My Review of "Finding Ohana"

Finding Ohana is a typical treasure hunting family film that's written to appease a general audience. There's much to like in this innocent take on treasure hunting. Not only does it have you some wholesome fun but it delivers a nice message. The answer to the problems they face aren't quite as easy as they make them out in this movie but it's a movie so don't judge them too harshly. They had to put a lot into a 2 hour timespan.

This movie starts off with the main character Pili. We kind of lose the fact that she's supposed to be the main character later on in the movie but I believe this movie was supposed to be based on her. She lives in New York and her primary hobby there is geocaching.

I'm still not familiar with geocaching after watching this movie. She and her friends go on these adventures in the city that are reminiscent of the Amazing Race game show. They're given clues and they run around the city trying to figure out the clue to ultimately find the grand prize.

Pili has an older brother named E. He's is your typical older brother where the two don't really get along with one another. His character can be a bit irritating in the beginning of the movie. I think he's meant to be a little annoying so we could sympathize with Pili.

There is an unfortunate incident with their grandfather in Hawaii. He suffered a heart attack and their family is the only family he's got left. They pack their bags and go to Hawaii so that they can take care of him.

When they arrive to Hawaii we learn more of the family issues that has plagued them over the years. There is much pain and suffering from all sides of the family because of the death of Pili and E's father. Even worse Pili's grandfather doesn't like the fact that his grandchildren have become assimilated. They don't know much of their cultural heritage and they seem disinterested in learning about it as well.

All this kind of changes when Pili finds a hidden treasure map in her grandfather's trailer. She starts to get her geocaching itch again and it basically kickstarts the movie into adventure mode.

There are a ton of parallels to this movie and the Goonies. If you watch this movie carefully they inserted a ton of Easter eggs to pay homage to the movie. Like when they yell "Hey you guys!" or even the fact that the actor who plays Data in Goonies has a small role in this movie. It's just to keep that in mind if you're a big fan of the movie. I bet you'll be watching this movie extra carefully.

Still this is quite a different movie because Hawaiian culture is a big element to this movie. It almost seems like a beautiful Hawaiian commercial to get us all to go to Hawaii. Really they don't need to do this because at this point everyone is in lockdown and we'd all go to Hawaii in a heartbeat. They show a lot of the beautiful landscapes and even go into explaining the tourist attraction to these locales.

The heart of the movie is about the importance of family and culture. They kind of simplify the solution to the problem of assimilation in this movie. Not everyone will have the opportunity to move back to their motherland and suddenly have aspirations to learn about their own culture. It's ingrained in you to become embarrassed of your own culture throughout the years. People that are assimilated find it hard to speak in their mother tongue because they're embarrassed to say things incorrectly and get criticized. A lot of the underlying issues with assimilation aren't really addressed but it's a movie. You can't expect them to dive into all of those problems.

It's a family film and ultimately that's what you're going to get a nice simple story that will get resolved at the end. We'll be cheering for everyone in the end and it will be a happy ending. There's nothing wrong with this and what it does, it does very well in this movie.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie and I think this is a no brainer to watch this if you have kids. There is some annoyances in the beginning of their adventure, particularly with the older brother's antics but this is what's meant to be. I had a fun time watching it and really appreciate the Goonies references throughout the movie. I have to give this movie a 7 out of 10. For family films to come out in 2021 this is a good start.