Summary
An Australian animated film strikingly brought to life, filled with lively character designs, and a simple but heartfelt story.
SCARYGIRL is a film, according to its producers, that has been fifteen years in the making. Based on the line of toys and original graphic novel by Nathan Jurevicius, it has been adapted into a side-scrolling video game and now a feature film. It joins a continuum of Australian animation from Dot and the Kangaroo to Happy Feet, bringing these characters to life and having a joyful time doing it.
Directed by Ricard Cussó and Tania Vincent, the first woman to helm an animated feature in Australia, we’re introduced to a sci-fi world where capturing an octopus is the ultimate reward. This is thanks to the bounty evil scientist, Dr Maybee (voiced by Sam Neill) has put on such creatures. Bunniguru (Remy Hii) and his companion Egg hope to capture one to pay off their substantial debts.
Meanwhile, Arkie (Jillian Nguyen), a small girl with a tentacle for an arm, lives with her octopus father, Blister (Rob Collins) on an idyllic world. When Blister is captured by Maybee’s henchmen, Arkie must team up with Bunniguru to save him from having his lifeforce drained.
SCARYGIRL is a breezy affair that wears its influences on its sleeve. It’s the kind of high concept adventure story we’ve seen many times before, with several key beats very clearly influenced by Star Wars and other similar films from a certain era. Yet there’s an unabashed earnestness to these characters and a kinetic energy that propels this feature, touching on climate change,
Directors Cussó and Vincent have previously delivered very Australian tales of possums, quokkas, and wombats in their feature animation. Here they up the scale of the production. The sort of 3D/CG/hand-made hybrid look-and-feel comes with a detailed use of light and shadow not always seen in local productions. At times, it’s startling beautiful to behold, especially on the big screen.
The look and feel of the characters are partly determined by the source material, but it’s the backgrounds that make all the difference for this feature. Arkie’s home life has all the colour and pop of a Nintendo backdrop, perhaps a nod to the video game origins. There’s a wonderful sequence in a forest filled with organic movement, glowing plants and eyes in the trees. It culminates in a ‘tempest of leaves’ forming a giant monster in a wonderful piece of imaginative modelling. Maybee’s City of Light contrasts with Arkie’s world, filled with electronic lights, domes, and mecha – or “overlord chic” as one character puts it.
Nguyen, perhaps best known for TV work on Barons and Hungry Ghosts, leads the voice cast. At the Sydney Film Festival screening, she described Arkie as a “bad bitch,” although she imbues the character with believability and youthful enthusiasm. Of course it’s Sam Neill as a misguided villain who has let personal tragedy dictate his life. That’s Tim Minchin as Chihoohoo, a hybrid Chihuahua. Deborah Mailman rounds out the star-studded cast with a fun cameo as the witchy Treedweller, a character who we hope makes appearances in future outings.
In fact, SCARYGIRL has all the potential in the world to be an ongoing enterprise, something uniquely Australian and universal at the same time. The characters have already proven they have the legs (and tentacles) to go the distance through merchandising and extended media, and it would be wonderful to spend some more time with these characters.
2023 | Australia | DIRECTOR: Ricard Cussó, Tania Vincent | WRITER: Polly Watkins, Matt Everitt, Les Turner, Craig Behenna (based on the story by Nathan Jurevicius) | CAST: Jillian Nguyen, Sam Neill, Deborah Mailman, Tim Minchin, Rob Collins, Remy Hii | DISTRIBUTOR: Sydney Film Festival 2023 | RUNNING TIME: 134 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 7-18 June 2023 (SFF 2023)
