Blinky Bill the Movie (Babes Review)

 

 
Who is Blinky Bill? Well, he’s the son of Mr. Bill of course: the legendary Koala explorer who went missing on one of his adventures. Blinky lives with his mum in Greenpatch, a leafy forest town, currently under threat from a scaly dictator aka Mayor Cranklepot. In a head-jerk towards Donald Trump and his immigrant-baiting ilk, the Mayor of Greenpatch wants to close off access to scary ‘outsiders’, and basically destroy Blinky’s world as he knows it.

The only residents daring to challenge the Mayor are Blinky and his feisty mama. Determined to change things, Blinky sneaks off from home to look for his Dad in the Australian Outback.

 

 
There are some fun scenes as Blinky encounters human life for the first time in a convenience store. Here he has a run-in with a villainous cat (deliciously bad kitty Rufus Sewell) who pursues him and his buddies for the rest of the movie. Blinky also bumps into Nutsy, a zoo koala, and ‘frees’ her against her wishes. Lost in the desert, and joined by loquacious lizard Jacko (our favourite character), they set out for Croc Canyon, the last known sighting of Blinky’s missing dad.

This is the definition of a madcap movie, with a distinctly Aussie sense of humour and some very adult jokes stuffed into it (e.g. the cat who jeers at Jacko for having ‘a reptile dysfunction’). The cast are having a ball with their characters, such as the wonderful Toni Collette playing the parts of two daffy emu sisters, Sheryl and Beryl; and none other than Barry Humphries aka Dame Edna Everage playing Wombo the wombat. And it’s cool to see a very different style of animation from major players like Disney and Dreamworks.

Based on a classic Australian book series, Blinky Bill is a rollicking good ‘tail’ that had me chuckling out loud more than a few times, and should tickle bears of any age.

Blinky Bill: Babes Review

(reviewed by Ezra age 10 and Jed age 7)

In a nutshell: ‘A koala who’s lost his dad goes on an adventure to find him and meets a fellow koala who needs to get to her zoo.’
Memorable moment: ‘When they enter Croc Canyon and have to face the crocodiles!’ (Jed) ‘The cat who never gives up trying to eat the koala!’ (Ezra)
Rating: ‘I give it 5 stars.’ (Ezra)
Age Guidance: ‘Any age can watch it.’
Message: ‘Never give up.’ (Ezra)

Blinky Bill is currently playing in select UK cinemas