; a portion of this other side of critics find the humor in the film nonsensical and the film a failure. Critics also heavily argue on Jojo Rabbit 's overall treatment of the subject matter. Most on the latter side summarized that the film does a "sympathetic" portrayal of Nazis, pointing at the character of Captain Klenzendorf, whose identity was later debated: he was theorized as either a disillusioned Nazi or an army soldier completely disintegrated from Nazism. The latter also opined that it "humanizes" Nazis, arguing that the film seemed to suggest that Nazis are humans and can change. The raving critics disagree, stating that Jojo Rabbit is not suggesting the Nazis, but those indoctrinated by Nazis.

Brian Truitt, writing for USA Today, gave the film four out of four stars, calling it "brilliant Nazi-mocking satire", praising the performances and writing: "As much as it makes you laugh, Waititi's must-watch effort is a warm hug of a movie that just so happens to have a lot of important things to say." In a positive review, Steve Pond of TheWrap wrote that "there's real heart in Jojo Rabbit, too. This is a dark satire that finds a way to make a case for understanding. As circumstances slowly chip away at Jojo's hate-driven worldview, the black comedy finds room for some genuinely touching moments." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the movie 3.5 out of four stars, lauding it as "uncomfortably funny, unapologetically insensitive, cheerfully outrageous" and concludes that writer-director Waititi "delivers a timely, anti-hate fractured fairy tale." In another positive review, Stephanie Zacharek of Time wrote: "It's Waititi's ability to balance unassailable goofy moments with an acknowledgment of real-life horrors that makes the movie exceptional."

Variety's Owen Gleiberman said that the film "creates the illusion of danger while playing it safe" and wrote that "it lacks the courage of its own conventionality. It's a feel-good movie, all right, but one that uses the fake danger of defanged black comedy to leave us feeling good about the fact that we're above a feel-good movie." Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave the film a grade of "C", writing that "Despite a few flashes of tragedy, Jojo Rabbit lingers in a charming muddle of good vibes without really confronting their implications. [Waititi] may be one of the few working directors capable of injecting quirky scenarios with real depth, but in this case, he reduces the underlying circumstances—you know, that Holocaust thing—to a superficial prop."

A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that "The particulars of the evil can seem curiously abstract, and the portrayal of goodness can feel a bit false, and forced" and that "Elsa's Jewishness has no real content. She exists mainly as a teaching moment for Johannes. Her plight is a chance for him to prove his bravery." Keith Uhlich of Slant Magazine gave the film zero stars, criticising the film's premise, lack of historical accuracy and realism, and use of anti-semitic canards and stereotypes, and wrote that Waititi's performance as Hitler is "aiming for The Great Dictator but barely hitting Ace Ventura." Little White Lies' Hannah Woodhead criticised the film for its inclusion of a sympathetic Nazi character, Captain Klenzendorf, writing that it "feels oddly impartial, keen to note that actually, there were some Nice Nazis Too. That's not really something we need to hear in 2019, with white nationalism back in vogue and on the march across much of western civilisation."

The film received a negative critical reception in the UK, with Robbie Collin giving it one-star out of five, and saying that he was, "aghast", saying that the scenes at the camp were, "the laziest rip-off of Moonrise Kingdom I've seen in my life", and saying that, "there's no sense that anything is at stake [...] it sentimentalises and trivialises the Holocaust [...] the stuff that JoJo is indoctrinated with is made up of old Borat lines, and that's not what anti-Semitism is." Peter Bradshaw also gave it a one-star rating, saying, "There are no insights to be had - and no laughs", and calling it, "strangely redundant". Mark Kermode was slightly more positive, but still said that it was, "neither sharp enough nor funny enough to cut to the heart of its subject matter."