''Koala Kid'' (also known as ''Outback'' or ''The Outback'') () in South Korea) is an animated

action comedy film The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the Americ ...

directed by Kyung Ho Lee and released on January 12, 2012. The English dub cast consists of

Rob Schneider Robert Michael Schneider ( ; born October 31, 1963) is an American actor and comedian. He rose to prominence as a cast member on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' (1990–1994), where he earned three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Following ...

Bret McKenzie Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie (born 29 June 1976) is a New Zealand musician, comedian, music supervisor, and actor. He is best known as one half of musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement. In the 2000s, the duo's com ...

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor who specializes in voice acting. He began his career in the 1960s, and held around 850 film, television, and video game credits as of 2020, making him one of the most prolific v ...

Yvonne Strahovski Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski (born 30 July 1982), known professionally as Yvonne Strahovski (), is an Australian actress. She is known for roles as Sarah Walker in the spy comedy drama series '' Chuck'' (2007–2012), Hannah McKay in the dra ...

Alan Cumming Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish actor, writer and presenter. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and an Olivier Award. He re ...

Tim Curry Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He rose to prominence as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the musical film '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London, 1974 L ...

, and

Chris Edgerly Chris Edgerly is an American voice actor. Life and career Edgerly provided the voice of Peter Potamus on the Adult Swim animated series ''Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law'', in addition to several guest voices on the TV series ''Drawn Togeth ...

Plot

In Australia, a white

koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...

named Johnny is teased about his color, so he joins a traveling

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

with the help of Hamish the

Tasmanian Devil The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii''; palawa kani: ''purinina'') is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it is now con ...

, and Higgens the

spider monkey Spider monkeys are New World monkeys belonging to the genus ''Ateles'', part of the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil. The g ...

photographer. He is disappointed that he is part of the freak show instead of the main acts in the big tent. The top act is "Wild Bushman" which takes all the audience from the freak show. Johnny checks out the show and accidentally becomes part of it, and The Wild Bushman saves him. While traveling to a new location, their

wagon train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western television series that aired for eight seasons, first on the NBC television network (1957–1962) and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and reached the top of the ...

car becomes unattached and crashes in " The Outback". On their quest to go to the next location of the traveling circus, "Precipice Lake", they come upon a

billabong In Australian English, a billabong ( ) is a small body of water, usually permanent. It is usually an oxbow lake caused by a change in course of a river or creek, but other types of small lakes, ponds or waterholes are also called billabongs ...

. They witness from their cliff location a pack of

dingos The dingo (either included in the species ''Canis familiaris'', or considered one of the following independent taxa: ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage ...

, Blacktooth, Loki, Cutter, and Butch, as well as their

thylacine The thylacine (; binomial name ''Thylacinus cynocephalus''), also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, was a carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmani ...

ally Hex, chasing a bilby but is rescued by a

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

named Mac, a

wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials of the family Vombatidae that are native to Australia. Living species are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . They are adaptable and habitat tolerant, and are ...

army, and Miranda, a vine-swinging female koala talented at throwing a

boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...

. A

vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

named Boris reveals that the

Saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaland to northern Australia and Micronesia. It ha ...

Bog intends to take over the billabong. When their rescue goes wrong, and the dingos threaten to take over, Johnny then escapes and slips down the cliff and ends up rolling on top of a boulder, chasing the dingos away. Hamish introduces the now-famous white koala as "Koala Kid". Miranda is unimpressed, but Johnny watches her from a tree as she practices. When noticed, Miranda breaks the branch he is on with her boomerang and complains about him watching in secret. He tries to lie out of that accusation but ends up suggesting he is an expert at the boomerang and is proven wrong when offered to try it himself. Hamish plans to take photos of Johnny doing heroic stuff and make him famous as Koala Kid, so when they get back to the circus, they can get in the main act rather than the freak show and earn Hamish more money. Bog is not impressed with his gang getting chased by a koala, so he orders them to capture Koala Kid. In the chase, Miranda's younger sister Charlotte gets covered with cosmetic powder and mistaken for the Koala Kid resulting in her getting kidnapped. The billabong residents plan to rescue Charlotte but must cross the dangerous "Bungle Bungles" on their way to Precipice Lake, while at the same time, Johnny is almost devoured by the mulga snakes Monty and Merlin. This convinces Hamish to go along with Johnny's conscience and join the team to rescue Charlotte. Johnny accidentally saves the day a few times during the trip, but Miranda is still not impressed. The two fall into a

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

and tell the rest of them to go on ahead. A giant

monitor lizard Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus ''Varanus,'' the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and West African Nile monitor, one species is also found in south America as an invasive species. A ...

befriends Johnny and names her Bull, he and Miranda ride it out of the caves. Just as Miranda starts to take a liking to Johnny, Boris then reveals that Johnny is just a freak show act and the "Koala Kid" thing is just a lie. Miranda tells him to leave but finds out that the gang will need to bring a koala to Bog instead of the real Koala Kid, and Charlotte will have to do. Miranda offers to take her place. Charlotte goes to find Johnny while the kangaroo and the wombat army manage to distract and capture all the gang but the vulture. Charlotte finds Johnny along with Hamish, Higgens, and a

prophetic In religion, mythology, and fiction, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divin ...

peg-leg wombat named Quint, and they decide to help Johnny get what he wants: Miranda. Johnny calls Bull and rides off, saving Miranda. Bog shows up and gives chase, so they head to the circus hoping the Wild Bushman will be able to tame Bog. Bog proves too powerful until Johnny uses the boomerang to bring down the big top on top of Bog (and himself). Johnny, Miranda, and Bull become the main attraction, and the bad guys are sold as pets. Johnny asks Miranda if she likes her new life, but she is unsure. Plan B is they ride off into the sunset together.

Cast

as Johnny, Mac, Boy No. 1, narrator *

as Hamish *

as Higgens, Bull, Bully Koala No. 1, Bully Koala No. 3, Ringmaster *

as Bog, Bully Koala No. 2 *

as Miranda *

as Blacktooth *

as Boris *

Jenni Pulos ''Flipping Out'' is an American reality television series that debuted on Bravo on July 31, 2007, and ended on November 20, 2018. The show is centered on designer Jeff Lewis in Los Angeles, California, his executive assistant Jenni Pulos, his ...

as Charlotte, Lady, Old Lady *

Charlie Bewley Charles Martin Bewley (born 25 January 1981) is an English actor and producer best known for his role as the vampire The Volturi, Demetri in ''The Twilight Saga (film series), The Twilight Saga'' films, Galen Vaughn on ''The Vampire Diaries'' ( ...

as Loki *

Norm Macdonald Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...

as Quint the Peg-Leg Wombat * Eric Lopez as The Wild Bushman, Bill, Merlin *

Nolan North Nolan North (born October 31, 1970) is an American actor best known for his voice acting roles. After his breakthrough role as Dr. Chris Ramsey on the ABC soap opera '' Port Charles'' in 1997, North moved into voice acting when the show ended ...

as Hex the Thylacine *

Phil Proctor Philip George Proctor (born July 28, 1940) is an American actor and a member of the Firesign Theatre. He has performed voice-over work for video games, films and television series. Early life Proctor was born in Goshen, Indiana, on July 2 ...

as Lug *

Neil Ross Neil David Ross is a British–born actor. Noted for his Trans-Atlantic accent, he has provided voices in many American cartoons, most notably ''G.I. Joe'', '' Spider-Man: The Animated Series'', '' My Life as a Teenage Robot'', '' Voltron'', a ...

as Monty *

Fred Tatasciore Fred Tatasciore ( , , born June 13, 1967) is an American voice actor who has provided voices in animated and live-action films, television shows, and video games. He is known for voicing the Hulk, Volstagg, and Beast in various Marvel media and ...

as Cutter * Lielle Tova Blinkoff as Little Girl

Reception

The film has grossed $4.6 million at the South Korean box office.

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, outback_2012
SC Films – ''The Outback''

Screen Daily Outback article
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