Scarygirl (PG)

Teenage octopus Arkie lives in seclusion on a peninsula with her father Blister, who channels magical powers of healing through his tentacles. One of Arkie's mechanised experiments malfunctions, attracting the attention of bounty hunter Chihoohoo. He has been hired by The Keeper to capture a giant octopus and spirits Blister away to the City Of Light to be used as the power source for an experiment conducted by grief-stricken scientist Dr Maybee.

LondonNet Film Review

Scarygirl (PG) Film Review from LondonNet

A heavy-handed ecological message about protecting the planet’s dwindling resources underpins a visually ravishing Australian computer-animated fantasy directed by Ricard Cusso and co-directed by Tania Vincent. Adapted from Nathan Jurevicius’s acclaimed graphic novel, Scarygirl is stylised to resemble stop-motion, anchored to a misunderstood teenage heroine who sports an eye patch and has Frankenstein-like stitches to her mouth, recalling one of the madcap creations of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas…

There is nothing scary about Arkie (voiced by Jillian Nguyen), a cutesy, anthropomorphic octopus-human hybrid who staves off self-doubt by chanting her mantra: “Nothing to do but to do it!” As inspirational affirmations go, it’s somewhat hesitant and clunky, which sums up Cusso and Vincent’s emotionally underpowered picture. The script lacks the wildly imaginative flourishes of the animators’ palettes, quickly laying the foundations of a dramatically simple quest (the rescue of an abducted parent) to support the title character’s journey of self-discovery and empowerment.

In the tug of war between style and substance, eye-popping visuals consistently win, dulling the impact of a big reveal about the villain’s motivations that should deal a hammer blow to the heart. Nguyen’s warm vocal performance endears us to her plucky protagonist, who is the only fully realised character by the time end credits roll.

Teenage octopus Arkie (Nguyen) lives in seclusion on a peninsula with her father Blister (Rob Collins), who channels magical powers of healing through his tentacles. Arkie is an aspiring inventor but Blister discourages his daughter’s fascination with technology, urging her to become one with nature by manipulating an elaborate system of pulleys and mirrors to harness the sun’s rays and sustain their self-contained coastal ecosystem of insects and plants. Alas, Arkie ignores her father’s advice and one of her mechanised experiments malfunctions, attracting the attention of bounty hunter Chihoohoo (Tim Minchin).

He has been hired by The Keeper (Anna Torv) to capture a giant octopus and spirits Blister away to the City Of Light to be used as the power source for an experiment conducted by grief-stricken scientist Dr Maybee (Sam Neill). Self-proclaimed renaissance rabbit Bunniguru (Remy Hii) and ovoid sidekick Egg (Kate Murphy) offer to accompany Arkie on the long trek to save her father. En route, the intrepid trio stumble upon The Tree Of Knowledge and its cantankerous guardian (Deborah Mailman), revealing a dark secret from Arkie’s past.

– Sarah Lee