Oddball

This review may contain spoilers!

This is quite a charming tale of a dog and the uniting of a family. I would give Oddball a 6.5/10.

This film has a really loveable plot at the core of this film, it's very simple but it shows a family trying to save a penguin snactuary with the help of their dog. There are the classic themes of family uniting over the course of the plot that makes this such a prime example of a family film. For the most part this film has some great pacing with a very natural flow, the story progresses in a really natural way. The cinematography in this film is pretty good, there are some examples of very clever shots throughout. The score for this film doesn't have a lot of presence but is pretty good for the scenes in which it appears, I really enjoyed the music used within the training sequence.

Sarah Snook, who played Emily Marsh, is one of the most grounded characters of the film; I enjoyed that the problems with the penguin sanctuary led to a lot of visible stress and conflict for her role. Coco Jack Gillies, who played Olivia, is such a great child actress; her scenes with Jacobson are high points for this film. Shane Jacobson, who played Swampy, is a really good protagonist for this film; his line delivery is superb and he's incredibly comedic.

However the best performance came from Alan Tudyk, who played Bradley Slater. Tudyk's role was interesting because he made a very likeable role for most of the film but played the role sinister enough that we were temporarily deceived into thinking he was the antagonist. I like that he was constantly trying to fit in and connect with the rest of the cast, this meant that he had some funny awkward scenes within the film. I think his best scene was when he advocated for the whale watching centre with such an earnest salesman pitch.

This film never had exceptionally high stakes and as an audience member it was hard to be worried, it was a very safe film and quite a simple family film. The editing for this film was terribly basic, the cuts especially came at awkward moments during the film.

Deborah Mailman, who played Mayor Lake, wasn't a very noteworthy role in this film; I found the fact that there were romantic undertones between her and Jacobson a strange and out of place choice for this film. Terry Camilleri, who played Judge Burns, was a very forgettable antagonist in this film; Camilleri didn't have a great deal of screen presence in this film. Richard Davies, who played Jack Jones, was another unnecessary romantic subplot which Snook really did not need in this film; the gag with Davies being shot with a tranq gun was rather weak as well. Frank Woodley, who played the Dog Catcher, didn't really seem to know how to play his role; it was such a bizarre and confusing performance. Tegan Higginbotham, who played Zoe, was the weakest antagonist of the film; the worst part was there was no set up that she was going to be the villain. Dave Lawson, who played Sergeant Gosch, had no screen presence in this film; Lawson just sort of showed up when the plot demanded it.