Netflix’s Latest Australian-American Feature ‘Back to the Outback’: Review
Netflix has certainly had a good year when it comes to animated films, offering families fun stories and colourful characters. From Arlo the Alligator Boy to Vivo, there’s been something for everyone and the streaming platform has successfully bought cinematic and big screen experiences to your homes.
Back to the Outback is their latest and one of the last big animated releases for the year and with the talented Australian cast and an experienced animation studio co-producing the film, does it turn out to be another beauty or a worthless trip down under?
Back to the Outback
Set in an zoo near Sydney, Australia, a group of deadly animals decide to leave their captive lives and break out to find their families in the outback after being tired to continuously displayed in shows and being feared by the visitors. But during their escape, they accidentally bring with them the star attraction of the entire zoo: the cute but obnoxiously unfriendly Koala Pretty Boy (voiced by Tim Minchin). Now forced to join them, they all set off to find their natural home while the eccentric zoo keeper Chaz (Eric Bana) is on their tails to return them back in captivity.
Some of the cast members were able to make their onscreen counterparts enjoyable (especially Isla Fisher as Maddie the snake and Guy Pearce as Frank the spider) to watch on a story that steps on familiar story beats and modern tropes that a lot of animated buddy comedies have done and unfortunately it doesn’t do anything new or better. And even the simplicity of the story and the character’s emotional journey across the film don’t feel natural and often feel forced, making the film feel lacklustre and artificial at times.
BACK TO THE OUTBACK – (L-R) Miranda Tapsell as Zoe the thorny devil lizard, Isla Fisher as Maddie the taipan, Angus Imrie as Nigel the scorpion, Guy Pearce as Frank the hairy funnel-web spider, and Tim Minchin as Pretty Boy the koala. Cr: NETFLIX © 2021
Reel FX Creative Studios co-produced the film with Netflix Animation and fortunately they were able to recreate some of the landmarks and natural wonders of Australia well. From the animal escapees sleeping under the stars near Uuluru to the forests of the Blue Mountains to the illuminating harbour at Sydney, they were able to recreate them with some lovely details. There’s even some use of Aboriginal inspired artwork that tells the backstory on one of the characters that doesn’t appear enough as the animators did a really good job at recreating and giving movement to those traditional painters.
Despite the efforts from the animators, the rest of the animation just doesn’t feel as inspired. While some of the deadly animal characters certainly have a cute design that makes them appealing, a lot of the supporting characters and humans aren’t quite given the same detail of attention. And as half the film takes place in uninhabited and similar locations, their journey can appear empty and not as visually interesting.
While first time directors Clare Knight and Harry Cripps did well to direct the animators for some nice scenes, their decisions also led to the film stepping in the same path as other modern animated films without gracefully holding up. From using chart topping licensed music for montages to the way characters will come together for a climatic showdown, these unfortunately don’t hold up to some of highlights from Reel FX Creative Studio and results in the film feeling like another typical family film that we’ve come to expect throughout these past few years.
BACK TO THE OUTBACK – (L-R) Eric Bana as Chaz Hunt and Diesel La Torraca as Chazzie. Cr: NETFLIX © 2021
Despite recreating some iconic locations of Australia into an animated form and some cute character designs, this is unfortunately a disappointing and boring entry in Netflix’s portfolio, treading in familiar narrative beats that have become almost too common in recent animated films. It’s hard not to compare this to other animated films that have been released this year, but it just doesn’t hit the same mark.
The film is scheduled to be released on 10th December 2021 on Netflix.