Meeting Ohana’s review: Netflix made a touching version of Goonies

Netflix recently tried to make superhero and spy films made for children, so it’s appropriate that your next adventure for children follows another known genre: treasure hunting. In the classic treasure hunt tradition of 1985 The Goonies, Finding ‘Ohana follows a group of children facing a series of dangers as they search for a secret pirate treasure. But director Jude Weng adds an updated touch to the idea, turning the biggest bets on children’s family dramas and adding specific notes about the Hawaiian culture that defines the characters.

Although the film stretches a lot with some plot points and adds some unnecessary conflicts, Finding ‘Ohana uses his search tale to tell a sweet story about reconnecting with family and culture.

[Ed. Note: This review contains slight spoilers for Finding ’Ohana.]

The family’s journey begins when the 12-year-old geocaching enthusiast Pili (Kea Peahu) ends up in Hawaii with his mother Leilani (Kelly Hu) and his older brother Ioane (Alex Aiono) after his grandfather, Pope (Branscombe Richmond ), a heart attack. Although Pili and Ioane were born in Hawaii, they lived in Brooklyn most of their lives. Leilani is worried about her father, but has had some unresolved tension with him since she left the island, years ago, after her husband’s death.

Pili is initially disappointed with the trip, because she is keeping her away from the geocaching camp. But then she discovers an old diary detailing hidden treasures. Along with courageous animal lover Casper (Owen Vaccaro) and responsible teenager Hana (Lindsay Watson), Pili and Ioane begin to search for the lost fortune, hoping she can save their grandfather’s lands from foreclosure.

The complex family dynamics center the film, although some of the conflicts become more relevant than others. The strongest threads end up coming from the characters that are together for most of the film. After a second accident, Papa is bedridden and he and Leilani fight over what this means for their future, while Ioane and Pili must resolve their differences during a dangerous mission. These bows gain nuance and weight, without a clear right or wrong. In the end, all family members began to understand each other a little better. Ioane and Pili look like real brothers, from the very specific things they provoke each other to the way they physically fight. The treasure hunt is important for the film, but the family dynamic gives Finding ‘Ohana your heart.

Less smooth, however, is the disconnect between Leilani and her children. The film suggests that it has to do with their dead father, but while Ioane calls his mother for not spending enough time with them at home and throwing herself into work, it is never clear what her job is. Ioane and Pili feel betrayed because their mother would consider selling her apartment in Brooklyn without consulting them, while Leilani feels guilty for leaving her father behind. That alone would be heavy enough, without the absent and work-obsessed part, which seems to have been added to further complicate the emotions. But as children spend most of the film away from their mother, their problems are not resolved as well.

As for the treasure hunt itself, as well as that of 2019 Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Finding ‘Ohana he manages to keep looking for excitement in the archaeological adventure genre, but also interrogates some of its ugliest aspects. As much fun as treasure hunting can be on adventures like Indiana Jones and The mom film franchises, depends on the desecration of tombs and the theft of artifacts from other cultures. Inside Finding ‘Ohana, this is very subverted: Pili and his friends want to find the treasure to help save their grandfather’s land, but realize the glory and riches that are not important.

They find the diary’s hidden cave, and their journey is full of natural obstacles and traps, scary spiders and scary skeletons. While Pili, Ioane, Hana and Casper venture into the cave, they unite and discuss and eventually piece together the full story behind the hidden treasure. It is gratifying to see your game evolve. And in the end, Weng finds a way to discover the adventure – the characters deal with the consequences of stumbling into places they shouldn’t and finally learning more about their own Hawaiian culture.

The film works best when it focuses on two things: treasure hunting and family history. They come together beautifully, with the brothers learning more about local legends and customs and each other through their adventure. But there are a handful of superfluous plot points that are not treated in such an organized manner. Ioane finds a secret Juilliard app in Hana’s car, which immediately disappears from the plot, is brought up for three seconds in the third act of the film and then discarded again. They end up kissing, because of course, why not add a random teen romance? Most of the treasure hunt is exciting, but a few pegs – like a deadly spider bite – only undermine the overall mission. Weng and stretch the film very thin in points, when they should just focus on the film’s central strengths.

Because in the end, Finding ‘Ohana it’s not about those extra plot points. Hell, it’s not even about finding a treasure. It is about reconnecting with the family and discovering a cultural heritage. This cultural specificity is what separates it from the past treasure hunt films, where the thrill of hunting came from the glory of riches; inside Finding ‘Ohana, Hawaiian cultural customs and legends add color to the fun, but also reinforce familiar themes. Most of the time, Weng mixes adventure and sentimentality, but when it comes to that, Finding ‘Ohana it works when you focus on ohana at its core.

Finding ‘Ohana is now streaming on Netflix.