Napoleon [G]

Little Napoleon is a feisty Labrador puppy that longs for adventure and to be a ‘wild dog’ rather than live the domestic life of a house pet. During a birthday party he plays with a basket attached to a bunch of balloons and disaster strikes when the basket breaks loose and drifts him far away into the outback. Now’s opportunity to make his dream of being a wild dog come true and with the help of a chatty galah named Birdo, he sets off across the outback in search a pack to join. 

I used to absolutely adore this classic little Aussie film when I was little. There’s just something very endearing about films that star a complete cast of animals and the performances are all in the voice actors: timing their lines, inflections, and sounds to perfectly sync up with the actions of the dog or cat or whatever. Napoleon is a classic story with a lovely moral about identity and belonging and it’s positively filled with memorable characters and songs! 

I think what I love most about this movie is its beautiful exhibition of voice talent. This is not animated in any way, it’s just actors voicing characters of animals and the film is entirely made up of shots of animals in the outback as well as the home with voice-overs done on top. The voices are all so perfect in terms of character and every line, inflection, and sound syncs up with what the animals are doing on screen. It’s a great example of interpreting animal consciousness and giving them a voice and some of the voices are just brilliant! 

Jamie Croft who voices Napoleon is wonderful at displaying that childlike ambition and desire for adventure, but with a very mature vocabulary and you can hear the character development and growth in his voice by the end of the movie when all the lessons have been learned. 

Then there is Philip Quast who voices Birdo and he so sounds like a bird. He delivers this wonderful and hilariously neurotic and squawking dialogue intermingled with various screams, melodic sing-song tweets, and grating yells that are so perfectly characteristic of galahs and Birdo in particular. 

Then we’ve got an eloquent and articulate tawny frogmouth, a sarcastic koala, a deep and husky voiced cat, a tinkly-voiced spider, and infuriatingly high-pitched and mocking lorikeets. Not to mention the voice of Dame Edna Everage as the kangaroo! 

Featuring the voice talents of Susan Lyons, Brenton Whittle, Anne Lambert, Carole Skinner, Catherine Lambert, Tracey Canini, Annabel Sims, Neusa Timms, Debbir Horn, Lucia Mastrantone, Frank Whitten, Fiona Press, Steven Vidler, David Ague, Edward McQueen-Mason, Stuart Pankin, Mingnon Kent, Michael Wilkop, Casy Siemaszko, and Joan Rivers, Napoleon is an adorable little film that exhibits a large amount of why I love Australia: such beautiful and diverse landscapes as well as so many cute and interesting critters! Filled with adventure, drama, action, and comedy, it’s just a very, very cute movie and it stands the test of time!