Oddball

"Every underdog has his day."

2015 1h 35m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 102

FamilyAdventureComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An eccentric chicken farmer, with the help of 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.

“Every underdog has his day.”

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Cast

Shane Jacobson
Swampy Marsh
Sarah Snook
Emily Marsh
Alan Tudyk
Bradley Slater
Coco Jack Gillies
Olivia Marsh
Richard Davies
Jack Jones
Deborah Mailman
Mayor Lake / Narrator
Tegan Higginbotham
Zoe
Dave Lawson
Sergeant Gosch

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Stuart McDonald
Writers: Peter Ivan
Languages: English
Countries: Australia

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 11 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Stuart McDonald, shot by Damian Wyvill. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Cezary Skubiszewski. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Cindy Clarkson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Shane Jacobson and Sarah Snook and Alan Tudyk carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Every underdog has his day.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt3401748 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Stuart McDonald directs. Damian Wyvill behind the camera. Cezary Skubiszewski scores. Cindy Clarkson cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Australia. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 11 years ago.
2Directed by Stuart McDonald, shot by Damian Wyvill. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Cezary Skubiszewski. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Cindy Clarkson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Shane Jacobson and Sarah Snook and Alan Tudyk carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Every underdog has his day.".
7IMDB entry: tt3401748 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Damian Wyvill
Original score: Cezary Skubiszewski
Editing: Cindy Clarkson
Production design: Carrie Kennedy
Costume design: Jeanie Cameron
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: Oddball (2015)

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Stuart McDonald

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Reno2016-07-14
★ 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

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