Time to take a trip back into Sanctuary City, our own little slice of the talking animal market and, judging by the previous two films set in this world, a welcome reprieve from what I’m convinced is the ‘norm’ for this sub-genre. Having already gone over the visual quality in those past reviews, with this sticking firmly to the series standard, I probably won’t be talking much about the animation for this animated film. Instead, I’m probably going to spend most of this write-up hung up on the title, which is one of the most misleading and, the further into the film I got, befuddling titles I’ve seen in a long time.
Now, on the surface, it makes total sense. It’s about the titular quokka (voiced by Angourie Rice) who, rather than fitting into the cute and non-threatening role that society has laid out for her, wants to become the champion of the World’s Scariest Games, just like her idol Frankie Scales (Sam Neill). It’s a nice juxtaposition, aided by some species-ist subtext since literally every other quokka in this world is in the tourism industry, which mainly consists of taking selfies with said tourists.
However, even with the ultimate message about rejecting societal expectations and redefining who can and can’t excel in a certain field, it really feels like the film missed a trick with its title and its repeated use of the word “scary”. Like, if this was some kind of Monsters Inc. situation, or even just a Halloween-set story about competitive trick-or-treating (an animated film could easily turn that into an Olympic-level event), that would make sense. But the actual World’s Scariest Games are closer to American Ninja Warrior than anything else, with athletes competing in increasingly-hazardous terrains and obstacle courses. I’m just saying, ‘World’s Strongest Animal’ would make a lot more sense and would still fit with the main themes of the story.
I usually try and focus just on what a film is, rather than what it could be, but it’s rare when I get the impression that a film is repeatedly using the wrong word to describe itself. Especially when what really describes this film, to be brutally honest, is likely the reason why I found myself so fixated on that one word: It’s just another sports movie. An underdog athlete is trained by a disgraced former champion, facing resistance from their competition who think they don’t deserve to be there, but gradually winning their respect through their determination and skill at the sport; we’ve all seen this before. As fun as it is to hear Frank Woodley returning as Flightless Feather, here serving as colour commentator on the Games, that nostalgic connection isn’t enough to get past how tired and, even with the animation quality and the plentiful background gags, uninteresting this all is.
I get that I’m not the target audience for these things, as I’ve likely proven with my track record for films about humanoid animals, but I can’t shake the feeling that I wouldn’t be the only one disappointed by this flick. Kids are just as entertained by being scared as adults, and I do think that a film all about a cute little quokka learning how to be proper scary could still work as a family film. But no, it just succumbs to cliché that, unlike Wishmas Tree and Combat Wombat, doesn’t have enough of its own flair to keep things interesting. The additions to the world-building that are made here definitely open up the world of Sanctuary City, but I’d be lying if I said I was super-hyped for where things go from here.
