It’s been a while since we’ve heard from the talking animal set. I know that this sub-genre is something of a regular punching bag on this blog, but something I feel the need to point out is that that reputation doesn’t come from any real disdain for the sub-genre itself, or kids’ entertainment, or animals in general. It’s just that there are a lot of films that come out every year that feature talking animals, and most of them are made quickly and on-the-cheap to create disposable fluff because anthropomorphic animals are easy for kids and kids-at-heart to latch onto. I mean, I grew up in the era of PS2 platform mascots; I get the appeal. And yeah, this latest iteration is as light as light entertainment, but… something feels different about this one.
Without exception, this is the most likeable Isla Fisher has ever been in a film. Playing Maddie, a taipan who leads a group of ‘ugly’ creatures out of a zoo enclosure and back out into the wild, she exudes so much warmth and palpably-relatable apprehension about her place in the world. It helps that she surrounded by equally stable talent, like Guy Pearce as Frank the sexually-frustrated spider, Angus Imrie as Nigel the scorpion who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of colours, Miranda Tapsell as Zoe the thorny devil, and Tim Minchin as the koala social media sensation Pretty Boy. To say nothing of the myriad of other voice actors attached to this thing, from Jacki Weaver to Rachel House to Kylie Minogue, and of course Eric Bana in a refreshing return to his comedic roots as Chaz the zookeeper.
As you can probably tell just from the character descriptions, there’s a lot of personality to go around here, and with it comes one of the most consistent hit-to-miss ratios I’ve seen in a comedic talking animal flick. It’s all born from the Australian approach to humour, and outside of a couple instances of referencing things that Americans think are Australian but actually aren’t (like a brief mention of blooming onions), this feels like a proper Aussie production. It doesn’t have the same distance as something like Finding Nemo, which was largely set in Australia but was very clearly from an American point-of-view, and it makes for a pretty cool display of our native wildlife. In more ways than one, in fact.
The main message of the film is basically what UglyDolls should have been (with Reel FX doing the animation for both films), with the main characters pushing past the surface-level judgments the rest of the world puts on them about being ugly and scary and capable of killing 100 humans with a single drop of venom. It’s a nice sentiment regarding family and finding your own tribe… but it’s also a pretty interesting take on how Australia itself is perceived by the rest of the world. When we aren’t being brought up because half of the country is on fire, it’s usually in relation to how this continent is home to some of the deadliest animals in the world; “Come to Australia; you might accidentally get killed”, that kind of thing.
Except what that perception does is create hostility towards that same wildlife, whether it intends to harm us or otherwise. And on the flipside, it also highlights how we tend to commodify cuteness in animals, as if natural life only has worth if it has aesthetic value. Considering the state of the environment over here, where a collection of lax stances regarding wildlife conservation have really done a number on our native non-human species, this is a pretty solid message for younger audiences. Not only does it promote self-worth and being more than just what society labels you to be, it invites the audience to show that same kindness to other creatures, whether they’re animals, insects, or just other human beings.
This is a lot more fun than I’m used to getting from mainstream animated animal flicks, and it’s got one hell of a driving message behind it about looking past the surface and (more importantly) not letting that surface define how you interact with what it’s covering, whether it’s an animal, a person, or even an entire country. I have a lot of respect for this kind of local product, where it isn’t watering itself down just for international consumption, and the few instances where it does are done with a tongue firmly planted in the cheek, riffing on what Americans think this place is like just because they saw the Crocodile Hunter once.
No comments:
Post a Comment