Finding ‘Ohana

Story

Pili (Kea Peahu) and Ioane ‘E’ (Alex Aiono) live in New York with their mother, Leilani (Kelly Hu). When Leilani’s father, Kimo (Branscombe Richmond), has a heart attack, the family flies to their native home of O‘ahu, Hawaii to help with his health and financial problems.

Soon after their arrival, Pili sneaks into Kimo’s art studio, where she finds the diary of Monks (Ricky Garcia), a sailor who documented his crew’s journey to O‘ahu, and the treasure they hid away. Pili is almost caught but is saved by a local boy named Casper (Owen Vaccaro). Meanwhile, E meets a local girl named Hana (Lindsay Watson) and is immediately infatuated with her.

Kimo discovers Pili with the diary. Though initially upset, he takes Pili to explore the island. But Kimo ends up falling and breaking a rib. Pili feels responsible for Kimo’s injury and decides to seek out the lost treasure to make up for it. Pili and Casper sneak off, with E and Hana chasing them down.

Following the directions in the diary, the gang of four navigates through the challenges of the treasure cave, including the ‘Jaws of Death’, venomous spiders, and underwater tunnels. They make it through the trials and find the treasure, only to discover it’s stored in a sacred tomb. By taking the treasure, they summon the ‘Nightmarchers’, the deadly ghosts of ancient tribal Hawaiian warriors. They offer the treasure back to the Nightmarchers and are spared their lives.

In the end, the family chooses to stay in Hawaii and reconnect with their cultural roots.

Themes

Family death; family arguments and fighting; injury; illness; crime

Violence

Finding ʻOhana has some violence. For example:

E shoves Pili into a chair, sits on her and then punches her. She retaliates by pinching his nipples.
After being startled by Casper, Pili drops him onto the floor and threatens to punch him.
A sailor says, ‘Our captain is gonna kill us’.
While holding pistols and knives, a sailor says, ‘You wanna mutinise?’
A sailor stabs someone with a piece of bread. The dialogue says, ‘Brown was so deadly he could kill with a piece of bread’.
The sailors get in a sword fight with each other. No blood or injury is shown during the fight, but skeletons are scattered around the cave with bullet holes and daggers stuck in them, showing that they died during the battle.

Sexual references

Finding ʻOhana has some sexual references. For example:

When fighting with Pili, E calls out, ‘You just nearly tore off my nip’.
When entering the underwater cave, Casper shouts, ‘Ah, my bits!’
When he sees the height from the top of the waterfall, Casper exclaims, ‘Balls!’

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Finding ʻOhana shows no substance use.

Nudity and sexual activity

Finding ʻOhana has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

The camera zooms in on E’s bottom as Pili tries to take his phone.
Casper takes his shirt off so that Pili can wipe her nose.
Hana gets asked on a date.
E and Hana flirt.
Hana sits on E’s legs and bottom while he’s trying to lift Casper out of the cave. E comments approvingly on how she’s sitting.
E and Hana embrace after crossing the ravine.
E and Hana hold hands.
E and Hana kiss.

Product placement

The following products are displayed, used or mentioned in Finding ʻOhana:

Spam meat
iPhone
Jurassic Park and Lost
Google
Meghan Trainer’s All the Ways
the Black Eyed Peas’ Pump It
Instagram.

Coarse language

Finding ʻOhana has some coarse language and insults, including ‘loser’, ‘Back off butt-faces’, ‘stupid’, ‘the butthole to hell’, ‘oh sh-’ and ‘I’m gonna kill you’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Finding ‘Ohana is an adventure movie that draws on Hawaiian language and culture. The cultural appreciation and key messages of Finding ʻOhana are positive, but the movie’s themes, scary scenes, violence and language mean it’s best suited to teenage and older viewers. We recommend parental guidance for children aged 10-12 years.

The main messages from Finding ʻOhana are appreciating family and embracing your cultural heritage. Additionally, the movie emphasises the need for resilience and perseverance to overcome challenges and achieve goals.

Values in Finding ʻOhana that you could reinforce with your children include family, cultural connection, love, friendship, courage, honesty, dedication and perseverance.

Finding ʻOhana could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like body image. For example, Kimo tells E and Pili that they ‘looked taller in the pictures, skinnier too’. Children watching this movie might compare themselves to E and Pili, with damaging consequences.