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Napoleon Dynamite |  | Director: Jared Hess
Actors: Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell, Diedrich Bader
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $8.99
as of 9/6/2010 16:07 PDT details
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New (64) Collectible (2) from $4.75
Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  1269 reviews
Sales Rank: 1745
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 024543143925
UPC: 024543143925
EAN: 0024543143925
ASIN: B00005JNBQ
Theatrical Release Date: August 27, 2004
Release Date: December 21, 2004
Shipping: Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping
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Stills from Napolean Dynamite (Click for larger image)
Product Description
A high school outcast throws caution to the wind to help his new friend get elected class president.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 1269
 The New Mormon Cinema Finds Its Poster Boy December 7, 2004
R. W. Rasband (Heber City, UT)
37 out of 41 found this review helpful
For the past few years there has been a movement in American film you could call "The New Mormon Cinema." Young Latter-day Saint filmmakers (definitely inspired by the Sundance Film Festival which is held right in their own backyard) have been making inexpensive independent films that are targeted at the Mormon population that stretches in the west from Alberta in Canada down past the Mexican border (the so-called "Mormon Corridor.") Most of these movies have been really bad, cheaply done sit-com influenced "comedies" that have had absolutely no influence on non-Mormon audiences. (With the honorable exeception of Richard Dutcher, the director of good movies like the missionary drama "God's Army" and the thriller "Brigham City.") Things began to change this year with widespread recognition going to the tough-minded World War II drama "Saints and Soldiers" and this twisted little comic masterpiece, "Napoleon Dynamite."
Jared and Jerusha Hess are products of Brigham Young University's film school and they made ND with a bunch of their friends. The unspoken assumption of this film is that most of the kids are Mormons. Some critics who misunderstood the movie as "condescending" have no experience with real people like these. I live in rural Utah and I can testify that Hess is only mildly exaggerating. The critics somehow miss the love with which the characters are drawn, just as some Minnesotans weren't too thrilled with the Coen brothers' "Fargo." Napoleon's pathetic older brother Kip has been singled out as particularly unbelievable. But believe me, Kips are a dime a dozen in Idaho (and Utah, too.)
Napoleon himself is not so much acted as incarnated by Jon Heder, who would win some sort of Oscar if people could only see he was playing a role, not living it. Napoleon is the real nerd deal, not some idealized John-Hughes-style Hollywood version. You really feel the anguish of his life, even as it provokes guilty belly laughs. The genius of the movie is how the Hesses take the angst of Todd Solondz ("Welcome to the Dollhouse" and "Happiness") and put their triumphantly uniquely Mormon spin on it.
Hess is the second Mormon director, after Neil LaBute in "The Shape of Things", to make reference to singer Elvis Costello ("Napoleon Dynamite" is one of Costello's aliases.) The movie Napoleon is as physically unprepossessing as Costello is, until he starts to sing. You see, Mormons are always worrying about what other people think of them, because of their long-time outsider status in American society. This overwhelming self-consciousness can make them feel as awkward and crushed by the culture as Napoleon is. But inside they just know they are as dynamic as the very name "Napoleon Dynamite." The opportunity awaits for them to strut their true stuff. An individual like Napoleon can't be destroyed if he doesn't want to be. There's something eternal in him that will win out. The importance of this thought is why the Hesses avoid the very appearance of sentimentality in their presentation of Napoleon. You have to learn to love him in spite of his monstrous imperfections, because he is human. And you rejoice in Napoleon's final dance, which is five or six of the most joyous minutes in a movie this year.
It's also important that Kip and Napoleon redeem themselves by reaching out to others not like them. Kip hilariously to La Fawnduh, and Napoleon to Pedro and Deb. The Hesses are brave enough to make sympathetic jokes about multiculturalism here. Certainly, Preston Idaho, won't save them; but maybe Detroit and Mexico will. I left "Napoleon Dynamite" with genuinely earned good feelings about humanity in general and the future of Mormon movies in particular.
Geeeze Don't be an "Idiot" just see it! October 24, 2004
Harvey S. Jacobs (Potomac, MD)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I knew absolutley nothing about this flick when my 14 year old red-headed math whiz son said Dad let's go see this movie. From the opening credits I was entertained. This movie, is essentially a "day in the life of an Idaho high school nerd as he moves through various life cycle events and characters." Though the word "nerd" hardly seems to do justice to the timeless nature of title character Napoleon Dynamite. With little or no plot, Napoleon turned out to be more than part nostalgia. It was a stroll down memory lane. If I did not know that the writers in fact lived in Idaho, I would have sworn they had gone to my High School in South Florda in the late 70's. Our Senior Class Vice-President was in fact PEDRO from Mexico, our class Secretary, Melanie a blonde buxom cheerleader incarnate of this films' fictional "Summer" character and our Treasurer sported a huge Afro and all were clad in their finest disco outfits.
I guess this is why this sleeper film has gained such popularity. Forty-something dads and their teen kids can both see this movie together and come out repeating its hysterical dialogue. The current crop of teen viewers are living these absurd stereotypes and situations (dating, class elections, high school dances, the cafeteria). The oldsters in the audience either were, or knew one or more of this film's quirky characters.
The acting and dialogue are pure genius in their simplicity and absurdity. As other reviewers have mentioned, lines from this flick will become folklore. I found myself sitting around our family dinner table spouting off Napoleonisms reminiscent of the best of Monty Python.
Definitely go see this movie without any pre-conceptions, or expectations, you will be pleasantly surprised.
Do the chickens have large talons? November 23, 2004
Eric Saed
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Here is the essence of why this film is a rare gem: it portrays High School Misfits as they actually are. When I was in high school, the "nerds" and "dweebs" were not like the Hollywood stereotypes...you know, really smart, eager to please the "jocks" by doing their homework for them, into computers, etc...the sterotype that began with Revenge of the Nerds and never died. No, the bottom feeders in my school were like Nappy D. They just didn't look right. They weren't eager to please, they were irratable & antagonistic, like Napoleon. They did weird things (Napoleon throws an action figure on a string out the bus window; I remember a kid who walked around in the halls making truck noises). No, this is the perfect embodiment of what it is like to be a teenage nothing, and how in their world, everything is OK.
This 33 year old physician laugh more than he has in years. January 31, 2005
James G. Henderson (IA United States)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
For people like Roger Ebert who pan this movie... you just don't get it.
I'm not claiming any intellectual superiority or great film taste... it's just that I get it.
Perhaps because I see elements of Napoleon Dynamite in me. For instance... his response on the bus "whatever I feel like. Gosh!" When I was in 4th grade I moved from a northern town in Illinois (Geneseo) to a small town called Lousville (pronounced Lewis-ville) in very southern Illinois where the culture was very different and people had Alabama-like accents. When I was riding on the schoolbus, my first day in mid-semester, I was petrified. Everyone stared at me as they stopped at my delapidated trailer to pick me up. A little girl turned around and asked "What's your naaaaame?" To which I replied "shuuuuuuuuuuuut uuuuuup!" And from that day on was greeted by everyone in unison shouting "HI SHUUUUUTUUUP" as I walked on the bus. My reply was out of a vain effort at self-defense... not mean-ness.. and so was Napoleons.
Napoleon's journey was a remarkable, willful transformation, as was that of Deb and Pedro. Kip was amusingly transformed, but not so much with self-awareness. Uncle Rico was the only static character, which made it all the more funny because he had not changed since 1982.
Of all the lines, the one where Napleon told Deb to get her stuff because there wasn't enough room for his nunchucks made me laugh the most histerically.
Almost all the humor, other than "the dance" was rooted in hilarious subtlety and satire. I mean, how could I not be floored by someone bragging about chatting with hot babes online.... ALL DAY!
The bizarre time-period (An elegant collage of the 70's, 80's, and 90's) gives this film a wide audience and uses silly things from all decades to make it more hilarious.
My conclusion is that people who don't like this movie are either 1) TOO nerdy to realize they are only the one side of the nerdy characters 2) They ARE Summer Wheatley 3) People like Roger Ebert who are absolutely clueless about the level of subtle humor in this film.
To the people comparing this to laughing at clowns... their reviews had me laughing as much as the movie... it's a total comedy in itself. ND is not a clown, he's flippin Superman in moonboots with a fro!
The ONLY other DVD I own is Monty Python's the Holy Grail... which also has incredibly intelligent subtle humor woven into the surface silliness.
For the intellect and the funny bone, I give ND a 5/5 stars. As far as those complaining about the "terrible" soundtrack, I wish I could give it 6/5 stars for having "Forever Young" by Alphaville and "The Promise" by When In Rome as too of the main songs in the soundtrack.
This thing just gets funnier the more I watch it.
P.S. Dear Roger Ebert... please watch this film again, then watch the piece of junk that "Garfield" is, and look at yourself in the mirror and cry.
can you bring me my chapstick? February 3, 2005
M.V. (Carle Place)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I rented this out of curiosity, and i was not disappointed. It is quirky, sweet and absolutely hysterical at certain parts.
I def. rooted for Napolean at the end even though it took me a while to warm up to him.Loved Pedro and Deb, and Kip and Uncle Rico, they all had a certain sweetness about them. I've bought the soundtrack just because it has a lot of dialogue from the movie on it and i laugh hysterically at it.Also there are some really good old 80's tunes throughout.
You will be quoting this movie for a long time to come.
I def. believe in my heart that there is something for everyone in this movie to laugh at.
one question though what the heck is the year that it's supposed to be set in?
bottom line is just give it a chance.
:)
Showing reviews 1-5 of 1269
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