Friday’s openings: Lantern heads for New Zealand

So, for movie openings this week we'll begin with the Magic Lantern — Spokane's alternative theater that, in one variation or another, has been serving area movie fans for the last four-plus decades.

Opening Friday will be:

"Hunt for the Wilderpeople": Sam Neil and New Zealand newcomer Julian Dennison star in this comedy drama about a problem boy and his adopted family and what happens when, following a sudden plot turn, the boy takes off into the New Zealand wilds and Neil's character takes off in pursuit. Then, in short order, the whole of the nation goes in search of both of them.

Some critical comments: 

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: "New Zealand writer-director Taika Waititi blends sharply cynical humour with huge heart in arguably his best film to date."

Soren Andrson, Seattle Times: "Laugh-out-loud funny one minute, achingly sad the next, 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople' takes the audience on a rollicking yet poignant journey through the New Zealand backcountry in the company of a pair of engagingly eccentric characters."

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: " 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople' takes a troika of familiar story types - the plucky kid, the crusty geezer, the nurturing bosom - and strips them of cliché."