Netflix's Animated Animal Adventure 'Back To The Outback' Will Star Isla Fisher, Eric Bana, Guy Pearce & More
Netflix is heading down under for their latest animated family movie. Back to the Outback has been slated for release in the fall of 2021, and the streaming service has announced the impressive cast of Australians (and more) who will be lending their voices to the movie about a ragtag group of Australia's deadliest creatures who plot a daring escape from their zoo to the Outback.
Netflix announced the forthcoming arrival of Back to the Outback in an official press release announcing the voice cast who will be behind the assembly of reptiles, spiders, insects and other deadly creatures who are sick of being gawked at by humans who think they're nothing but monsters.
Isla Fisher leads the pack as Maddie, a poisonous snake with a heart of gold who teams uup with a self-assured Thorny Devil lizard named Zoe (Miranda Tapsell), a lovelorn, hairy spider named Frank (Guy Pearce), and a sensitive scorpioncalled Nigel (Angus Imrie). But they won't have an easy time making an escape, because a cute but obnoxious koala named Pretty Boy (musical comedian Tim Minchin, who will also be providing original songs) joins the escape, and he also happens to be their nemesis. In pursuit is Eric Bana as the zookeeper Chaz, accompanied by his adventure-seeking mini-me Chazzie (Diesel Cash La Torraca).
The cast also includes Rachel House (Thor: Ragnarok) as Jacinta the great white shark, country singer Karl Urban as Doug the cane toad, Celeste Barber as Skylar the koala, Wayne Knight as Phil the platypus, Aislinn Derbez as Legs the redback spider, YouTube star Lachlan Ross Power as Tasmanian Dave, and Jacki Weaver as Jackie the crocodile.
Back to the Outback will be directed by Clare Knight, who worked as an editor on The LEGO Movie 2 and the Kung Fu Panda trilogy, and Harry Cripps, writer of the Australia family comedy Penguin Bloom, is behind the script. In an official statement, Knight said:
"I have always been touched by stories of hidden beauty. Maddie is both uniquely beauty and beast, and to get to present that message in comedy is the icing on the cake."
Meanwhile, Cripps is happy to showcase the wilderness of Austraila and paint these creatures in a new light:
"Growing up in Australia, I spent a lot of time in the Blue Mountains which has many different types of snakes and spiders, and I always preferred them to the cute cuddly animals, so it's such a treat to make a film where the heroes are these poisonous but beautiful little creatures. This film is a love letter to Australia's incredibly diverse and unique wildlife."
Daniela Mazzucato is producing and Akiva Goldsman is executive producing through his Weed Road Pictures along with Greg Lessans, who developed the story with Cripps.
Unfortunately, only the title treatment above has been revealed, so we don't know what this Australian adventure will look like. Hopefully it won't look like a bargain bin movie made to dupe grandparents into buying movies for their grandkids.