What is Dot & The Kangaroo? - A Look At Australian Animation!

[@gustavol_]

I found this after years of searching... I remember how sad I was on the ending. Devastating as you say. I now think I'd never have a child watch this. I just can't understand why you would expose them to this. On the other hand it's great to bring those memories.

[@Offramp-z7p]

They finish the story in the sequel 'Around the World with Dot (1981)'

[@EdmondDantes224]

@@Offramp-z7p According to TV Tropes they finish the story TWICE, as both "Around the World" and "Dot and the Bunny" involve her searching for the Kangaroo's missing joey. In the original book this is based on, the kangaroo takes Dot home and her joey happens to be there, and the kangaroo does end up becoming Dot's lifelong neighbor. The bittersweet ending is entirely a film addition.

[@emmarutherford4161]

For some reason at 44 years old...after a nice bottle of wine..Saturday night..I decided to hunt down Dot and the kangaroo...just because I miss my childhood and wanted to feel how this movie used to make me feel...being a londonder...i cannot relate to the Australian Bush.. but I really wanted to get back to the place that as a 5yea r old this film took me to...I remember being quite freaked out all the way the through..but seeing Dot now as an animation was so different to how I remember believing that she was a real girl going on her journey with the kangaroo...such a different perspective..still cried at the end!! Maybe cos o had run out of wine though? X

[@Themeowingsnail]

It's cool to get someone's perspective having seen it from childhood! I know it may not seem like my cup of tea overall, but I do respect how unique and strange it is, despite it's serious pacing issues

[@samkad-v3o]

Hahaha ,same I decided to hunt it down too .same reasons

[@JeffyRules-n6i]

I hate this movie its is trash and dot is stupid and dumb. Jeffy is way better

[@EdmondDantes224]

I randomly stumbled on this movie in a DVD set called "Fairy Tale Classics" which had a lot of stuff I saw as a kid... and a few things (like this) which I had never heard of. It led me down a rabbit hole (or perhaps a bunyip cave). Based on a freaking old children's book (which incidentally did NOT have the weird bittersweet ending) and the movie spawned a film series which--for awhile--sticks to the "animated characters on live backgrounds" thing, but by the final movie ("Dot in Space") its entirely animated. They also get... kind of weird as they like to put Dot in more action-y scenarios. Strangeness like this is what I like about the world of pre-Y2K animation though. BTW, there are NINE movies in the "Dot" series.

[@morganmaciariello799]

My grandmother somehow found this movie and the bunyip song still terrifies me 15 years later. It's been so long I didn't remember the plot until you explained it but that song is the only thing I remember about the movie.

[@DizzyGamerOfficial]

This has, hands down, the saddest ending in the movie -- but I do agree this is one of the most...offputting movie, yet the most compelling movie I've seen, and I only seen a clip of it >XD

[@deionpehowdy]

Yeah, I don't like how the Kangaroo Leaves Before Dot Brings her Parents making her cry.

[@JeffyRules-n6i]

This movie is trash

[@LesStarport]

Dot and the Kangaroo is one of my favourite Yoram Gross films. Technically it was Yoram’s first animated movie and also the first Australian 2D Cartoon animated movie and his production team at the time was very small when compared to his later cartoons (like Blinky Bill, The Magic Riddle, Tabaluga, ect). It didn’t need to be made perfectly to make it good. The sad ending I’m sure was to make room for the sequels (which there is about 8 of). Only a theory though. I am a bit of a nut with Yoram Gross cartoons and love finding out stuff about them. It was altogether something of a Yoram Gross cartoon to re-use the same animation cels against different backgrounds which weirdly make sense to how it works in the storyline.

[@Offramp-z7p]

You're right, the 1981's 'Around the World with Dot' picks up right where this one ends. When I was a kid, I watched 'Around the World with Dot' and was unaware of the earlier film until I saw this video. Now it finally makes sense why it starts with flashbacks.

[@JeffyRules-n6i]

How can anyone be stupid enough to enjoy it

[@betula2137]

This is a triumph. It demonstrates animated versions of Australian animals which you don't often see animated -- and from an Australian perspective, back then that's pretty neat. Also, imagine the kangaroo as a wild deer and Dot's family as rural graziers; they shoot the wild animals that break the fences and eat the grass. So, that could be a bit of the message of the 'boat' (white settler) girl being aided by a good-hearted nature. Also, Manganinnie is another film from that era

[@stacey021375]

I remember being a very young child and crying at the end.

[@living_the_mac_and_cheese_life]

I did too.

[@jennyvlogs7160]

This was my favorite movie when I was little. My mom said that when it was on, I wouldn't respond to anyone, you couldn't talk to me. I've seen it a thousand times, and cried at the end, every time.

[@JeffyRules-n6i]

Biggest crybaby this movie is for cowards

[@jennyvlogs7160]

@JeffyRules-n6i No, t's for children.

[@parkfever]

My entire childhood, yet it wasn’t the best, it was my favorite

[@rainecloud]

I rented this movie over and over along with other Dot films from my local independent video store as a young kid. I loved it and them so much. I got them (VHS tapes) from Ebay in my 20s and it was such a nostalgia trip. I have been watching them over and over as a form of comfort. I know that might seem weird because yes, they are somewhat creepy but...they just comfort me. Yay, Dot!

[@moavideogamer8417]

I really like this movie, unique animation not at its best, good songs and the moments when we're taken back from the wonderful fantasy world to the dark reality. The ending breaks my heart, don't know but it sounds like Dot is doing a Peach impression to me. Clickety Click is a really catchy song. I want SteveReviews to watch this

[@samkad-v3o]

I cried for 2 days after watching this in the early 90s and it's scarred me till today!!!!

[@arturoc7682]

So this is where the Bunyip song comes from. I randomly got recommended the Murray bridge bun yip videos and the song in 2020, and now I know where the song comes from

[@beauferret5414]

I remember also being scared by several other elements. Some of the animation, probably because of how crude it was in some scenes. When the Kangaroo faced the screen like right there 8:10. And the climax with the Indigenous men (see how they look), combined with the eerie music that was played.

[@voracioussavage178]

I remember my grandma getting this movie for me from the flea market a long time ago and one of the thing i still remember till this day is the scene where the snake that was trying to eat the little girl get's absolutley bodied by that white bird with the woodpecker laugh. For some reason younger me thought that was a really cool scene. 🤷‍♂️

[@JeffyRules-n6i]

You shouldn't be watching this trash you should be watching jeffy being mean to each other

[@Eric5Donaldson]

I grew up with this movie on HBO back in the 80s. When I rediscovered it on VHS in the 90s I found my longstanding terror of the Bunyip sequence justified. One thing you didn't mention is that Kangaroo is missing her Joey for the entire movie, and this ends... completely unresolved. Later I also watched Dot and the Bunny (3rd in the series) which is basically a retread of D&TK, with whole songs and sequences reproduced. And Kangaroo is STILL searching for her joey, whom she never finds. (The titular Bunny pretends to be her lost joey.) This bugged me for YEARS. Why would you leave this unresolved in a kids film? It's not even unresolved in the BOOK FROM THE 1800s IT'S BASED ON. Well, if you watch the 2nd movie in the series, Dot and Santa Claus, at the end Dot finds Kangaroo's joey, and then a bizarrely live-action Dot promises to return him to his mother. So the first two movies are the ultimate Dot setup/catharsis experience. I'm sure the other movies end up in even more unhinged places... there are 9 Dot movies in all.

[@Themeowingsnail]

Wow! That's very informative. Didn't realize the Dot lore went that deep 🤣 and yes, I completely forgot to talk about that plot aspect in the review. I was distracted by everything else that was happening lol

[@Eric5Donaldson]

@@Themeowingsnail Yeah, it really excels at going from plodding to off-putting! The songs are in my kid-brain forever.

[@Offramp-z7p]

I wish I had found this before I made my posts. I watched ' Dot and Santa Claus' growing up and never knew about the first film.

[@AdamSelvig]

This is one movie I watched at my grandparents

[@CatFoxHybrid]

✌️😃✌️My favorite Australian show is Bluey, for this movie it just need more improvement with its animals & plots.

[@rickcarpenter4727]

i was in love with dot as a kid and i remember being excited every time i knew it was coming on. i still remember being mostly excited about it being part movie and part cartoon. i was a weird kid (no pun intended) and I'm still weird i guess but this movie was really one of my favorite.

[@Themeowingsnail]

Even though I'm not completely in love with it, there's something about it that just fascinates me. How odd it is, it's unique style, how...broken it feels lol it's a really interesting film of it's time

[@RedMoon814]

I saw this movie as a child (around 10-ish) on vhs and boy, was it a trip! As you said the pacing is bad, plus the live-action mix added to the reused footage makes a bit trippy (when is this song going to end? why did we just saw the dancing mouse from three scenes ago? etc). The whole movie is mostly presenting different wild animals and the ending has a "wild animals should remain wild" message, which is good for little kids but that ending always hits like a truck, absolutely devastating. Even so, I'm glad this movie is part of my childhood. Haven't watched any of the sequels (series?) lest they are as bad as the Swan Princess sequels or [some] Land before Time sequels. Thank you for the review / analysis. Kudos!

[@pokemaniac05]

Ah yes Flying Bark Productions' first feature animated film, formerly known as Yoram Gross Studios named after the founder himself until 2005 with their current name & logo & sigh 2015 which Yoram Gross passed away a few days after the 2015 Blinky Bill movie was in Australian Theaters. Before Blinky Bill and the Mischievous Koala in 1992 which is another popular series that was on until the 2000s & well more known stuff years later like Rise of the TMNT, Glitch Techs, Lego's Monkie Kid, 100% Wolf, Marvel's What If & Moon Devil & the upcoming Avatar & Stranger Things animated series.

[@Adrians_Ideas]

3:41 I got joked and clowned by my family for being scared of this, didn’t think other people were scared as kids too

[@bubbles46853-ep9if]

Ow, that end. I felt the same way about Kiki's Delivery Service.

[@nickwerner7983]

That one song from Dot Goes To Hollywood is catchy. IMDb credits Barbara Frawley (Who voiced Dot in this movie) as Dot. Did she fill in for Robyn Smith during some parts?

[@A.C.A.Pictures]

he needs to do the other movies

[@ShrugginAround]

uoᴉʇɐɯᴉuɐ uɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ ǝɹoɯ pǝǝu ǝM

[@G12G4]

Oh you gotta watch Dot and the Bunny. As a positive, the songs are a fair bit better and there's a bit more cohesion for the plot. Also, in Dot and Father Christmas, she finds the joey and brings him home. There, you have closure now.

[@realbrigidtenenbaum]

At the end, they used a male kangaroo for the life action scene instead of a female. I mean, his scrotum is clearly visible.

[@Offramp-z7p]

Ok, not to ruin your bitter sweet memory, but the story is continued in the sequel 'Around the World with Dot (1981)' (also known as Dot and Santa Claus).

[@Themeowingsnail]

@@Offramp-z7p Yep, a lot of the comments have informed me on that! Interesting that they decided to go back to that

[@louiseparker7712]

I thought I imagined this.

[@ripperevo2011rrchamp]

What about the sequels?

[@Themeowingsnail]

Haven't seen them! I came across this years ago by chance and it was the only one I focused on.

[@Offramp-z7p]

'Around the World with Dot (1981)' continues the story from where this movie ends.

[@vahidhosoda6614]

Their sequels weren’t that bad though I just thought there were not as bad as the land before time sequels I’ve seen in my childhood.

[@Peapod2-t5g]

I got the real Gary'your imposter

[@jasongomez4509]

The animation is bad

[@kristinwood8884]

Lots of American children (Gen X) watched this on HBO, i must have seen it at least 20 times. I loved it so much, I bought the dvd when my kids were little. This and Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas, were always my very favorites as a very young child. 😢 No wonder I have depression issues.😢🫤