When his father returns from prison, an adolescent has to wrestle with the possibility that his dad is less interested in him and more in a fortune stashed away in this comedy-drama blend from New Zealand. The film gets off to a delightfully quirky start with humorous cutaways as the title character introduces us to his brother with "special powers", his pet goat and close friends. There is also a lot to like in the responsibility he takes for his brother and his keen interest in Michael Jackson music with the 1980s setting. The magic is not quite the same though when his father enters the picture. Director Taika Waititi is decent enough as the long-absent patriarch who feels so far removed from his son that he asks the boy to refer to him by a different name. There is also a telling scene in which he tells him "we are like bros, you and me", highlighting just how little interest he has in being a father. Solid drama though this provides as the protagonist has to contend with disillusionment, the laughs are not really there and the film never once recaptures its initial zaniness. Of course, this could be argued as a deliberate change of genre to coincide with growing up, but what Waititi does best is quirkiness with some heart and as such this mostly just feels like a stepping stone before 'What We Do in the Shadows' and 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople', the latter of which has laughs from start to finish.