Blinky Bill - Das Meer des weißen Drachen

Being somebody who does have a fondness for Yoram Gross' work, most of which are good representations of Australian animation apart from the odd disappointment. The Dot film series and Blinky Bill are notable examples.

So when hearing that there was an animated film from 2015, part of me was enthused and was interested into seeing it. After watching it, it is watchable and has its likability, but it was rather disappointing as to how unremarkable the overall film felt at the end of the day. Those who grew up with Blinky Bill may find themselves disappointed at 'Blinky Bill: The Movie' missing an opportunity to bring back the original voice cast even for a short appearance or doing it in hand-drawn animation, which would have made it feel closer in spirit.

Nothing is done terribly in 'Blinky Bill: The Movie', but not much is done exceptionally at the same time. The most consistent aspects are the music and voice acting. The music is rich in energy and robust as well as with times where it's pathos-filled and understated. The voice acting is very good all round from the likes of Ryan Kwanten, Toni Collette, Rufus Sewell, Richard Roxburgh and Barry Humphries, with the only regret really not bringing the original voice actors back even it was just for a short appearance.

Even though they don't have much depth to them the characters are cute and likable, with Blinky showing easily identifiable traits (apart from the lying to his mother). The Australian stereotypes can be pretty cringe-worthy however.

Animation in 'Blinky Bill: The Movie' is a mixed bag. Done in CGI rather than traditional hand drawn animation, there has certainly been far worse-looking CGI (looking at you Video Brinquedo and Spark Plug Entertainment) but far better as well (Pixar for example). The colours are bright and colourful and the characters mostly well modelled but the backgrounds can lack detail and fluidity, they don't look that vivid and transitions can look choppy and unfinished.

Writing is also mixed. There are some amusing moments, the film certainly has its heart in the right place and does have a lot of heart and charm and the messaging of perseverance amongst others are sincerely presented. It is cliché ridden however, with some crude adult humour and language too that really doesn't belong with the rest of the film, just felt like a clumsy attempt to draw in a wider audience.

Story is one of the weaker assets, despite having a lovely idea that actually is not that far off in spirit to Gross' Blinky Bill outings. It does have parts that are bright and breezy and there is heart and charm. Other parts are rather pedestrian and the film never shakes off its constant and at times excessive predictability.

Overall, watchable but unremarkable. 5/10 Bethany Cox

This reviewer missed the plot completely. The bush is a noisy place, a cacophony of sound. The chatter and crackle go on and on at a dizzy place. Normally, we humans only hear a small part but if we listen carefully there is a lot going on and the film makers captured this wonderfully. I was returned to a child's place as I watched this move in wonder and awe. So many obvious cliches were avoided brilliantly and this made me grin. I'm sure I missed a lot as there was so much going on so I will be sure to watch this again and again. Yes, the cat was overdone but the Lyre bird was fabulous A great Aussie movie for young and old.

I sat through this film with my four-year old son, his friend and their parent, all of whom enjoyed the film barring myself. This reboot will be disappointing for those who have fond memories of the original movies and TV series by Yoram Gross Film Studio (based on the children's books by Dorothy Wall) now known as Flying Bark Productions, with a less adorable animation style and some different characters. I strongly feel that this movie is an embarrassment to modern Australia, perpetuating cultural stereotypes projected by iconic relics such as 'Crocodile Dundee' and the late Steve Irwin.

'Blinky Bill: The Movie' (nobody could think of a better title?) loosely espouses some community values and environmental messages under a good vs evil theme, and the title character embarks on an 'Indiana Jones'-inspired journey with plenty of action scenes. Unfortunately, the screenplay is weak, characters are lacklustre, and about %99 of the dialogue is indecipherable and/or irritating. Being Australian-born myself and having lived in several Australian states, I found the meaningless phrases uttered in harsh accents very painful to my ears. Notable characters include a villainous cat impersonating Scar from Disney's 'The Lion King' movies, two female emus voiced by Toni Collette doing an excellent imitation of the title characters in 'Kath and Kim', and a sunstroke-affected wombat somewhat channelling the murderer in 'Wolf Creek'. Curiously, humans that encounter the animals in the story never seem to question their outlandishly anthropomorphic and inventive qualities. There's a joke thrown in for adults, which I felt to be trashy compared to the intelligent humour often found in better-quality children's films.

Nonetheless, young children will no doubt be delighted by this mischievous koala's adventures. Personally, I won't be allowing this film (or the new TV show) to appear on any screens in my home, at least until my children are able to discern outdated colloquialisms from proper speech.

I had a pretty good time with Blinky Bill:The Movie; and I'm not a big animation feature watcher! I am also 10 times the age of the target audience, but that said; there are lots of sight gags and zippy one liners to amuse parents, grandparents and anybody else who wants a light and breezy 90 minutes of local entertainment. I don't have any baggage about the original material, and unlike other reviewers I was not averse to the proliferation of Aussie lingo that was performed with great relish and I think a bit of a wink!

The cast is great; although every time Bill senior spoke I could have sworn it was Michael Caton; so quintessentially Caton esque was Richard Roxburgh's delivery, and Richard is of course one of our leading stage and screen thespians. Ryan Kwanten immersed himself in the title role, and Deborah Mailman and especially David Wenham are great supporting players here. The Kath and Kim Emus played by Toni Collette were fun as was Barry Humphries. They're all good! It's just loads of fun; a sweet, but not overly taxing storyline; a good versus evil tale with danger and chase sequences all set in the Australian bush and outback. Beautifully scored, animated and directed, I surprised myself at how enjoyable it was. Overly ocker? Too bloody right it was!

I had to walk out of the theaters and stop watching this movie. Why? Because of the constant NOISE. There are no peaceful breaks in between dialogue, no slow emotional talk, none of that. This film is constant fast paced noise, talking, music and sound effects. Just imagine a nice scene like Joy crying from Inside Out, and replace the calming silence with loud crying and phoned in sad music. Seriously, even Pink Elephants on Parade was not as fast paced as this movie. The CG was not exactly Pixar, but it was not horrible. Its a cartoony style, which can appeal to children. The character designs were decent, but the so called "house cat" looked way too exaggerated. The characters themselves were bland because the film replaced character development with more and more fast paced noise. To top the crap icing, they replaced flap, a cute platypus from the original cartoon with a lisp, with a Liar Bird that, you guessed it, specializes in noise, as if the film was too frikken quiet without him. The plot was okay, generic and predictable. Seriously, I walked out of the theatre halfway through the film and I was correct when I told someone (who saw the full film) what I predicted what the ending was. The jokes were clever, but were ruined by the constant noise. The film did not allow us to take in and enjoy the joke it just gave us, which is a real shame. The dialogue... Dear god... It was nothing but Aussie slang. There is nothing wrong with slang, but they kept pushing it in our faces as if they were trying to remind us this was an Australian film. Some sentences even made no sense, such as "Don't get your pouch in a twist" (seriously, were they too afraid to say "knickers" in this film or did they think changing the slang to make it Marsupial related was clever? Because it was not. It was stupid.) One could say that its for kids, and that its supposedly "okay" and my review is pointless. But the thing is, most, if not, all the people familiar with Blinky Bill are teens and/or adults now, since we grew up with his books and cartoons. In fact, kids nowadays probably do not even know who Blinky Bill is until they see this movie. So no, "its for kids" is no excuse, because they were also targeting the older audiences. One could say I am blinded by nostalgia, and this is also not true. While I loved the old cartoons as a kid, I always noticed the flaws in that too, even as a kid. So when I saw the trailer, I was exited to see them bring Blinky Bill back in a new style, I really did think it would have been an improvement from the old cartoons. But at least the old cartoons gave their characters some kind of character, well paced plot and a decent balance of quietness and loudness. So yeah, those low budget cartoons with constant unnecessary misanthropy and animation mistakes? Those were better. I have aspergers, and I am sensitive to noise. Most films are kind on me and allow a good combination of fast paced noise and quietness when both are needed. But without a break from the racket the movie was screeching out at me, I had to walk out of the cinema in order to avoid anxiety from an annoying koala who would just not shut up. If your child is sensitive to noise, I do not recommend this film at all. Bad idea. Buy them a copy of the original cartoon or better yet, buy them a real animated movie by Disney, Dreamworks or Blue Sky Cenima that does not rely on waving keys in their faces to provide them with "entertainment". If your kid is not sensitive to noise, this film could be a good time waster for them (its just the cost of your sanity to sit through this with your kid). But I do not recommend it because its an insult to your children's intelligence by thinking that kids always need to have keys being waved in their faces in order to stay interested. All in all, I give this film a 1/10. All good qualities in it are ruined by the noise and nonstop dialogue.