Reviews

Australian cinema was in a vibrant state between the 1970's and the mid 1980's.....We had Mountain Men!, Disappearing Girls!, Apocalyptic Futures! and Crocodile Wrestling! We also had "Dot!"....A fun little tale about a lost girl, A Kangaroo and an Adventure In the Australian bush!...With Animation on a live action background, Which was cutting edge in 1977 and secured the movie as a children's favourite.

However, Looking back on this movie (After recently buying the boxset!), It's painfully obvious as too the age of it, As The Writing, The Animation, Music and Songs don't stand up well now....Though, It's the type of movie, Where it's good natured charm Overcomes it's obvious flaws.

It's certainly worth showing to children..Or adults for that matter?, As it's one of the far too few examples of good Feature length Australian Animation.

While The Mud, The Sickness and the Unsettling Horrors, Of fighting a war in the Papuan Rainforest, Against the seemingly unstopable (Albeit Mis-Represented!) Japanese foe are well captured..The soldiers "Chocos" personalities however?, Are not!

The viewer is just not given a lot of background information on these men...Where they came from?, Why they were fighting?..Etc!.., Leaving the viewer not really caring, As to who survives the ordeal.

On top of that, The movie is affected by a slightly heavyhanded bit of Australian Nationalism, Not that's an overly bad thing?, It's just that it's feels 'shoehorned' in, For the occasion of the movie release..ANZAC Day!

.......But, If you want a Doctor Who movie, Stick with the 1960's Peter Cushing "Dalekmania" Movie's. Sure the doctor is in name only and the Tardis is an actual Police box, But you get flashed up Actual TV Scripts and even excellent Daleks.

The 1996 movie on the other hand, Despite being considered as 'Cannon', Missed all the fun and adventure of the TV series. Of course it was meant to appeal to an American audience, But still.....If your an American fan?, Just get some TV episodes to introduce people to the show.

All I can say in ending, Is that the 1996 movie had some nice special effects, But just didn't work right for the DW universe.

5 out of 10

"First, a joke. What do you get when you cross an owl with a bungee chord? My ass." :D

A great movie, In the vein of "Airplane" and "Top Secret"(Which also involves a cow :D)....Just silly gags accompanying an even sillier plot.

As in the other movies mentioned, Most of the jokes work well overall and the funny voices help to keep you interested, From Master Pain's "Betty" cackle, To Ling's (Miss Piggy Inspired) wailing and on to other characters, Like Wimp "Squeaky Shoes" Lo.

The only let down, Is that some of the new footage, Dosen't really fit in well with the feel of the original....Though I think this was an intentional flaw?

Overall, This isn't high art and if your looking for a Clever comedy, Stay far away from this.

A good example of the Japanese, Absorbing American TV of the 70's and 80's and beaming it back at Americans, With that definite Japanese twist.

If you enjoy action car shows like "Knight Rider"?, Then the corny loose plot, Weak Supporting cast and excessive explosions shouldn't bother you much.

However, I feel It should have been edited as one movie length story, Rather than 3 separate episodes, As the episodes aren't really that strong on their own? This is great 'Beer and Curry' light entertainment, Some nice Eye candy for a lazy afternoon and the fact that the show's creator, Does actually try to draw detail is a plus too.

I found this movie to be very good.

Yes, There are some huge flaws in the story and the Effects and character development are generally dire in places, also The fact that it's been heavily compressed compared to the material that it's based on, Dosen't help either.

If you still crave the full experience....Go buy the Opera of the Ring saga on Disc?, But if you just want to eat some snacks and drink your beverage of choice?, While Snuggling up to a loved one on a cold Saturday night?, This is plenty entertaining.

Seigfried, The Dragon slayer!