Movie Background

Oddball

An eccentric chicken farmer, aided by his granddaughter, trains his mischievous dog Oddball to protect a penguin sanctuary from fox attacks, in an attempt to reunite his family and save their seaside town.

Director(s)

Stuart McDonald

Where to watch

Amazon Video

Amazon Video

Rent

Tubi TV

Tubi TV

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Cast & Crew

Tegan Higginbotham

Tegan Higginbotham

Zoe

John Leary

John Leary

Paul Watt

Sarah Snook

Sarah Snook

Emily Marsh

Deborah Mailman

Deborah Mailman

Mayor Lake / Narrator

Dave Lawson

Dave Lawson

Sergeant Gosch

Shane Jacobson

Shane Jacobson

Swampy Marsh

Terry Camilleri

Terry Camilleri

Judge Burns

Coco Jack Gillies

Coco Jack Gillies

Olivia Marsh

Alan Tudyk

Alan Tudyk

Bradley Slater

Stuart McDonald

Stuart McDonald

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Richard Davies

Richard Davies

Jack Jones

Chris Weir

Chris Weir

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Stephen Kearney

Stephen Kearney

Mitch

Frank Woodley

Frank Woodley

Dog Catcher

Eloise Oxer

Eloise Oxer

Swampy's Wife

Jarrod Leitch

Jarrod Leitch

School Kid

Lauren Dodge

Lauren Dodge

Emily (14 years old)

Beau Hurren

Beau Hurren

-

Ben Morieson

Ben Morieson

-

Clay Dunn

Clay Dunn

Ladder Man

Shoko Asano

Shoko Asano

Japanese Waitress

Kai

Kai

Oddball

Details

GenresFamily, Adventure, Comedy
Runtime1h 35 mins
Released on17 Sep 2015
Languageen
Produced InAustralia
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Reviews

Reno

7/10

> About a dog and his master who gave a new hope the little creatures. An Australian adventure-drama inspired by the true story about the wildlife conservation, but it does not follow actual details. Like in the real life, it was between father and daughter, unlike grandfather and granddaughter in this. So there many other changes were made in order to get the film right shape, but the theme remained true to the original. This was the second film after the last week 'Brothers of the Wind' about the wildlife I had watched and I'm very happy with both. A film for everyone with the balanced contents between the film characters and the message it wanted to tell. I mean it was not about the dog or a girl or the penguins, but they all equally shared the parts. I think the animals were used well. The film focused on a southern Australian small coastal town, where on a tiny island the little penguins are living for the centuries. But now the numbers are going down due to the fox attacks. So the people are worried that the place might lose its special status. Then they decide to protect it, but all the effort was in vain until a chicken farmer and his mischievous dog named Oddball become the game changer, while everyone was in the panic mode. It is a modern fairytale, that's what they say in the opening. Because fairy tales do not have any violences and so in this the fox attacks were merely a concept to develop the plot. In reality those were obviously heartbreaking if you are an animal lover. The good thing is, the film does not have them like a Disney Nature film. So those who seek facts, logics and strong appeal in a film, I would advise them to stay away from it or you can just put away your adultness to have a good time with it. > "If you want the biscuit you gotta risk it." This film was not based on a rare concept, but definitely very rare on what it deals with. Like as my knowledge I don't remember seeing a film or a documentary film about these little penguins. So it is totally worth, but disappointment was it was a human perspective story. About the human's intervene while nature fighting among themselves to extinction. Fox hunts penguins and that's a natural order, but when the balance was disturbed, the human's involvement to restore it is not questionable as we're the dominated species on the earth. Most of the cast was Aussies and a couple of them were internationally recognised. Predictable story, especially the ending is not a complicated part. Somewhat fun, but most of the time the drama takes over like the struggling relationship between father and daughter. Sometime innovative ideas come when one in a such scenario. The film explored on that basis to tell a decent tale. The kid was good, along with the dog, and the farmer who was also known as Swampy, the only one who tried very hard in the comical role to keep rhythm up. In a few scenes the camera work was great, the aerial view of the seaside was lovely. It was nominated for the best cinematography in the last Australian Academy Awards, but did not win. This is not a massive hit film or well recognised in the rest of the world. Even if you watch it today, you will go to forget it tomorrow. Then you might be wondering why it should be watched. Well, it is one of the finest family films of the recent time and a message deliverer. In one film many plots were covered, like a man-dog, father-daughter-granddaughter relationship, midlife crisis, wildlife conservation; this film was full of sub-plots and yet it makes an overall decent film. I won't recommend it, but definitely not a waste of time. 7/10

All Trailers

Oddball (2015) Trailer [HD]
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