Koala Kid

In the outback of Australia, the coward white koala Johnny is bullied by the other animals because of his color. When Johnny meets the Tasmanian devil Hamish and his friend, the mute photographer monkey Higgens, he is invited to join a traveling circus and Johnny leaves the wilderness to be an attraction in the sideshow.

While traveling to Precipice Lake, the wagon car of Johnny, Hamish and Higgens releases from the train and they crash in the desert. They walk together to the new location and stumbles with an oasis with a billabong, and they see a pack of dingoes attacking the animals. Johnny accidentally frightens the wild dogs that return to their boss, the evil crocodile Bog in Precipice Lake and Hamish introduces Johnny bragging that he is hero The Koala Kid. They are welcomed by the locals and Johnny is worshiped by the little Charlotte despite the disbelief of her sister Miranda. But when Charlotte is wrongly kidnapped by the dingoes, Johnny has to prove to himself that he can beat Bog and rescue Charlotte.

"The Outback" is an underrated and funny animation by Kyung Ho Lee with the cute story of a needy white koala that is rejected by the other animals and discovers that he can be brave to defend and save his beloved friends. The voice of Rob Schneider is another attraction in this entertaining adventure. Fortunately I did not care to the ridiculous IMDb User Rating and I saw a good animation. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Outback – Uma Galera Animal" ("Outback – An Animal Gang")

Watching 'Outback' online, as someone who loves animation and was drawn in by that it had talent like Tim Curry, Alan Cumming and Frank Welker on board (am indifferent to Rob Schneider though), generally found it a watchable but uneven film.

Can definitely see though why there are people who dislike 'Outback'. The Australian accents are distractingly broad and overdone, especially Rob Schneider as Mac the Kangaroo (who he reputedly voices on top of the hero Johnny) and, as much as it pains me to say it, Tim Curry (love him to bits but accents weren't always his forte and this was one of his worst, sounding like he was chewing on very sticky toffee at the time). One has to give credit that there wasn't a mishmash though, which would have been bizarre and confusing, like there was in some animated films personally seen recently (i.e. 2014's 'Ribbit').

Those who want depth in their films will be disappointed here. The only character to get any development is Johnny, and it's actually done well, he is a hero that is a diamond in the rough but has a heart of gold. The others are basically archetypes and one does get the sense that there are too many characters here to make them properly interesting. In particular, there didn't need to be as many villains as there were, the mix of animals was a strange one and it was better off having just Bog and Boris (maybe Blacktooth too but giving him more lines) because they were the only villains that had any degree of intrigue. The script does have humour, pathos and adventure, but could have executed them more frequently and consistently.

Story-wise it's interesting for the concept of having an albino koala, which was a good way of emphasising to younger audiences that different doesn't mean weird, and has a colourful beginning and a tense, exciting climax (without being too scary). It does tread quite familiar ground though and not only feels narratively flimsy and predictable but it also keeps going off on a tangent once the conflict is introduced and gets disjointed and tonally confused. The character designs are a bit stiff and not particularly representative of how technology/CGI has advanced over time and the synchronisation of voices and mouth movements is not always together and can be sloppy.

However, the Australian Outback scenery is beautifully rendered and there are some lovely colours throughout. The music is suitably peppy and accompanies the action very appropriately.

Voice acting is not perfect, particularly in the accent department, but there are standout good performances. Schneider should have been a disaster as Johnny, considering Johnny's personality when reading the synopsis Schneider on paper sounds completely wrong, but he wisely reigns in and is surprisingly likable. Frank Welker proves why he is one of the all-time greats in voice acting and Curry, despite the accent and having little to do, Curry makes the most of the chief henchman Blacktooth. The voice acting honours though go to Alan Cumming, who has a ball as the principal antagonist (actually an effectively sinister if under-developed, his motivation wasn't made clear, one).

'Outback' has enough moments of amusing humour, poignant pathos and some tense but never traumatising peril scenes. It gets off to a colourful start and ends on an exciting note, but the in-between is uneven and at times meandering (if never dull in pacing). Really liked what was done with the protagonist and appreciated the messages and values the film teaches.

All in all, watchable but uneven. 5/10 Bethany Cox

This film is the worst that I've ever seen. The animation is bad, the jokes are so bad it makes you want to bash your head repeatedly on wall and the voice acting doesn't even link up with the animation. With so much talented people behind it, it should have been pretty good, but no instead what we got was a turd on a plate. And may I also bring up the fact that this was released in 2012, the same year some good animated films were made like "Wreak it Ralph", "Brave" and "Paranorman". So to sum it all up, if you find this on DVD, BURN IT and save others from suffering this absolute S*itstorm of a movie.

Thanks for reading and Happy Watching

Journey down under and meet a whole new breed of hero in "Koala Kid," a laugh-filled, action-packed animated adventure with a rare white koala bear who just wants to fit in.KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Canela R likes this movie "because it has a funny story and at the same time, action and suspense is thrown in with lots of twists and turns." Below you'll find her full review.

Koala Kid by Canela Roey video review available here

"Koala Kid" is a animated film about a white Koala who doesn't he think he fits in with his community of gray Koalas and comes to believe that he has special talents which he thinks can prove to everyone that he belongs. He does this by going on a miraculous journey to defeat an evil crocodile named Bog.

The Koala Kid's name is Johnny and he's voiced by Rob Schneider. As his journey continues he meets Miranda, a gray Koala (Yvonne Strahvoski), Hamish the Tasmanian Devil (Bret McKenzie) and his Monkey Photographer Lokie (Charlie Bewley). They battle with their wits and through action with Bog the villainous Crocodile (Alan Cumming, the Bad Guy from Spy Kids!) and his chief henchman, Blacktooth the Dingo (Tim Curry).

There is one moment that seems to capture the humor and suspense of this movie perfectly. When Bog the evil Croc is sleeping, the tiny wombats take Snorkles into the pond and capture Bog with a net. When Bog awakes, he shrugs them off of him as if it is nothing. I didn't want to laugh because the Wombats are so cute, but it is funny.

I really like the animation in this film because it feels as if you're really in the hot outback with all these fun characters.

The colorfulness adds to the fun I experienced. There is also one song in the movie which continues the colorfulness and had both me AND my mom tapping our feet, "Do You Come From a Land Down Under." I think I'm still tapping my feet.

I think the message of this movie is no matter what you look like, you can always become a hero.

If you like adventurous cartoons as much as I do, then "Koala Kid" is the movie for you. I recommend this to kids ages six to sixteen because as much as it is a lifelong lesson that you can always use. There are some suspenseful moments that could be scary to the younger ones.

I rate this movie five out of five stars because it's hilarious and colorful which speaks to the mind of kids and teens.

"Koala Kid" is available now on DVD. For more film reviews, visit kidsfirst.org.

The animation is the only thing decent in this movie! None of the voices even go close to Australian accents. The scenery is inaccurate and the wildlife depicted are a far cry from Australian creatures. The creators of this movie would have done a much better job if they had hired some great'Australian voices like Geoffrey Rush, Hugh Jackman or Nicole Kidman. To hire New Zealand and American actors to depict Aussie accents is an insult to Australia. They should have also visited Australia to get a more accurate view of the scenery in the Outback! Do yourself a favour and watch Crocodile Dundee instead if you want an Aussie fix.