In a small Australian town, thousands of penguins would nest on Middle Island every year. Then foxes discover the island and the colony of penguins gets devastated. There are only 20 left. In order to maintain their sanctuary status, they need at least 10. Their savior comes in the form of eccentric chicken farmer Swampy Marsh (Shane Jacobson) and his dog Oddball. After all, penguins are just chickens in tuxedos.

I love the simple dog saves penguins idea. The rest of the family drama and whale watching drama feels manufactured. The movie is manufacturing a villain and it's not good at it. I can live with the family drama if it's done a bit better. I do like the late mother being the origins story. Much of the story feels like a weaker 80's movie. I'm not opposed to making up a fictional story for this feel-good situation. I am opposed to doing it badly.

The great thing is that it is based on a true story. I have never heard about this before since I live far away from Australia, but there was indeed a chicken farmer who trained his dog to protect penguins from foxes and let the colony flourish.

The movie adds more fictional elements to make it an adventure story. It would be mainly interesting for kids but adults can watch it with them without a problem and enjoy it.

The acting is good. No real overacting as often happens in the genre of family movies. Shane Jacobson is great as a farmer and there is definitely a rising talent there when it comes to the child actress Coco Jack Gillies.

And in addition to humans we also get the pleasure to watch the adorable penguins and the dog in it that add a lot of fun to the movie. And of course it is filmed in the beautiful setting of Australia.

If you have kids I would recommend it. Kids usually love animals and it also has a great message of conservation that may inspire them for the future.

Great kids show. For dog lovers and bird lovers alike.