Blueback (2022) User Reviews

A Heartwarming Tale of Friendship and Conservation

[FilmFanatic2023 · 7/10 · 3 March 2023]

Blueback is a film adaptation of Tim Winton's 1997 novel of the same name, directed by Robert Connolly and starring Mia Wasikowska, Eric Bana and Radha Mitchell. The film tells the story of Abby, a young girl who befriends a wild blue grouper while diving in the pristine waters of Western Australia. As Abby grows up, she learns about the threats facing her marine friend and her home, and decides to take action to protect them.

The film is a visually stunning ode to nature, with breathtaking underwater scenes that showcase the beauty and diversity of life in the ocean. The film also explores themes such as family, identity, activism and environmentalism, with a strong female perspective. Wasikowska gives a nuanced performance as Abby, who evolves from a curious child to a passionate woman. Bana and Mitchell are also convincing as her supportive father and mother, who share her love for the sea.

Blueback is a moving and inspiring film that celebrates the bond between humans and animals, and the importance of preserving our natural heritage. It is a film that will appeal to audiences of all ages who care about our planet.

Beautiful but underwhelming

[steveinadelaide · 5/10 · 6 January 2023]

I have enjoyed previous Tim Winton book adaptations for the screen, but BLUEBACK is disappointing. While the film stays true to the book's messages of environmentalism and empowerment, it took too long to get there and didn't offer a deep enough story to keep me invested. BLUEBACK follows the journey of a young girl, Abby (Mia Wasikowska), who discovers a wild blue grouper while diving and is inspired to take action towards preserving Australia's coral reefs from destruction. She becomes an enthusiastic crusader for protecting the delicate ecosystem and its inhabitants.

The visuals are stunning, with beautiful shots of the ocean and its creatures, but they don't make up for the simplistic narrative. The movie focuses heavily on Abby and Dora's relationship, yet there is not enough development or depth to it. There could have been more exploration of the other characters who play significant roles in the story.

BLUEBACK failed to make an impression on me with its lack of narrative complexity. While its messages of environmentalism and empowerment will appeal to some viewers, its slow pacing and lack of story make it an overall underwhelming experience.

Lacks a Spine!

[spookyrat1 · 6/10 · 25 January 2023]

Celebrated Australian novelist Tim Winton is one of those literary figures whose work just never quite seems to translate wholly successfully from the page to the screen. Arguably Simon Baker's 2017 adaption of Breath, may be the exception. But Robert Connolly's Blueback, follows Gregor Jordan's 2020 adaption of Dirt Music, in being a terrific film to look at, whilst simultaneously lacking dramatic heft. And this is despite Winton himself being given a co - screenwriting credit along with director Connolly, whose last film, The Dry, I loved.

The cinematography both above and under the water is exceptional. The acting is competent without anyone particularly standing out. Ostensible lead Mia Wasikowska as the adult Abby Jackson is rarely ever challenged to get out of first gear, as is Eric Bana, in very much a support role as Mad Macka. Radha Mitchell perhaps contributes most obviously in her energetic portrayal of activist mum of Abby, Dora, in her younger years. I personally found the largely classically - inspired musical soundtrack too reminiscent of countless mid twentieth century Disney wildlife documentaries. But the big weakness was rather ironically perhaps considering the screenwriters, the storyline. With just a few exceptions, this is a film in which not a great deal happens during its 100 minute running time, despite constant time shifts and flash backs.

Whereas the mother / daughter* relationship is way overplayed (*In the book Abby is Able ... a boy.) Erik Thomson's "villain" Costello, is so lightly treated and gets so little screen time, we never fully understand the enmity between the Jacksons and him. BTW Abby only seems to have been made female in order to experience an interracial teenage romance, which again, doesn't seem to go anywhere in terms of the general narrative. It just serves as filler content, which didn't appear in the literary source.

It's only fair to add that the film, despite the changes mentioned, does stick very closely to its source material's welcome environmental and domestic relationship themes. Thankfully too, it does manage to coalesce into a genuinely moving climax. It's just that Blueback's storyline unwinds at such a languid pace, there are precious few thrills and unexpected excitements in getting there.

Blueback is a frequently charming and completely inoffensive and wholesome family film. (I have no idea why its Australian Classification is M - mature audiences.) But for this punter, its lack of a genuinely engaging screenplay, made for an overall underwhelming cinematic experience.

Simple story about protecting marine life

[Quinoa_Chris_Kirk · 6/10 · 8 February 2023]

Abby, a young woman working as a marine biologist, recalls her teenage years with her mother in Western Australia. She is introduced to the diverse marine life in the bay she grew up in, makes friends with a blue groper and helps her mother fight to protect the bay's marine life from encroaching property developers.

A straight-forward, heart-felt film with a pleasant, leisurely pace about pursuing a passion to protect something you care about, aimed at a young audience. The flash-back narrative structure is nostalgic and makes clear why the adult Abby is working to protect the bleaching coral reef, but it obviates any emotional or dramatic impact from either time-period. The underwater photography of the ocean life, and the actors interacting with it, is very beautifully shot, tranquil and convincing of the film's thesis, to protect ocean life. Though short on depth and complexity the film successfully depicts the simplicity and integrity of spending your life caring for your immediate environment.

Extremely well-shot but disjointed

[chenp-54708 · 4/10 · 29 January 2023]

Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

"Blueback" is a story about Abby, a child who befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving. When Abby realizes that the fish is under threat, she takes inspiration from her activist Mum, Dora, and takes on poachers to save her friend. Tim Winton novel called "Blueback" was a book I read as a child and I remember enjoying it quite a lot. Director Robert Connolly clearly has talent on directing and camerawork as this movie has really amazing camerawork of the Oceania landscapes and some cool underwater sequences. Each scenes that shows the fishes, reefs and ocean grounds were beautiful and felt like you are inside of the ocean and experiencing it. Unfortunately the film falls onto the example of style over substance as the film carries a disjointed narrative and unreliable structure.

I understand the purpose of each characters arches but the film doesn't do a great job on developing the characters as the characters didn't feel properly fleshed out. The performances were pretty good but they weren't really able to carry the film due to the lack of character development and poor structure of the story. Many themes of environmentalism and save the ocean are explored but Connolly doesn't seem to understand how to approach these topics properly and they fell all over the place. For a children's film, the film does take a very long time to get to the point and from someone who enjoys slow pace films, Blueback doesn't feel very earned.

The runtime doesn't feel justified as there were several moments that felt like filler, some of the dialogue was pretty bad and the disjointed execution doesn't help to make the film interesting. Winton's books are pretty interesting and have chances to be adapted into films but Blueback isn't one of the good adaptations unfortunately. Overall, there are great camerawork and production throughout but the positives are overshadowed by it's negatives.

Rating: C.

Well-intentioned But a Little Schmaltzy and Uneven

[brentsbulletinboard · 5/10 · 26 April 2023]

I feel somewhat guilty criticizing a picture that seems to have its heart in the right place but that just isn't very good. Such is the case with director Robert Connolly's latest, an earnest but schmaltzy, predictable, uneven offering that addresses noble sentiments but isn't put together well. The film tells the story of Abby (Mia Wasikowska), a marine biologist who's called away from her coral reef studies to care for her aging mother, Dora (Elizabeth Alexander), when she suffers a debilitating stroke that has left her unable to speak. Upon Abby's return home to her Western Australia coastal community of Longboat Bay, she reflects back on how her mother got her interested in oceanography, particularly through her efforts to establish a local marine preserve. This part of the story is told through extensive flashbacks featuring Abby's younger self (Ariel Donoghue, Ilsa Fogg) and a youthful Dora (Radha Mitchell) in their efforts to protect the bay from illegal fishing and potentially damaging waterfront development, especially after they meet and "befriend" a large wild blue grouper that Abby names Blueback. The film thus raises and addresses an array of issues related to environmentalism, ecological stewardship and cross-species relations, as well as following one's passions and walking one's walk. Unfortunately, the flashbacks dominate the narrative so much that the story thread that launches the picture feels more like an afterthought, one in which Wasikowska almost could have phoned in her part. And, as for the content that makes up the bulk of this release's screen time, it comes across as laudable and well-meaning but a little too obvious and preachy, playing more like the script of an "After School Special" or material based on a selection from an all-girls' Young Adult reading group. The somewhat insipid treatment of this story tends to undercut this release's other strengths, such as its gorgeous underwater cinematography and the value of the messages it's seeking to impart. Some might say the foregoing sounds cruelly and heavy-handedly cynical, but at least it's honest, all good intentions aside.

BLUEBACK - BACKED INTO A CORNER

[movieguy3000 · 3/10 · 3 January 2024]

Based on accomplished novelist Tim Winton's book of the same name, this film falls very short. Not all books can be adapted into films especially if the screenplay is written by the wrong person, a person who has more producing and directing credits than writing.

The film is photographed well, and all technical aspects are met especially with a big budget. Locations are great and most of the actors are good, apart from Mia - who seems to be phoning it in on this film - half the time she seems so flat in her performance, she actually seems like she doesn't even want to be in the film and was doing it for a paycheck or a favor. (Just watch the first few lines while she's on the satellite phone and listen to the delivery) The film and its themes are well-intentioned, but this was actually packaged as a kid's film? I can tell you; I have 5 young kids and they wouldn't sit through the first 10 min. This was a missed opportunity to tell a heart-warming story about a beautiful blue Groper fish which has a beautiful relationship with the Jackson family over a few decades. Robert Connoly should have taken a page out of Free Willy or A Dolphin Tale. There is hardly any real emotion evoked from this story, any emotion portrayed is actually dribble and contrived. The narrative is disjointed and convoluted, its pacing is too slow and somewhat boring. Also feel like Radha Mitchell is trying too hard to be SUPER AUSSIE with her accent, but I believe her performance is still quote strong. Overall, a well-shot film, with all the bells and whistles thanks to Screen Australia and ScreenWest. Lottery West helping already established filmmakers instead of funding new voices. Just remember if you watched this film and agreed and are Australian - your tax payed for this. Do you think it was executed correctly? Want to watch a fantastic Tim Winton film? Go and watch an excellent film called Breath directed by Simon Baker - a fantastically made film.

Returning to roots is a return to hope

[Blue-Grotto · 9/10 · 19 October 2022]

Along Australia's vast and beautiful ocean coastline Abby is a marine biologist assessing the health of coral reefs and fisheries. Just when the future for the ocean and its wildlife looks bleak and sad to her, Abby receives an urgent call about the health of her estranged mother, Dora. Abbey's return home brings her back in touch not only with her mom but with her roots and why she chose to study the ocean in the first place. There are flashbacks to when Abby was a girl, first learning to swim and dive with her mom, her inspirational artwork, and a friendly and sensitive blue grouper she once knew. As Abby reforges the connections with her mom, nature, the ocean, and to all their combined wonders, it renews her sense of hope.

The immense blue vistas, colorful coral reefs, and spectacular sunsets of Australia combine with interesting characters and touching relationships both human and animal. "It is a passionate call to arms to save the oceans," said director Robert Connolly who was present at this world premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. Blueback is not preachy and does not take a doomsday approach, but it reveals many of the challenges that oceans face and remedies for a brighter future such as marine reserves and sustainable harvesting. The film is based on a story by Tim Winter, who is popular in Australia. The gigantic blue grouper ("groper" in the Canadian write up about the film, LOL) is a puppet and is not created through computer animation. The relationship chemistry and dialogues are cheesy at times, but overall Blueback is a well-made, timely, and inspiring film.

A most beautiful, perfect movie

[supermaggie · 10/10 · 9 August 2023]

Wow, simply wow is what I thought when watching this movie. I hardly cry, but this movie brought tears into my eyes. And it is due to the wonderful images of the ocean and its marine life, sure, but more than this it is the story between mother and daughter. I would have loved to have such a mother who understands that raising a child means raising them to be an independent and courageous person. Two brave and big-hearted women, wonderful scenes with beautiful fish, a message to save the oceans, also some natural diversity in the cast - a perfect movie. Maybe a bit too heavy for very little children (dramatic scenes when the fish are hunted and the grave topic of strokes), otherwise a perfect movie for the whole family.

One of the BEST movies I have EVER seen

[lukescottbrown · 10/10 · 29 December 2022]

I saw a pre-showing for this movie and loved every minute of it. The acting coming from everyone was fantastic in it, especially the main girl who conveyed emotions really well. The character development and how the characters grow in the story was so interesting to watch and I was so invested in it. The writing of the script is very clever and each scene in this film was brilliantly executed, and I personally liked the one of the first scenes where the young girl meets the big fish it was so touching and I found that all the parts which were filmed underwater were stunningly beautiful. Something else I really loved about this movie was watching this young girl fighting to save the lives of these fish, it was so inspiring watching her determination grow in this film. Such an AMAZING movie, you HAVE to go see it, perfect for all ages.

preservar é sempre muito importante

[buenor7 · 10/10 · 11 March 2024]

It's a very good film, because it addresses caring for nature and preserving the environment, showing the greed of human beings for wanting more and more, without caring how this selfish and ignorant attitude harms the diversity of the entire ocean that has a large number of beautiful and wonderful species that you can't let this end The story also addresses her mother who always fought for this cause and has a beautiful passage from beginning to end, and also Abby's affection for her aquatic friend, a very well produced film with beautiful and wonderful places, one is a beautiful family story and also navy, the film certainly surprises with the values it conveys I liked the actors, they are very good on the scene, and Ilsa Fogg, Ariel Donoghue, who take the scenes very seriously and with a big load everyone does a great job.

It's great

[exuberantloquacity · 10/10 · 13 September 2023]

The foremost criticism of Blueback is the same one everyone makes when they've read the book first: why are some things left out (to save time, supposedly), then other things added in. This is a general thing that's annoying about movies, so not singular to this movie. With that out of the way, it's a pretty good adaptation of Tim Winton's book. It conveys the story accurately, has the main scenes you're waiting to see, has the same message, etc. The cinematography is excellent. Breathtaking natural footage, which really fits with Winton's message, that the ecosystem here is beautiful and should be cherished and cared for. Bravo.

A good movie with big heart but

[MovieIQTest · 24 December 2023]

A bit of straightforward hollow and boring. You might feel that you are losing your interest and patience to watch it since there's nothing too much going on. Scene after scene just like a plain story trying so hard to pile and patch up with nothing special to tell. The mother and the daughter are two characters, and the actress who plays the mother is renowned for her great works. The young teenage girl, the grow-up young lady are both pretty to look at and well merged in this a bit numb screenplay. The huge groper, nickname Blueback, is a nice touch and natural wonder, but there is nothing further developed between the daughter and the fish. Eric Bana's role is not so interesting and meaningful, more like a patch-up to stuff into a hollow movie. Their beach property is constantly targeted by the developer and their sea is also ransacked by fishing company that poaching and killing fish at will. There actually not too much to tell other than the aging mother got a stroke when the daughter away from home in the sea doing research works.

This movie is like a gourmet food prepared by a great chef, the presentation of the dishes are look pretty, but quite tasteless. Watchable, but need some patience to sit through. I didn't finish it in fact since it's not that interesting to me.