Screen Scene: “Eagle vs Shark”

“Eagle vs Shark”

Director Taika Cohen

Miramax Films

4.5 Paws Out Of 5

Don’t make me say it. Every other review is going to mention it. But I won’t mention that other movie. You know, the one about the kid in Idaho who wears moon boots and has a llama? I will not mention it, even though “Eagle vs Shark,” the newest offering from New Zealand director Taika Cohen, shares much in common with that other, nameless film.

“Eagle vs Shark” is chiefly concerned with the lives of misfits. The story centers around Lily (Loren Horsley), a hopelessly nerdy employee of the local fast food emporium, Meaty Boy, and her infatuation with the deadpan and geeky Jarrod (Jemaine Clement of the comedy duo “Flight of the Conchords”).

The film’s strongest point is its portrayal of these two main characters and their overwhelmingly quirky relationship: they bond over a mid-’90s style video game called “Fight Man,” as well as their matching upper-lip moles. Lily even finds Jarrod’s candle-making hobby cool. But there are obstacles to their relationship, the main ones being Jarrod’s preoccupation with exacting an elaborate revenge campaign on a Samoan bully from high school and Jarrod’s odd relationship with his extended family.

The events of the film take place in a sort of late-’80s or early-’90s analog timewarp, where the best computer hacker is running Windows 95 and Jarrod’s favorite video game looks like the arcade version of the original Mortal Kombat.

The action of the film is often intercut with stop-motion animation sequences, which is appropriately primitive for the film. The animation adds to the film’s unique charm and also suits the awkward personae of Lily and Jarrod.

While all these details might seem like quirkiness for quirk’s sake, the really wacky parts of the script are balanced by an undercurrent of sadness. For example, Lily lives with only her cartoonist older brother as a result of the sudden deaths of her parents. Jarrod’s family is also affected by a similar tragedy.

And their tragic pasts serve to somewhat explain the naivete and social awkwardness exhibited by the two leads, which a lesser film would have left unexplained. However, when Jarrod’s behavior towards Lily becomes increasingly more erratic, it begins to seem as if Cohen’s script is just trying to be the anti-romantic comedy ““ making unexpected choices simply for the sake of shocking the audience.

Even for all its sometimes forced zaniness and offbeat choices, “Eagle vs Shark” ultimately succeeds by balancing comedy and pathos and having a bigger heart than “Napoleon Dynamite.”

Had to mention it once, for clarity’s sake.

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