Australia

Up until Australia I had always managed to avoid Baz Luhrman's films. Not purposely, its just that the sequins and dancing of Strictly Ballroom and Moulin Rouge, and the Hollywood sheen of Romeo + Juliet,  never appealed to a teenage boy. Go figure. Well there isn't anything in Australia to turn me onto them.
It starts slowly, with the arrival of Nicole Kidman's English upper class madam arriving in the land down under. Through a variety of incidents she befriends a small mixed race Aboriginal boy and fires the crooked workers from her ranch, resulting in her having to drove her cattle across the outback to be sold and get the ranch back on its feet. Luckily, Hugh Jackman is on hand to provide some assistance. They really, really, really hate each other so I don't expect they'll end up together. Oh right, thats exactly what happens.
And thats where Australia goes wrong. Its just a mismatch of a lot of different ideas, done a lot better elsewhere. Its clear this is a passion project for Luhrman but it feels like he's tried to hard to make the Australian "Gone with the Wind". The running time is absolutely ridiculous considering that the story only justifies half that amount. Theres a point after the cattle drove where it could have finished, around the 90 minute mark. But then we have about 15 minutes of filler setting up a second story. It absolutely bored me to tears.
Two stars. It would have been one but for the beautiful Australian landscapes lovingly shot. If there had just been a boomerang scene or a Harold Bishop and Lou Carpenter cameo, it could have been five.