A teenage girl wants nothing more than to remain with her lifelong pet and companion – the super pig Okja – in Korean auteur Bong Joon- ho's latest film. Everything else is just stuff that gets in the way.

Bong delivers one of Netflix's better high profile original films in "Okja," a quirky yet topical yet big-hearted film. Similar to Bong's 2006 breakout film "The Host," a monster movie about a doltish dad who will do anything to rescue his daughter, "Okja" plays to family themes (a girl and her pet) but presents them through a mature, adult lens (corporate greed, environmentalism, genetic science).

So the context of "Okja" is complicated, but the story is quite simple and human. 14-year-old Mija (An Seo-hyun) has lived with her grandfather on a mountainside farm in South Korea for most of her life with Okja, a super pig gifted to the farm by Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) and the Mirando Corporation as part of a competition to develop the pigs as a non-GMO food source to help fight hunger. When the corporation and super pig judge Johnny Wilcox (Jake Gyllenhaal) come to collect, Okja is clearly the finest of the super pigs in the world, and they endeavor to take her to New York City. Mija follows them to Seoul and attempts to get her friend back, coming up against the corporation and a group of animal rights activists, all of which have different agendas for Okja.

Hilarious and deeply disturbing, violent but also quite warm, Bong has created another distinctive film that makes him one of the most interesting filmmakers that not enough people are talking about. The mixed bag of tones will certainly turn off viewers who aren't sure what to do with a film that doesn't fit in any one neatly labeled genre box, those with an open mind will appreciate the way he tells extremely accessible stories that address complicated themes.

Okja means a lot of things to a lot of people: friendship and stability to Mija; money, science and reputation to the Mirando Corporation; injustice and corporate greed to the animal liberation group; and affordable food to the masses. The plot is essentially these competing interests sorting themselves out.

Part of what makes "Okja" distinctive is the caricaturized supporting roles that make everything feel just a shade unusual. As she did in Bong's last film, "Snowpiercer," Swinton so effortlessly creates a wildly larger than life character portrait that simultaneously feels grounded in reality. Gyllenhaal, on the other hand, is infuriatingly grating as the eccentric loose cannon TV personality, but his character is a signal to the audience of how to look at and think of the world of the film.

Bong has such a specific perspective on society that comes through in way subtle and not in "Okja." He brilliantly whittles the story down to one pivotal moment at the end, and the outcome of all this chaos suggests he's neither pessimistic nor optimistic. Perhaps he would argue that it's not his business to come down one way or another, but simply to use a giant hippo-like pig to at least prove that our world is majorly – and maybe unnecessarily – complicated

~Steven C

Thanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

The basic idea behind "Okja" could have worked well. However, one-dimensional and cartoonish characters as well as writing really sink this film the longer you watch it.

The story begins with a big press conference where a CEO announces to the world that her company will be doing something HUGE to counter world hunger....but everyone must wait ten years to see what it is.

The scene now switches to the mountains of South Korea. A girl is running about with her beloved pet, Okja, an obviously genetically modified beast which is supposed to be a pig but really looks much more like a GIGANTIC hippo. It's a very cute and sweet creature and I loved this part of the film...and wanted to see more.

Soon evil corporate folks as well as a celebrity animal lover (Jake Gyllenhaal) show up to take photos and to take the animal back to New York City. Apparently, of the 26 genetically modified pig-things, it's been chosen the best and they want to parade it about for a big promotional tour...as well as do EVIL things to it.

However, before they can do this, Okja is saved by some nice animals rights folks from the ALF (a group actually characterized by the FBI as a dangerous terrorist organization due to their violent methods) come to rescue the piggy-thingy. But they want to also use Okja to prove to the world that animals are wonderful and eating meat is evil (a very first world sort of attitude).

So what did I hate about this film? Well, a lot. First, Jake Gyllenhaal is my favorite contemporary movie star....and he is absolutely horrible in this part. Part of this is because of how it was written and part of his is his hammy, cartoon-like performance. I was just shocked at how bad it was...and disappointed. Could this be the same guy who was so impressive in films like "Nightcrawler", "Source Code", "Donnie Darko" and "Prisoners"?! Second, most of the folks in the film are walking cartoons...one-dimensional and poorly written as well. The corporate people are all evil and the ALF members, for the most part, are nice (although a few of them were amazingly violent towards people in the film). There just didn't seem to be a lot of middle ground here. Third, and I already mentioned this, but the film seems like a delight for first world folks but is insulting to the starving people of the planet. If they really could produce such a huge genetically modified animal and it helped end world hunger, that would be a good thing...unless you are a vegan or vegetarian. And, to show you how evil it is, they showed some slaughterhouse scenes...and slaughterhouses are gross and nasty....just like starvation.

What could have been a nice girl and her piggy-thingy movie turned out to be poorly written beyond the basic idea. Poorly written characters, some poor acting and some serious logical problems (such as it being incredibly easy to steal Okja from the corporation...even though it's a priceless animal) left me flat. I know many people like this film, I just found it to be very original but incredibly flawed....as well as, in a way, a propaganda film with an apparent agenda.

OKJA is the latest film from Korean director Bong Joon Ho, a man who previously wowed us with his work on MEMORIES OF MURDER, THE HOST, and SNOWPIERCER. Sadly, this is by far the worst film I've seen from him, a heavy-handed moralising message movie that seems like an advert for PETA. The story features a cute Korean girl going on the run with her genetically modified giant pig Okja, while a cruel corporation tries to cut the beast up for sausages.

It's as simple as that, and very reminiscent of Hollywood and films like SHORT CIRCUIT at times. However, OKJA plays out as a zany comedy for the most part and it just isn't at all funny. It feels like a silly kid's film complete with fart and poo jokes and the like but there's swearing and violence throughout, so tonally it's all over the place. As usual, the Korean stars outclass their Western counterparts time and again. Tilda Swinton returns from SNOWPIERCER and is dreadful in a dual role, but Jake Gyllenhaal is even worse with his over-the-top turn and I cringed with embarrassment to see him like this. Shirley Henderson plays the same role she's been playing for decades while Paul Dano veers between creepy and comatose. THE WALKING DEAD's Steven Yuen is better, but he needed more screen time. The other problem I had with OKJA is that I didn't find the titular creature to be either endearing or convincing, despite the best efforts of the CGI animators.