This movie, set in an Australian Outback which simply does not exist, employs just about every inaccurate Aussie stereotype and cliché that ever existed as well as a lot more tried and true and tired Hollywood tropes. This movie is obviously intended for undiscerning kids and overseas audiences that don't know much at all about Australia.
The movie centers around an American mum.... sorry, Mom .... and her obnoxious kid who are forced, for reasons that aren't 100 percent clear, to leave New York and travel to Australia and visit the sheep station (although we never actually see any sheep, or cows for that matter) of the kid's crusty grandfather and the Mom's father-in-law. Grandpa is played by Bill Nighy, who is always enjoyable on screen, with the definite exception of this movie. Why Bill Nighy is in this picture in the first place is a real mystery. I mean that are no end of good Australian actors of the same vintage who could have played this part and played it better. Nighy's performance is one of the many irritating things about this movie. His grandfather is so laid back, so laconic that he's just short of being catatonic. Honestly, you just want to shake him. None of the other actors is very good either, to be honest, with the definite exception of Kelton Pell as the ranch hand Jules. Pell is a delight and a joy to watch and it is sad that he is not used more in this film. It would have been a vast improvement. The young actor playing the kid, Ridley, doesn't look set for a long screen career based on this. Still he's young and has time to improve. As a protagonist, Ridley fails to elicit sympathy from the audience. He's a stinker.
Australian viewers, will be gob smacked with the version of the Outback this film presents. There are vast, empty distances as in the real Outback, but there are also wide, raging rivers with deep waterfalls, sharing the space with deep open-cut mines, a large dam, a medium sized town and a suspicious number of clean, well built and well maintained buildings scattered through the desert. The fauna of the area is amazing too. There are no emus or kangaroos, but there are pythons and snakes that sound remarkably like rattlesnakes. Also there are dingoes. Some of them are nasty, vicious creatures, more like wolves, but then there are others, well one in particular, whose temperament and skills make him more akin to Lassie or Rin Tin Tin. To see grown men in this movie cowering in the presence of the last mentioned animal , who looks more like a whippet than a dangerous canine, will make you laugh.
Look, bottom line is this isn't a bad film, but it definitely isn't a good one. The kids will probably enjoy it and adults will either find it wholesome, clean, innocuous fun, or, depending on how well you know Australia, it will either make you groan or laugh. You have been warned.
Buckley's Chance
2021
Action / Family
Buckley's Chance
2021
Action / Family
Plot summary
A year after the loss of his father, Ridley and his mother, Gloria, move to Western Australian to live with Ridley's estranged grandfather Spencer. Once there Spencer tries to connect with Ridley but all efforts usually lead to conflict. Ridley ends up lost deep in the outback on a quest to try to get home. Meanwhile, Spencer and Gloria search the outback for Ridley. Spencer tries to reassure Gloria that her son will be OK, all the while trying to come to terms with the loss of his only child. While suffering the elements of the Australian outback (especially for a kid from New York),Ridley manages to save a dingo, Buckley, from a leg trap. The two develop a bond and both boy and dog try to survive the elements to get Ridley back home.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
This is NOT a good movie.
For youngsters not meant for the adult gaze
My 9 year old grandson loved this!
So I'm giving it a good score.
Milan Burch is good as Ridley he does not overplay the role and is not annoying.
No idea what Bill Nighy is doing here but whatever.
For adults you will find this pretty ghastly, I only liked the dogs!! :)
More than a Buckleys
Good little film, I found it to be an enjoyable experience, can't understand the bad reviews, what are they expecting for goodness sake? It's no classic, but a lot better than some of the garbage they put out these days that get better reviews! Didn't have a problem with Bill Nighy's accent, like some apparently do? Too many critics seem to nitpick when it's just a movie, and does what it sets out to do, offer a bit of light hearted entertainment with no bad language or questionable scenes, go see it, and enjoy it, I did!