Voices of Barbara Frawley, Robyn Moore, Drew Forsythe, and Ron Haddrick
Directed by Yoram Gross
Music by Bob Young; Lyrics by AB "Banjo" Paterson and John Palmer
Dot and the Kangaroo was such a sensation in 1977, particularly in its native Australia, Gross would eventually make no less than six sequels. This is the third, and a return to form after Dot went around the world with Santa Claus in her second film. Once again, an animated Dot searches the real Outback, searching for a joey with the help of a native animal. How well does it work when the animal is a bunny who wants to be a kangaroo? Let's start in live-action as a little girl (Anna Quin) reads about Dot's previous adventure and find out...
The Story: Dot (Frawley) once again ventures into the outback to find the mother kangaroo and her lost joey. After encountering a grouchy koala (Forsythe) who doesn't understand why she doesn't like eucalyptus leaves, she runs across a lost bunny (Moore) who claims he's a joey. He really just wants attention and someone to look after him, since he lost his family. They go off in search of the mother kangaroo and the joey, once again encountering many different animals native to Australia on the way...including a pack of hungry crocodiles!
The Animation: Same deal as the last one. It's often stiff and awkward (Dot sometimes looks like her eyes are on the side of her head when she turns), and not terribly well integrated with the live-action backgrounds. You still don't believe Dot or any of the animals really inhabit the world they're in. On the other hand, they all more relatively well, and the animals at least somewhat resemble their real-life counterparts.
The Song and Dance: After varying the format a bit in Dot's around the world Christmas story, she's back in Australia here. Her interaction with the animals are just as funny this time around; the crocodiles who try to take a bite out of Funny Bunny and the grouchy koala who sets Dot off in the beginning rate special mention. The music remains catchy, too. There's even a bit of Australian military history when Dot and Funnybunny come across debris from what I suspect was the Anzac campaign in World War I and Dot tries to explain war to her friend.
Favorite Number: We kick off with Dot and Funny Bunny "Roaming Free" as they sing about traveling in a nifty, very 80's four-screen neon number. "Benjamin Bandicoot" reveals why he's a shy fellow, while the echinda and wombats sing about their love for "Termites." Funny Bunny claims he's "The Kangaroo That Never Grew," but neither Dot nor the real kangaroos believe him for a second. "The Crocodile Song" explains why they love their lives eating and catching animals. With his red crest, Dot thinks the woodpecker resembles "The Postman of the Birds."
What I Don't Like: Dot's touching relationship with Mother Kangaroo really made the first movie, and it's sorely missed here. Funny Bunny is nowhere near an adequate substitute. He spends most of the movie being annoying and silly and trying to pass himself off as a kangaroo, and his tragic backstory comes too late to make anyone feel sympathy for him. And we never do find out what happened to the girl dreaming of Dot in the opening sequence.
The Big Finale: While not quite as good as the first movie, there's still a lot to like here if you enjoyed the first one or are interested in animation from down under.
Home Media: All of the Dot films are easy to find just about anywhere, thanks to their uncertain copyright situation. (That's probably why they ran so much on cable in the 80's and 90's, too.) This one can currently be found for free on Tubi.
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