On the family bus "Kevin," driving through a vague highway in the Pacific Northwest, the father of the family, Ben (Viggo Mortensen) asks his daughter, Vespyr (Annalise Basso) what she's reading. She indicates that it's "Lolita," the controversial novel by the late Russian author Vladimir Nabokov about a middle-aged man's infatuation and eventual coital relationship with his step-child. Vespyr at first calls the book "interesting" but, after a little prodding from the family, she goes out to fully express herself, describing the injustice of perspective used in the book and the criminality of the plot. However, Vespyr starts to come around talking about the beauty of his love, and she comes around to talk about how she doesn't approve of the antagonist but still feels sorry for him.

I think that this is what first-time writer-director Matt Ross ("Silicon Valley") wanted us to conclude about the family — and specifically Ben — in "Captain Fantastic." We meet a family of at least eight children and father Ben in the wilderness, and we start to find out that Ben and his wife, Leslie, were fed up with American culture and decided to start a family in the wilderness. Think "Cheaper By The Dozen" meets "The Revenant." This children of this family have little exposure to the outside world, and, when they do, it doesn't work too well for them. The children are put through tough exercises, also known as "training", and even the youngest of the children need to hunt for food.

Ben's parenting methods are obviously unorthodox, but the camaraderie of the family, bolstered by the acting but founded on Ross' screenplay, makes us admire Ben even if we don't necessarily agree with him.

The plot kicks off dark with Ben hearing that Leslie committed suicide in a hospital that was trying to treat her for mental illness. We never see Leslie, aside from a couple dreams/visions Ben experiences, but the emotional effect resonates with us with a gripping scene of Ben's telling the children and the children's subsequent reactions of crying at confused, unfocused anger. The majority of the film is spent with Ben and the family driving to California for Leslie's funeral.

Although the handling of this emotional subject was near perfect for Ross, it's hard to think that it was little more than a McGuffin for the family to leave their habitat. Despite this, the family clashing with America provides us with an educational yet entertaining critique on the culture, covering topics like education, the food industry, religion and, above all, parenting.

"Captain Fantastic" is a nice little summer flick, sprawling yet understated, and while it does have flaws that could take less charismatic movies off the reels, the unpretentious, good-natured spirit makes us admire it anyway.

7/10