SCARYGIRL, Australia, 2023. Voices of: Jillian Nguyen, Sam Neill, Rob Collins, Tim Minchin, Anna Torv, Liv Hewson, Remi Hii, Mark Coles Smith, Deborah Mailman, Kate Murphy, Dylan Alcott. Directed by Ricard Cusso, Tania Vincent. 90 minutes. Rated PG (Mild science fiction themes, some scenes may scare young children)
In fact, Scarygirl is not scary in herself, just initially scary to look at. She has been the subject of games, books, dolls and merchandise, created by artist Nathan Jurevicius.
For audiences not familiar with Scarygirl, this is an Australian production, Australian animation, directed by Ricard Cusso who has a number of animation films to his credit, and Tania Vincent, responsible for the direction of the animation. Looking back over Australian cinema history since the 1970s, there has been a strong tradition of animated films, especially on television (think Bluey).
The animation style here is idiosyncratic. The backgrounds are vivid, bright colours, busy in detail, high on technological aspects. We are in another planet with a mad scientist and his experiments to control the sun and wanting to reanimate characters, especially his lost daughter. And there are numerous sinister characters, many of whom have comic touches. There is the black-dressed rather sepulchral The Keeper and the chattering rabbit, Bunniguru, and his associate, Egg. The rabbit is an inveterate gambler, who owes a great deal to a small moustachioed villain-henchman, Chihoohoo, who is on a mission to capture a life-giving octopus, Blister, who cares for Scarygirl.
There are plenty of adventures, including the capture of Blister, Scarygirl wanting to rescue her father, encountering the mad scientist, but finding allies in this strange world, building to the expected confrontation and rescue, with Scarygirl a determined action hero.
It would be interesting to hear children’s opinions after watching the film, to understand its impact on the littlies, how much they followed, how much they enjoyed the film, and what it meant to them. There is enough here to interest adults accompanying the young audience.
And, there is the huge attraction of the voice cast, the mad scientist, Dr Maybee (Neill), Chihoohoo (Minchin), Blister (Collins), The Keeper (Torv} and, most importantly Scary girl (Nguyen).
Madman
Released 26 October