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Excellent adaptation.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This movie was a pleasant surprise providing insights and realism of aborigines life and treatment. The musical numbers were quirky and entertaining. The two minute dance scene near the beginning, starting at 04:00 minutes to 06:00 minutes, is amazingly fantastic. I have watched it dozens of times. The camera work, the editing, the characters all combine to make a mesmerizing sequence. The characters seem like you could find them there today if you went to Broome, Western Australia, right down to the white folk sitting around in the periphery. And it looks like Jimmy Chi himself (author of the musical) is right up on stage playing with the band the Kuckles.

It's Australia in the late sixties and Willie (Rocky McKenzie), a young Aboriginal boy, runs away from Catholic boarding school to embark upon a musical adventure back to his hometown, Broome. Along the way he sings songs, makes new friends (including a wily hobo, a German backpacker attempting to latch onto the free spirit of the Woodstock-generation, and a tragically horny shopkeeper), and has a series of episodic (mis)adventures. The plot doesn't really get much deeper than that. There is a love story thrown in there somewhere and it verges on social commentary at times, but this feel-good musical romp doesn't even try to get close to well thought out narrative structure.That, however, is not its mission. It doesn't want to be just another in the long catalogue of dark and difficult aboriginal dramas. It just wants to be an hour and a half of Australian reminiscence for the good old technicolour days, and this it does very well. The aesthetics throughout the film are wonderful, saturated as they are with the gaudy colours of an un-hip 1969 rural Western Australia, and all of the actors (notable Ernie Dingo's 'Uncle Tadpole') perform their roles with such a well-meaning sense of fun and good-nature that it's hard to give this film too bad a rap.Judging this film solely on its elements of fun, however, also has its problems. There aren't enough songs and when they do appear they aren't particularly catchy and their accompanying dance routines lack energy and verve. Unfortunately the star-studded cast, full of well-known Australian singing talents (Dan Sultan, Missy Higgins, Jessica Mauboy) don't lift the scant numbers of this one out of their bland doldrums. For a musical, I've got to say that it doesn't impress very much musically.It's moments of comedy, however, do really get the belly-laughs out. Geoffrey Rush's maniacal German priest, Higgins' spaced-out hippie, and Dingo's walking stereotype are all hilarious in their ineptitude and occasional pearls of homespun wisdom, and guest appearances by Madga Szubanski and Deborah Mailman are more than enough to cement Bran Nue Dae into the cannon of great comedies that won't translate outside of Australia.This being said, these moments spectacular hilarity sadly still aren't enough to drown out all the of the gaping flaws in this film. The love story sub-plot makes no sense, the character development is minimal if it's there at all, and motivation for any of the action is sorely lacking, and it for these reasons that I can't really recommend it as any kind of triumph of Australian musical cinema. It has its moments of fun and the kids will love it, but I can't see it being put up there with the likes of Muriel's Wedding (1994) or The Castle (1997) any time soon.

The people who say this film is badly acted and cheesy just do not understand it. Just like Grease, it is meant to be a musical comedy and has aspects of great parody. Even as Missy Higgins is acting the wide eyed hippie, she's poking fun at hippies and the hippie era, as well as being affectionate towards it. I think she's brilliant in this film. There are some pretty dark themes such as alcohol abuse, deaths in police custody and homelessness -- and humour is used as an effective tool. Rather than trivialise the issues, it makes us look at them in a different way. Rather than state that all Europeans or all Aborigines are bad, the film shows us that people are often a mixture of good and bad. I think it's beautifully shot and directed and the actors, who clearly had a ball making it, do a fantastic job.

A 5pm Sunday summer afternoon session for us for Bran Nue Dae. Most of the cast with the exception of the young male lead are very well known in Australia. Jessica Mauboy of course was runner up for Australian Idol a couple of years ago and has gone onto a successful recording career. And lost a little bit of weight since making this film so looks very hot. Great locations (Broome, Perth and the seminary down near Perth) and a positive upbeat feel about being an aborigine. For me, right or wrong, that's the most positive thing about this movie. Enjoyed Missie Higgins, Deborah Mailman also very well known for TV shows like "A Secret Life" and stage shows is engaging as the sexually free spirit from the Kimberleys.Possibly the only negative was that the leading younger male part is somewhat reserved by nature and that holds the film's energy back a little. Ernie Dingo is great as Uncle Tadpole and his vocals as the closing credits roll are a standout. Ernie a couple of years ago was on another Aussie TV show "It takes two" where celebrities and TV stars team up with professional singers in a 16 week or so competition.Geoffrey Rush I wasn't so taken with. Missy Higgins I liked your smile, the character and the singing.Chuck in plenty of great Aussie scenery, blue water, good locations, a an old 1950s Mercedes, a Kombi van, a HD Holden ute and some toe-tapping musical numbers and it's a enjoyable enough 90 mins.