Some kids movies can take you by surprise. Bridge To Terabithia’s tearjerker, Real Steel’s heart, The Last Mimzy’s mind-boggling interdimensional time-traveller. Oddball and the Penguins doesn’t boast any such surprises – it’s after cute and cute is what it is. It doesn’t have the emotional heft and originality Bridge, Mim and Steal have but it is a pleasant affair. Based on a true story, the Oddball of the title is a rambunctious Maremma sheepdog, in trouble so often its eccentric owner, chicken farmer Swampy (Jacobson), is banned from taking him into town.
But Oddball becomes an unlikely hero when he takes to a fairy penguin Swampy nurses back to health in his bath. Seeing as Swampy’s daughter’s (Snook) penguin sanctuary is in danger of being closed because its numbers have fallen due to a particularly crafty and hungry fox, Swampy sets Oddball to work protecting the feathered friends. But town councillor Slater (Tudyk), with the help of a nasty dogcatcher, is determined to take Oddy out of commission… Groan. More penguins. Haven’t we had enough of the blighters?
But wait – this is more about the dog, its owner and his daughter than it is about the flightless birds that have taken over the screens of late (Penguins of Madagascar, Surf’s Up, Happy Feet, etc). It’s likeable stuff although the screenplay seems more interested in the adults and their woes – Tudyk is Snook’s new boyfriend and Snook’s colleague Jack (Richard Davies) is not too pleased about that - and poor little Emily (Gillies) gets lost in the mix. Don’t go thinking this is about a girl and her dog. More for a rainy Sunday afternoon in front of the TV than a trip to the cinema (although the Australian box office will disagree, pulling in a not-too-shabby ten million), Oddball and the Penguins is a heart-warming family drama.