Cane Toads: An Unnatural History

"Cane Toads: An Unnatural History" still ranks as one of the funniest movies I've seen. Don't get me wrong: in Australia's tropical North, cane toads themselves are no laughing matter, especially among despairing conservationists. This short film stands as a memorial to human folly in importing the beast from Hawaii in the first place to deal with a sugarcane beetle which in the event it had zero impact on, preferring to lay waste to the local fauna instead. It is also a monument to human eccentricity - less about the despised, amazingly opportunistic cane toad than the reactions it has inspired among the human populace. I still treasure the memory of the local resident who wanted his town council to erect a memorial to the outstandingly ugly amphibian in the main street - presumably on the grounds that nobody could think of anything else worth memorialising there. (Inexplicably, his visionary proposal received scant support.) Overseas viewers may not appreciate that to other Australians, the movie's eccentric cast of characters came as no great surprise. North Queenslanders actually take some pride in being a little different. I'd like to think that the lesson has been learned, but the news that ravenous 400-lb carp are being released into a Texan lake in order to deal with a water weed infestation gives me no confidence.

This is one of the most enjoyable films I have ever seen. I saw it many years ago in the theater. I'm pleased to see it is being reshown by the Sundance channel. I'm looking forward to seeing it again. Check it out.

This is a serious review of the ecologic trauma Queensland, Australia, has suffered after the scientifically foolish introduction of Cane Toads. And, it is a gut-busting look at people (Michael Moore style) talking about the Cane Toads with which they share their corner of the world. And, it is a pretty good parody of some sci-fi monster movies.

A total delight!

As the sticker on the front of the movie jacket states, this depiction of the environmental and social issues created by the onslaught of cane toads in Australia has a definite Monty Python spin. Although I am concerned about the damage to the Australia natural resources caused by the opportunistic toads, I enjoyed the movie primarily because it was so funny. A bit of tongue-in-cheek Bristish approach, but extremely effective. For one, a good part of the movie is filmed from the perspective of the over-sized toad. Literally. You're looking at people's feet, car tires, homes from the eye level and location of the toad. The music choices were also very supportive, as well as the players in the film, who are so varied and straight in their presentations that you can't help but be drawn into their lives. Flashes of the shower scene from Psycho come to mind as a tenor singing about cane toads draws hopping toads to his safe (?) haven. I was so intrigued I checked out the director, Mark Lewis, who also has a film on the natural history of chickens. Gotta' get it!

Cane Toads: An Unnatural History, 1988 6/10, 13th best movie of 1988, 93rd best of the 80's, 613th best overall This was actually a pretty decent movie. Apparently back in the 30s there was a huge problem in Austrailia with some bugs that ate sugar cane. They brought in cane toads from Hawiaii to eat them. The cane toads didn't eat those bugs, but they did eat everything else. And they soon spread over much of eastern Austrailia. Anyway the movie discusses how the movie effects the nation of Australia and the people that inhabit it. It introduces many interesting characters and lets them share their stories of how the cane toads have effected their lives. Now let me be honest with you for a second. If I had sat down and watched a two hour movie about cane toads, I probably would have gotten very bored, and in turn given this movie a bad review. However, this movie is not 2 hours long, it's actually only about 45 minutes long. Just enough time to get you interested, keep you interested, and than end. Was I doing back flips in my chair because I was having so much fun watching this movie? No, but it was still interesting, informative, and overall, a pretty good movie.