Blinky Bill

Made by Studio Canal and Screen Australia, that latest instalment of the Blinky Bill story steps into life in animation. It's wall-to-wall Australianisms for a solid 91 minutes.

The story is the same as always; Blinky Bill the lovable larrikin koala is getting up to mischief with his friends. This time around he goes looking for his dad at 'the sea of white dragons' with his lady sidekick Nutsy. He leaves his home of Green Patch, a sanctuary for lost animals, in search of adventure.

The animation of human beings and crocodiles is a bit shaky, but for the demographic this film is actually meant for, it's not too much of a problem. It's essentially not Finding Nemo, however, and had nowhere near the budget, but the storylines are similar. There are some nice subtle hints about how tourism ruins nature, leads to pollution and animals being displaced.

Aside from that, there are some stellar characters and voices on show that we've all grown up with. Barry Humphries plays Wombo the Wombat and Barry Otto plays Mayor Cranklepot, the evil lizard. Wombo is made to look like a biker with chops and a wife-beater tan, and lives in the desert in a shack by himself.

The two emus, Beryl and Cheryl, both voiced by Toni Collette, are very reminiscent of Kath and Kim. All they do is gossip about men and talk about their swagger. They're styled like trashy '80s ladies with purple eye shadow. One of my favourite scenes would have to be at the very beginning when two birds are cricket commentators and a bunch of crickets are playing cricket.

Robyn Moore, who voiced Blinky Bill in the '90s, is not involved, while the famous theme song barely gets in there. As a whole however, it's very amusing, nostalgic and authentically Australian.