User reviews

Napoleon as a movie tends to be filled with joy, music and cute animals. Even with the flaws of the storyline the movie still is able to be enjoyable if you set aside all your critiques and just watch it as a movie. The characters and the lame humour actually made me laugh but it is actually the characters who make this movie.

Without Birdo, Napoleon and all the other characters in this movie you would not have a movie and I give Kudos to all the voice actors for their amazing portrayal. I particularly enjoyed Birdo and the Koala but that's not to say that the others were bad. Even the cat was pretty well done.

A nice cheerful movie, if a little old.

A House Pet in the Wild, sounds like a movie made for kids, however I just watched it back as a adult and the amount of things I realized were really funny. I highly recommend this movie for Parents and for Kids alike. Definitely should be watched if you are an Australian Family

I can't add to the comments. It's a wonderful movie.

However, if you are one of the unfortunates that picked up the NTSC redubbed copy in the states, you are only getting half the movie.

The original Aussie accents, background noises and animal sounds are much nicer in the un-dubbed version.

Sometimes serendipity, dumb luck, and channel-surfing really pays off. That's how we found this terrific treat. Look -- in your cable listings or in your video store -- for this Australian-made movie feature. Total delight -- and you can watch it with your mom, your grandmom, your mom-in-law, even your kids in the same room -- or all by yourself if your macho attitudes requires. [Remember "Paulie"? That's right in this category.] But there's none of the "Old Yeller" boo-hoo stuff, so you-and-they'll be okay and sinus-dry when it's over. It's about a city-bred puppy who just knows he has to connect with his wild cousins, the dingoes. So off he goes -- in a balloon-powered basket (okay, we'll admit we worried about the pup up there in midair, especially when the basket was snared by a pointy-nosed commuter train -- but why give away the good stuff?). The photography is gorgeous, but the animal shots (birds, lizards, turtles, dingoes, etc.) are nothing short of incredible!! "Stunning!!" works, too. No people at all to get in the way, either. Try it. If you don't like it, then you'll just have to wait until the movie version of "Hannibal (the Lecter)" arrives.

I am not usually one to comment on the budget of a film. Usually, I prefer independent productions that emphasize acting and skill over effects. However, this type of film, which stars real animals, needs to have something to distract from the fact you are watching a bunch of pets wandering around rather aimlessly in front of the camera with voice-overs telling the story. This movie is painful due to the obviousness of the set-ups of the animal interactions and very fake looking action sequences. There are no CGI mouth movements that would add some personality to the baby critters and distract from the very strange ESP animal world conversations that don't require speech. The critters are cute but that can only carry a movie for 2 or 3 minutes. The poor puppies and other critters just look rather confused as they search for cues of what they are supposed to do from their trainers off-camera. This movie has a good story and a good message but the execution is awful. This was a painful experience and I groaned audibly through the whole thing. The kids luckily fell asleep before it was over and have not asked for a repeat viewing so I think they hated it too.

I absolutely love this movie. Words are not enough to describe such a cute movie. Aside some minor stuff, the whole movie is delightful, adorable, wonderful, hilarious, sweet, exciting, thrilling, entertaining, full of charm and adventure, danger and even some darkness.

The list of qualities doesn't end here. What to say about the scenario? For one thing, this is an Australian film. This special production takes place in Sydney and in a nearby island. This is one of the reasons why this movie is well renowned. This is a rich production that captures all the beauty and wonders of pure nature. Even details like the sounds of exotic birds and waterfalls were not forgotten, which accents this realistic environment even more. Mountains, forests, green places, trees, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, rocks, various species of animals, deserts, sandstorms, sunsets, sunrises, winds, rain, snow and even the seasons of the year are all present here. Plus, the camera work is very efficient.

The story is about a very cute and adorable Golden Retriever puppy named Muffin' (although he nicknames himself Napoleon) that longs for adventure, danger and a life with wild dogs. Despite his young age and innocent appearance, Napoleon is very confident and not timid at all. In fact, he is a brave and curious explorer. But he proves to be a hero later, when he saves two adorable dingo puppies.

His curiosity makes him explore a balloon and accidentally causes the balloon to fly with him inside the basket (which is attached to the balloon). The balloon flies all over the city (Sydney) in very big heights. There are very beautiful and stunning angles of view in this sequence: very tall buildings, roads, a big bridge, the endless sea and even the famous Sydney Opera House (also known as Opera Australia). And these fantastic vistas are perfectly combined at the sound of the lovely Napoleon's song "How High I'll Fly?". Even a brief but delightful voyage by train wasn't forgotten just after that. The basket gets stuck on the train, which takes Napoleon to a great ride over the city.

Other gorgeous shots are when a fantastic sight of Sydney is shown at the beginning, from Napoleon's house and also when, after a long cross of the sea (in the air) Napoleon is getting close to very tall mountains with a beautiful beach down there but he doesn't know what to do until a galah named Birdo appears to help him all over his fantastic journey. Together they live big adventures and dangers while, at the same time, Birdo teaches him everything he knows about wild life.

The soundtrack includes beautiful and soft instrumental music, the sad goodbye song sung by Birdo and Napoleon and the tender and touching Napoleon's song "How High I'll Fly?".

As for the cast, they do a decent voice job, especially Jamie Croft as Napoleon, Philip Quast as Birdo and Susan Lyons as Napoleon's mother.

Despite all its qualities, this is a quite underrated film, a sad reality. However, it's one of the best animal movies, no question about that. And anyone who loves this precious little film just gotta love "Old Yeller", "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey", "Fluke" and "Air Bud". They all deserve to be considered timeless classics.

They don't make movies like this anymore and this is one of those unique gold classics about animals.

This should definitely be on Top 250.

If it had simply been a movie showing a puppy encountering Australian wildlife and showcasing the Australian outback with no dialogue it would've made for a fine documentary. The cute live action talking animal thing has been done before and with far better actors and dialogue. In this case, it just looked overdone.

The one saving grace is Barry Humphries in his Dame Edna guise playing the voice of a singing Kangaroo. That's the only point I cracked a smile, the rest of the time I was just covering my ears and enjoying the scenery.

Avoid, unless you want to see some Australian wildlife and like watching TV with the volume muted.

A great tour through Australia, the scenery is magnificent. My three year old nephew has watched this about 100 times and still demands it on average once a week. It's a good movie for young children but not too childish for adults to get some enjoyment out of it as well. One the whole family can watch.

I really like Napoleon and I just don't get sick of the movie.I think Napoleon is really cute and the scenery is beautiful.It's a movie I think everyone will enjoy.The animals are pretty funny and even my dog likes the movie.If you like this movie,I recommend Babe .I think animal movies are the best.

This is a charming saga of a young puppy called Muffin who longs for adventure as his wild dog alter ego Napoleon. After he escapes from the Sydney suburbs in a hot air balloon conveniently provided by a children's party, we follow Napoleon into the stunning Australian outback where he has many adventures. Napoleon makes friends along the way including Birdo (a galah) who becomes his guide, as well as encountering enemies such as a demented cat who regards all other mammals as mice to be killed. This is a very useful educational film and morality tale with the journey into the `Red Center' of Australia being a metaphor for Napoleon's exploration into himself. Unless we follow our dreams and examine ourselves we might never know what we are capable of. Napoleon overcomes his fear of water to swim and gains maturity through performing a heroic rescue. Eventually he finds he has been brave and wild all along and can return home a more fulfilled pup.

This was the first Australian live animal movie, where any humans shown are purely secondary, and it makes full use of its country's unique menagerie of creatures. In fact I was reminded of the Walt Disney wild life films of my childhood, though unfortunately this feature lacked the same marketing power. It is good to see the live action of the animals without the animatronics of Babe, and the director (Mario Andreacchio) cleverly makes use of the 64 puppies needed in the making of the film to match the appropriate expressions.

The human voices mainly accord well with their animal counterparts, with some wonderful and famous ones, including Joan Rivers and Barry Humphries' Dame Edna Everage. Anne Louise Lambert (Picnic at Hanging Rock), especially, displays the versatility of her silken voice as a very peeved spider whose web is destroyed by Napoleon; as well as a tremulous earless wallaby terrified of domestic animals; and as an anxious desert mouse. There is some wit in the tale that shows the makers had in mind who else would be watching this film along with its target younger audience, and the songs are pleasant if not exactly memorable.

The perceived scary moments for the very young ones, such as Napoleon's encounters with the deranged cat, may be unfounded as my 2½ year old son watched this with interest without being terrified, but then he has a natural love of animals. Although the dogs struggling in the flood did concern him, a train crash in Thomas the Tank Engine and the snowstorm in ‘Tigger the Movie' caused him more emotional distress. He was as equally confused as Napoleon at the sounds of a wild dog barking that turned out to be a perenti lizard doing animal impressions.

However, the dingo pups are probably portrayed as too cute (witness the tragic mauling to death of Clinton Gage, a nine year old boy, by a couple of wild dogs on Fraser Island in Queensland in May 2001) and perversely the most ferocious looking animal is a domestic cat. A healthy respect for wild animals must be encouraged so that we recognise that we are living in their environment, and that they as well as household pets will behave unpredictably. The senseless culling of animals in retaliation is never an answer. Co-existence is the way forward, not extermination.

In the UK VHS (PAL) copies of this film can be obtained from Britannia Music.

This film has quite a vast range of beautiful landscape, ranging from an Island across from Sydney CBD, to the snowy mountains and outback.

While this movie doesn't have cg mouths or famous voice actors like many of the other animal movies out there, I found the animal interactions cute and the story touching. Even though the director could not manipulate their behaviour and interactions to his story, he did an excellent job creating a script out of the footage available.

From homicidal cats, to singing frogs and birds, I think the movie is definitely a piece of work kids and some adults could appreciate.

The reviews that rate this movie a 1 or 2 star out of 10 don't seem to provide real insight and appear to be more out of prejudice for an aspect they do not like, usually the lack of CG or annoying voice acting. Again this does not necessarily constitute to an automatic 1 out of 10.

The situations, the scenes and the way the movie comes together is great. The script written around the interactions between Muffin and the other animals is clever.

I love this movie. The puppy is so cute. I got lucky and just happened upon it late at night on cable. I've set my DVR to record so I can play it for my friend's granddaughter next time she comes over. I've played all the air bud and buddies movies for her and she loves them. I can't wait to watch this one with her. I can't believe I never knew about this movie it's just so cute! I think it was very well done for a children's movie and one that adults will enjoy too. I wish I could see the original version with the Aussie accents, some reviewers say it was better. I don't see why they have to dub something over just cause the accent is different. I think you lose something when you dub over the original work. I've watched movies in there original form with English subtitles, and the same movies dubbed in English and always preferred seeings movies in their original form.

This is not a review, but only an imperfect transfer of my memories and impressions of what I saw as a child, which I want to present exactly in the form as if I wrote a review at the age when I first saw the film. Therefore, there will be no spoilers.

For me "Napoleon" is nothing else that Eternal and Timeless Masterpiece of Art! This film is intended for every person who has Soul, Heart and who loves their pets, who cares about them, who values them, who knows, that for pets their Masters are The Best In The World! Nothing for pets matters more, than its Home and Master! This, it seems to me, is the key idea of the film.

P.S.: Dedicated to my, now such a distant childhood, the year 2000/2001 when I first watched with my parents this wonderful and unique Film and that inexpressible and/or inexplicable with words feeling of happiness, flying on the wings of Dream and Fantasy then and sweet nostalgia now - feelings that I have not experienced since then, never when watching any other film.

This movie is so pleasant it could be watched over and over and over without getting tired of it. Negative comments?! I think not. The scenery, the songs, the animals, the plot, the voice actors, the characters, the entire thing...it's adorable, it's endearing, it's wonderful! What more can I say? This is one of the best animal movies ever! On the level of Homeward Bound, Milo and Otis, Fluke, and some animated ones. Exceedingly well-done movie. Everyone will like it. I heartily recommend this one to be bought today. It's VERY memorable! I rented it once and needed to buy it to watch it more. It's got a lot of great lessons for little kids, but it's got such an array of charming characters that anyone would fall in love with it.

I really loved this movie, it is truly delightful for animal lovers. I know that the cat's motives for picking on Napoleon was a tad unrealistic, but I am past caring really since the film is lovely to watch and very cute. One definite plus is the Australian scenery, it is absolutely gorgeous and perfectly captured with the fluid cinematography. The Sydney Opera House especially is a delight to see. Also the soundtrack is lovely, I loved all the songs and the score is beautiful. Napoleon himself is adorable, yet for such a small puppy he is very intelligent as well. His adventures in the Outback are eccentric and engaging, whether it is with the scary cat(creepily voiced by Carole Skinner), hilarious Birdo or Joan River's benevolent mother kangaroo. This film is always cute, but it is never tacky, and as family entertainment it is nice harmless fun and very underrated. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Kids will love this movie too. If Walt Disney released this film, it would have been a big hit. The camera simply follows a curious puppy as it wanders through the woods encountering other animals. A large bird becomes his guide to this strange environment. There is no real danger, just adventure, with a humor based narrative added to the sound track.

I really love this movie and I just never get sick of it.Napoleon was really cute and the scenery was beautiful.The animals were pretty funny and kept me entertained.The plot was interesting,there was never a dull moment in the movie.It's a movie I'm sure everyone will enjoy.If you haven't seen it yet,you don't know what you're missing.I give it 10 out of 10 stars.

I'm 21 years old today, but I like all kind of movies. This movie, independently that be for children, I consider that is great for all ages. The puppy is very beautiful and it race is one of the best for the dogs. The desert, mountains and other sites in Australia are very beautiful; that's one of the reasons why this movie is excellent. I recommend it for all ages; is good for a plan with family or friends in a nice afternoon. I saw this movie two years ago, and I thought that was nice for the family hour, specially in the mornings. I want to give a great score for this movie:

My note for this movie is ***** or 10.

Thanks for view my comment.

Juan Carlos

"Napoleon" (1995), this film is kind of an interesting one. I pretty much forgot all about it until just a few days ago. Seriously, out of nowhere I remembered certain moments and images from this movie and thought: "wait, was this a real film? Or, am I just imagining things?" I looked it up, and sure enough, it is a real movie! As soon as I saw the movie poster, the warm and happy memories of my childhood came rushing back to me like a ton of bricks. I watched it again to refresh my memory, and honestly, it holds up pretty well today! "Napoleon" has a great story, sublime acting, perfect sets/locations, perfect special effects, and of course a perfect soundtrack to tie it all together. The plot is, a golden retriever puppy named Muffin, who prefers to be called Napoleon, wishes to live in the wilderness and become a wild dog himself. One day, that happens by accident, as he climbs into a basket with balloons tied to it. The balloon strings get pulled loose, lifting Napoleon off the ground and into the sky, carrying him away from his home, and soon the city. From there, he must fend for himself in the wilderness, befriending several different animals along the way, along with making a few different enemies. I won't go into any extra details about the storyline at the risk of spoiling anything. But, I will say this, it's a story that'll stick with you for the rest of your life. It's fun, heartwarming, the morals are strong and it keeps you intrigued all the way from beginning to end. The best word to describe it, is charming. Now, it's not as good as other live-action animal films. Like, for example: "The Adventures of Milo and Otis" (1986) or "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey" (1993). That being said, "Napoleon" is in it's own league, it's more of a children's movie than a family film. But, that doesn't mean adults still can't enjoy it, especially if they've seen it as a kid like I have! If I had one nitpick, and it really is just a minor nitpick, there are a few scenes that look and feel rushed. I won't describe them, because that may spoil the movie. But, it just feels some scenes are missing that should have been in the final cut. They would've linked everything together and provided a stronger connection to the subplots! Then again, it's supposed to be made for kids and children aren't too keen on watching long films. Like I said, it's just a nitpick and the shortened length doesn't hurt it in any way. When I watched it again before I wrote this review, I was kind of worried that it would just be another run-of-the-mill movie, just like a lot of the many different ones out there. However, "Napoleon" is told and expressed from a different point of view. It's about a dog who wants to leave his home, rather than about a dog who wants to get home again. Here, it's the other way around the spectrum, which is a rare thing to see, and this film gets it right! As for the acting, it's stellar from the whole entire cast. Just like in "The Adventures of Milo and Otis", this film features an all-animal cast as the main characters. There are human actors, but they're only on the screen for a brief moment and then gone for the rest of the movie. The humans shown are background extras at best. The whole cast, especially the voice cast, does such a fantastic job in this movie! Fun fact: the original version of this film is with Australian actors and actresses, since it was made in Australia. But, there is also an American-dubbed version that came out a few years later in 1998. That was the version I saw on video first. Which one do I think is better? Well, both nationalities bring great charm and heart to their respectable characters. But, I'm going to have to give the original Australian dub the edge. It just sounds all the more authentic, given the location of the storyline and it just has that much more of a heartwarming feeling to it. The American-dubbed version is great and gets the job done, but the original dub is superior by just a tiny margin, in my opinion. All of the sets/locations are perfect and give this film a stunning atmosphere. You can't go wrong with filming your movie in Australia! As for the special effects, they are all very well-done and still hold up to this day. Some may be a little cheesy, but they just add to the charm of the story. Like I always say, practical effects beat CGI any day! Finally, the soundtrack composed by Bill Conti is absolutely phenomenal. Bill Conti is one of my top 10 all-time favorite film score composers, and this one here is no different. His film score sets the perfect tone for the story and it really helps bring the movie to life! To be honest with you all, this is one of my personal favorites of his film scores. Whenever I hear a part of this soundtrack, I immediately pinpoint it to this movie. That's the mark of a flawless film score. My personal favorite tracks are: "Out to Sea", "Funny, You Don't Look...", "Turtle Ferry" and both versions of "How Far I'll Fly". Plus, as a bonus, there's a song here in this movie that cracks me up, called: "Kangaroo La Roo". It may be ridiculous, but it's still funny to me. Overall, the whole entire soundtrack is incredible. Props to you, Bill Conti! "Napoleon" is a fun, heartwarming and very enjoyable film for people of all ages, especially children. But, now that I've discovered it again, I'll be watching it again a lot! Of course, I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars on my scale, which equates to 10 out of 10 IMDB stars. If you haven't seen "Napoleon" yet, what are you waiting for? Go and check it out today. Or, if you need a great film for kids to watch, look into this one. I guarantee that they'll love it, and you'll love it too. Put it on today, and prepare for a fun and memorable adventure!

I've had this movie on DVD for as long as I can remember, and I rewatch it every so often. It's not a great movie, not even a good movie, but I think this is a case where it's excusable (it's also a kids movie, so why would it really matter whether it's good or not). I can still remember most of the songs, honestly they all slap. This movie's so nostalgic I love it even if it's a little bad.

Cute puppy, talking animals, no humans - 10/10 would watch again.

The height of Australian cinema. I enjoyed this more than Wake In Fright. Pure, wholesome joy. Honestly find a flaw in this movie. You can't. There are none. It's perfect.

I forgot this existed and upon re-discovering it the all nostalgia came flooding back. The music, the characters, the quotes. I've had "Muffin, you better go home, go home! Muffin, you better go home!" stuck in my head for days. I re-watched it for the nostalgia but realised it's genuinely funny, clever and enjoyable. Even as a grown adult. Matching the dialogue to the animals unpredictable behaviour was delightful. Honestly, just... watch this please. It's great.

Just realised I rated this higher than 2001: A Space Odyssey.