''Koala Kid'' (also known as ''Outback'' or ''The Outback'') is a 2012

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of actio ...

directed by Kyung Ho Lee. It was released in South Korea on January 12, 2012. The English dub cast consists of

Rob Schneider Robert Michael Schneider (; born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', he went on to a career in feature films, including starri ...

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 voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

Yvonne Strahovski Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski (born 30 July 1982), known professionally as Yvonne Strahovski (), is an Australian actress. Primarily noted for her roles in dramatic television, she has received numerous awards and nominations, including two Pri ...

Alan Cumming Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...

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

, and

Chris Edgerly Chris Edgerly (born August 6, 1969) is an American voice actor, comedian and singer. 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 g ...

Plot

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, a white

koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the womb ...

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 unicyclist ...

with the help of Hamish, a

Tasmanian Devil The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii'') (palawa kani: purinina) is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. Until recently, it was only found on the island state of Tasmania, but it has been reintroduced to New South Wales in ...

, and Higgens, a

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" who 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 series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings. It ...

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

billabong Billabong ( ) is an Australian term for an oxbow lake, an isolated pond left behind after a river changes course. Billabongs are usually formed when the path of a creek or river changes, leaving the former branch with a dead end. As a result ...

. They witness from their cliff location a pack of

dingos The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient ( basal) lineage of dog found in Australia. Its taxonomic classification is debated as indicated by the variety of scientif ...

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

thylacine The thylacine ( , or , also ) (''Thylacinus cynocephalus'') is an extinct carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. The last known live animal was captured in 1930 in Tasman ...

ally Hex, chasing a bilby but is rescued by a

kangaroo Kangaroos are four 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 that are native to Australia. They are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . All three of the extant species are members of the family Vombatidae. They are adap ...

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

boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

. 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 North and ...

named Boris reveals that a

Saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been listed ...

named Bog intends to take over the billabong. When their rescue goes wrong, and the dingos threaten to take over, the rock Johnny is on breaks free, and he slides 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 Cosmetic may refer to: *Cosmetics, or make-up, substances to enhance the beauty of the human body, apart from simple cleaning *Cosmetic, an adjective describing beauty, aesthetics, or appearance, especially concerning the human body *Cosmetic, a t ...

powder and mistaken for the Koala Kid resulting in her getting

kidnapped Kidnapped may refer to: * subject to the crime of kidnapping Literature * ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson * ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Ca ...

. The billabong residents plan to rescue Charlotte but must cross the dangerous "Bungle Bungles" on their way to Precipice Lake. 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 locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

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

goanna A goanna is any one of several species of lizards of the genus '' Varanus'' found in Australia and Southeast Asia. Around 70 species of ''Varanus'' are known, 25 of which are found in Australia. This varied group of carnivorous reptiles ranges ...

named Bull with a thorn in its foot hunts them. Johnny saves Miranda but soon realizes the lizard is suffering and pulls out the thorn. Bull becomes friends with Johnny, and the two koalas ride it out of the caves. Just as Miranda starts to take a liking to Johnny, Boris, the vulture, 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, 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 divine will or law, or prete ...

peg-leg A pegleg is a prosthesis In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, w ...

wombat named Quint, and they decide to help Johnny get what he really 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 get 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 the Koala, Mac the Kangaroo, Boy No. 1, narrator *

as Hamish the Tasmanian Devil *

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

as Bog the Crocodile, Bully Koala No. 2 *

as Miranda the Koala *

as Blacktooth the Dingo *

as Boris the Vulture *

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 the Koala, 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 Demetri in '' The Twilight Saga'' films, Charles Wentworth on '' Nashville'', and Galen Vaughn on ''The Vampire Diaries''. Pe ...

as Loki the Dingo *

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 the Wombat, Merlin the Snake *

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 i ...

as Hex the Thylacine *

Phil Proctor Philip Proctor (born 1940) is an American actor, comedian and a member of the Firesign Theatre. He has performed voice-over work for video games, films and television series. Career Of the four members of Firesign Theatre, Proctor has had t ...

as Lug the Lizard *

Neil Ross Neil David Ross is a British-American voice actor and announcer. Noted for his Trans-Atlantic accent, he has provided voices in many American cartoons, most notably ''Voltron'', ''G.I. Joe'', and ''Transformers'', as well as video games, inclu ...

as Monty the Snake *

Fred Tatasciore Fred Tatasciore (; ) 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 and Beast (comics), Beast in various Marvel media and Solomon Grundy ( ...

as Cutter the Dingo * Lielle Tova Blinkoff as Little Girl

Reception

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

Possible Sequel

According to IMDB, a sequel called "Outback 2: The Rises of Big Cats" is in development and is planned to be released somewhere in 2024. However, it never was confirmed by the Animation Picture Company as to whether this sequel was actually happening or not.

References

External links

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

Screen Daily Outback article
2012 films 2012 action comedy films 2012 computer-animated films 2010s American animated films 2010s adventure comedy films 2010s English-language films American computer-animated films American children's animated action films American children's animated adventure films American children's animated comedy films American action comedy films American adventure comedy films South Korean animated films 2010s Korean-language films Animated films about koalas Fictional Tasmanian devils Animated films about monkeys Animated films about kangaroos and wallabies Animated films about wombats Animated films about crocodilians Films about lizards Animated films about snakes Animated films about reptiles Films set in the Outback Circus films Films set in 2012 Films scored by Michael Yezerski Lotte Entertainment films 2010s South Korean films