DOT AND THE BUNNY
Australia, 1984, 81 minutes, Colour.
Voices: Drew Forsythe, Ron Haddrick, Anne Haddy, Barbara Frawley, Ross Higgins.
Directed by Yoram Gross.
Dot and the Bunny is one of about a half a dozen sequels to Yoram Gross's successful animation fantasy, Dot and the Kangaroo (1977).
Gross has taken the original Dot and her search for the kangaroo Joey to make contemporary stories with messages for children - preservation of animals, anti-war, the environment etc.
The films offer the same formula - naturalistic backgrounds, epsecially Australian flora and fauna, which are then animated so that the animals come alive and can act, talk, sing. The result is generally delightful, especially for smaller children.
Gross uses direct animation, reminiscent of Disney and Hollywood cartoons. He has excellent character voices led by Barbara Frawley as Dot and such characters actors-as Drew Forsythe, Ross Higgins, Anne Haddy. This film offers many lessons in Australian animals. It has a touch of anti-war in its final sequences.
1. The popularity of the series? Delight? For younger children? Adults?
2. The style of animation: natural backgrounds, the beauty of Australian landscapes, variety? The range of Australian animals? - transition to animation - talking, acting, singing? The blend of fantasy and reality? Dream?
3. The effectiveness of the message about nature, about being oneself, violence and war?
4. The original adventures of Dot? Going home, dreaming, walking through the bush, the encounters with the variety of animals, a human along with the animals, her search for the Joey, her friendship with Funny Bunny, her experience of the bush, of the islands and the relics of World War Two?
5. The range of animals and the Australian bush: the use of Banjo Paterson's poems about the animals that Noah forgot? The recitations and songs? Delight, instruction? The koalas and their eating a sleeping habits, the comparisons between wallabies and kangaroos, the photography of the birth of the little kangaroo and its journey to the mother's pouch? Rabbits? The nature of a platypus? The flying foxes, marsupial mice, bandicoots, crocodiles and turtles?
6. The character of Funny Bunny and the friendship with Dot? The loss of parents by the rabbit, the search for a mother? The various ways of pretending to be a kangaroo - ears, tail, hopping etc? The comedy? Songs? Self-acceptance? The kangaroo accepting Funny Bunny as her child?
7. Split-screen effects for the range of Australian types as Dot and the Bunny walk through the bush? The visit to the aborigines and their caves? World War Two in the Islands, the relics of war, memories, the message against war?
8. An entertaining way of appreciating Australia?
