Minnamurra

Plot synopsis:
A white koala named Johnny is teased about his color so he joins a traveling circus with the help of Hamish, a Tasmanian Devil, and Higgens, a monkey photographer. He is disappointed that he is part of the freak show instead of the main acts in the big tent. The top act is "Wild Bushman" who takes all the audience from the freak show. Johnny checks out the act and ends up part of the act by accident and saved by The Wild Bushman.
While traveling to a new location, their wagon train car becomes unattached and crashes in the desert of "The Outback". On their quest to go to the next location of the traveling circus, "Precipice Lake", they come upon a billabong. They witness from their cliff location that a pack of dingos (and a thylacine) are chasing a bilby but rescued by a kangaroo, a wombat army, and Miranda, a vine-swinging female koala talented at throwing a boomerang. Boris, a vulture, reveals that Bog, a giant crocodile intends on taking over the billabong. When their rescue goes wrong and the dingos threaten to take over, the rock Johnny is on breaks free and he slides down the cliff and ends up rolling on top of a boulder that chases the dingos away. Hamish introduces the now-famous white koala as "Koala Kid". Miranda is not impressed but Johnny watches her from a tree as she practices. When noticed, Miranda breaks the branch he is on with her boomerang and complains about him watching in secret. He tries to lie his way out of that accusation but ends up suggesting he is an expert at the boomerang and proven wrong when offered to try it himself.
Hamish's plan is to take photos of Johnny doing heroic stuff and make him famous as Koala Kid so when they get back to the circus, they can get in the main act rather than the freak show and earn Hamish more money. Bog is not impressed with his gang getting chased by a koala so orders them to capture Koala Kid. In the chase, Miranda's younger sister Charlotte gets covered with cosmetic powder and mistaken for the Koala Kid and kidnapped. The billabong residents plan to rescue Charlotte but must cross the dangerous "Bungle Bungles" on their way to Precipice Lake. This convinces Hamish to go along with Johnny's conscience and join in the team to rescue Charlotte.
During the trip, Johnny accidentally saves the day a few times but Miranda is still not impressed. Johnny and Miranda fall into a sinkhole and tell the rest of them go on ahead. They are being hunted by a giant lizard with a thorn in its foot. Johnny saves Miranda but soon realizes the lizard is suffering and pulls out the thorn. The lizard, Loki becomes friends with Johnny and the two koalas ride it out of the caves. Just as Miranda starts to take a liking to Johnny, Boris the vulture reveals that Johnny is just a freak show act and the "Koala Kid" thing is just a lie. Miranda tells him to leave but finds out that the gang will need to bring a koala to Bog instead of the real Koala Kid and Charlotte will have to do. Miranda offers to take her place. Charlotte goes to find Johnny while the kangaroo and the wombat army manage to distract and capture all the gang but the vulture.
Charlotte finds Johnny along with Hamish, Higgens and a prophetic peg-leg wombat and they decide to finally help Johnny get what he really wants, Miranda. Johnny calls Loki and rides off and saves Miranda. Bog shows up and gives chase so they head to the circus hoping the Wild Bushman will be able to tame Bog. Bog proves too powerful until Johnny uses the boomerang to bring down the big top on top of Bog (and himself). Johnny, Miranda and Loki become the main attraction and the bad guys get sold as pets. Johnny asks Miranda if she likes her new life and she is not so sure. Plan B is they ride off into the sunset together.

Tags: revenge, romantic

Review:
Surprisingly Good Little Gem. In 1899, in Australia, Alice May Richards (Tushka Bergen) is the daughter of the horse breeder James Richards (Frederick Parslow), who is the owner of the ranch Minnamurra. Alice has a crush on the wrangler Jack Donaghue (Steven Vidler) and the wealthy trader Ben Creed (Jeff Fahey) has an unrequited love with her. James is in a bad economical situation and his despicable neighbor Allenby (Shane Briant) wishes to buy his real state, but he does not accept the offer. Meanwhile Donaghue associates to a man called Bill Thompson (Richard Moir) to convince his neighbors to give money to raise a league of horse breeders of their own. Creed uses his company to secretly help James while Alice is sent to the house of her aunt to learn good manners. Creed decides to investigate Thompson and finds that he is a con man and he warns his neighbors and Donaghue becomes his enemy; however Thompson flees with their money and Donaghue's reputation is ruined. Out of the blue, James dies and Alice returns home and learns the financial condition of her family. Alley uses his henchmen to blow-up Creed's cargo leading his company to bankruptcy and buying the mortgage of Minnamurra that belonged to Creed from the bank. Now the only chance for Alice to keep her family property is selling the horses to the British army. But she needs the help of Creed and Donaghue to take the animals to the British ship in a short time. Further, both men love her and with whom will she stay? The unknown "Minnamurra", a.k.a. "Wrangler", is a surprisingly good romance with western that takes place in the turn of the Twentieth Century in Australia. The story is engaging and full of action, with the battle of a scummy wealthy rancher against a family of horse breeders and his neighbors. There are breathless scenes with horses and great performances of the cast. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Alma de Pistoleiro" ("Soul of Gunsling"). Fairly tense, small rancher vs. big bad rancher down under.. Jeff Fahey and Tushka Bergen in a fairly tense story of a battle between little ranchers and a big one down under. The big one is greedy and crooked and wants everybody's else's land including Bergen's family ranch. When her daddy dies she is left alone to try and stop him but gets an ally in Fahey a local business man. Of course that turns the bad rancher's sights on him and the bad guy sets out to ruin Fahey's business so he can't help Bergen. It comes down to a last desperate cattle drive that the bad men are willing to kill to prevent. 2.5 stars out of 4. Nice guy gets misunderstood. For anyone who enjoyed "The Man from Snowy River", here is another great Australian horse flick. The movie cover shows Jeff Fahey, and so there's an assumption that he is the wrangler. He is actually a Merchant (Ben) who calls on a particular wrangler friend (Jack) when business requires the movement of horses. But in the course of events, Jack gets deceived and manipulated by a con man into thinking Ben is trying to steal their business. And a debutante named Alice, being young and naive, doesn't understand Ben's financial maneuvers when he tries to save her father's estate. And so Ben is this nice guy trying to help people that he cares about, but misunderstandings end up making his efforts more painful. This movie features Jeff Fahey at his finest, and it is a mystery to me why it didn't become more popular.. Lovely period costume drama with great horses. "Wrangler," as it is known in the U.S., is a horse drama with great style and period detail. It's named "Minnamurra" in the Australian market, as that is the name of the cattle station property in dispute in the film.Minnamurra is a large cattle station, held by the Richards family, with patriarch, James; his wife, Caroline; son, Rupert; and feisty daughter, at the center of this film, Alice May Richards, played by Tushka Bergen.Ms. Bergen is a lovely, wide-eyed redhead with glorious hair, speaking eyes and a almost-tomboy manner. Her character, Alice, is bound to Minnamurra, their breeding stallion, Barbicon, but is also drawn to two men, one eagerly, Jack Donaghue, drover and militant unionizer; and Ben Creed, businessman and venture capitalist, whom she regards warily with great distrust.Also in the film is the enemy of James Richards, who is trying to wrest ownership of Minnamurra, named Allenby. He's the dirty deed doer who will do anything to get what he wants. Unfortunately, in the film, he's a one-dimensional character who doesn't really have much of a presence in the movie.This film has the look and feel of the old Merchant-Ivory movies of the 1990s. Sumptuous settings, opulent lifestyles, elegant people in a monied, elegant time.The storyline isn't exactly as the one for "Australia" (2008), but it is similar to Nicole Kidman's vehicle.The story is fraught with contention, albeit in a very gentlemanly manner. Alice Richards knows her father is having problems in holding onto the family station, and she finds herself deeply involved in solving the family's situation. There is no gore in this film, some violence, but of the bloodless variety. The worst part is an explosion where two men get killed. Other than that, the movie is certainly is fine for children to see.The most exciting part, at least for me, is the horse drive - the cinematography is glorious throughout and very striking visually. There is one scene that shows the magnificent dichotomy of Australia's geography: during the horse drive when the horses go from arable land to complete desert sand in one stride. It's an incredible shot.While this isn't a compelling story or film, it is certainly enjoyable. The two heroic men, from whom Alice must choose, are played by Jeff Fahey and Steven Vidler, as Ben Creed and Jack Donaghue, respectively. The arch enemy is played by Shane Briant, whom I recognized from other projects. Most of the cast is unknown to me, as they are either Australian or British, but all the company do their parts exceedingly well.Look for an historical figure in this film, Lord Kitchener, the 1st Earl Kitchener of Boer War fame in South Africa. He plays a vital role in the film."Wrangler" or "Minnamurra" is a nice, enjoyable viewing. It's not a monumental film, but a good experience for the whole family. (Well, okay, except for some hard-core guys who'll think this is a chick flick.) I rated it 6 out of 10, as it looks great, has some interesting plot points, but overall, it doesn't delve deeply into any of them.Unless I missed it, they never explain what Minnamurra (an Aboriginal word) means. A shame, really.