I'd definitely classify myself as a Waititi fan, but there are some crucial elements keeping me from fully enjoying this rather unique take on war from a child's perspective. We've seen plenty of attempts at something like this done differently, like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (another miss but for a different reason), but there are moments when this kind of fresh take on this sub-genre commits too hard to being like all of the others. It becomes a totally different movie tone-wise at key points and when it attempts to shift back into being a surreal-comedy it can be truly jarring. The humor and performances are wonderful, with the unfortunate exception of Waititi himself, as his broad Hitler parody doesn't totally gel with the rest of the events of the film. I can see why this kind of surreal or imaginary element is included: Jojo sees both Hitler and Jews as these sort of cartoonish caricatures at the beginning of the movie and slowly sees them for what they really are as it goes on. But Waititi's performance doesn't really reflect that, he barely gets more menacing or at all closer to the actual Hitler except for one scene, whereas Thomasin McKenzie totally does go through a change from this dirty, scary girl in the wall back into a more human looking (to Jojo) girl by the end.

Alfie Allen is the secret comedic weapon of this movie though. He doesn't speak much but every movement he made had me laughing.