The Magic Pudding (film)

The Magic Pudding is a 2000 Australian animated musical adventure comedy film loosely adapted from the 1918 book of the same name by Norman Lindsay. Directed by Karl Zwicky, the film features an voice cast of well known actors including Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving, Jack Thompson, Toni Collette and John Cleese.

The film was produced by Energee Entertainment, an Australian studio that also created the Wicked! series. Energee shut down in 2002 due to financial losses from The Magic Pudding.

Plot
In the South Pole, Bill Barnacle, his first mate Sam Sawnoff and crewman Buncle are shipwrecked in the south pole. After Bill stops a starving Buncle from eating Sam, the iceberg cracks and produces Albert, a rude, everlasting magic pudding who demands that they continue to eat him. Buncle runs off with the pudding and claims it as his own, but the ice breaks and he falls into the sea. Bill and Sam manage to rescue the pudding, and after briefly mourning the apparent loss of Buncle, choose to protect it from thievery.

Ten years later a young koala named Bunyip Bluegum discovers that he is not an orphan and sets out on a quest to find his parents, Meg and Tom Bluegum. Bill and Sam agree to help Bunyip after the latter stops an attempt by the pudding thieves to steal Albert. After Albert runs off, Bunyip tries to ask a bandicoot with a watermelon for help. Initially avoiding the question the Bandicoot tells Bunyip that the only one not afraid to reveal the answer is the frog on the log.

As Bunyip and the others set out to find the frog on the log, Buncle is revealed to be alive and living underground with slaves, including Bunyip's parents bringing him food while he waits for the pudding thieves (his nephew Watkin and his friend Patrick O'Possum) to bring him Albert. After foiling another attempt by the thieves Bunyip falls into a creek where he dreams about his parents, before meeting the frog on the log. The frog tells him to solve a riddle to find the place where they were last seen. "Where two gums meet, yet stand alone, there's plenty of water, but dry as a bone". The pudding thieves finally succeed in stealing Albert by starting a fire as a distraction, but the pudding owners find their house with help from, and bunyip lures them outside before escaping with in the ensuring fight.

Later, as Albert mocks him, bunyip loses his temper and kicks albert into two interwoven trees. Realising they've solved the riddle and the found the right place, two gum trees overlooking a valley with a dam the feeds water into Tiralu. As the pudding owners head to the town the thieves open the dam before heading after them. The water floods the town, but Bunyip uses Albert to fill sacks and make a dam. The grateful residents celebrate, but when Bunyip explains his quest the townspeople take them to the entrance of Buncle's underground lair, saying no one ever comes out. Bunyip is ready to give up but Albert slides down inside in his bowl, followed by Bunyip, Bill and Sam. Inside Buncle is berating the thieves when Albert bounces into his lap. Buncle has the thieves thrown in with the slaves before celebrating the capture of the pudding.

The pudding owners arrive and Bunyip and Bill free the slaves while Sam distracts Buncle by dressing as a woman. As Buncle tries to eat Albert, Bunyip demands Albert for a double serving, intending to give Buncle the double. As Albert splits, his good and evil half fight, quickly growing bigger until breaking out of the cavern. Buncle then asks for 'all the puddin's in the world' before falling into one of the Albert's mouths to be spat far away. Albert splits into millions of puddings before turning back to normal and falling back into his bowl. Assuming he's dead, Bill starts to cry which revives Albert. Later, Bill and Sam are living with the Bluegums, Rumpus and Wattleby, as the two pudding thieves try to get Albert for themselves, only for the pudding owners to confront them.

Cast

 * John Cleese as Albert the Magic Pudding: A bad-mannered, living steak and kidney pudding who lasts forever and turns into different sorts of puddings.
 * Geoffrey Rush as Bunyip Bluegum: An accomplished young koala that leaves home in search of his lost parents.
 * Hugo Weaving as Bill Barnacle: A sailor who leads the noble society of Pudding owners group.
 * Sam Neill as Sam Sawnoff: A emperor penguin who is a shipmate of Bill Barnacle's cruise.
 * Jack Thompson as Buncle: An evil wombat who is looking for the magic pudding for himself to eat forever. Also a former shipmate of Bill Barnacle's cruise.
 * Toni Collette as Meg Bluegum: The mother of Bunyip Bluegum.
 * Roy Billing as Tom Bluegum: The father of Bunyip Bluegum.
 * Greg Carroll as Watkin Wombat: The nephew of Buncle who is one of the pudding thieves who has to catch and bring the pudding to him.
 * Dave Gibson as Patrick O'Possum, a possum who is The wombats helper of the pudding thieves, and as Wattleberry: the uncle of Bunyip Bluegum.
 * Mary Coustas as Ginger: is the right-hand mouse of Buncle.
 * John Laws as Rumpus Bumpus: A wise old friend of Bunyip Bluegum.
 * Sandy Gore as Frog on the Log: a female frog who helps Bunyip to finding his parents.
 * Michael Veitch as Fergus the Bandicoot: He carries the Watermelon.
 * Peter Gwynne as Benjamin Brandysnap: An elderly Basset hound who owns a grocery store, once a friend of the pudding thieves, now betrayed by them after they stole his grocery bag and joined the pudding owners for revenge.
 * Robyn Moore as Henrietta Hedgehog
 * Martin Vaughan as Parrot
 * Gerry Connolly as Dobson Dorking

Production
The Lindsay family had previously rejected many international requests to sell the rights to The Magic Pudding, preferring to wait until an Australian company presented the right formula for adaptation. Past contenders were Rolf Harris, Jim Henson Productions and even Walt Disney himself. Eventually, in 1997, the Lindsays sold the film rights to Energee Entertainment, one of the country’s then-leading independent animation companies.

Release
The film was first released in Australia on 14 December 2000, and was released theatrically by the local branch of 20th Century Fox.

The VHS tape and DVD were released in Australia in May 2001 by Roadshow Entertainment.

It was then released in New Zealand four months later after the Australian release on 9 April 2001.

A re-release of the DVD was released in Australia in 2013.

Although the film has yet to have an official DVD or Blu-ray release in North America, it is currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime and Roku.

It was also on Tubi for a bit.

Critical reception
The Magic Pudding was released to mixed reviews with most critics perceiving it as a failed attempt to do justice to Lindsay's work.

Australian critics, such as Louise Keller, Andrew L. Urban, and David Edwards, have given the film positive reviews.

After the film bombed at the box office, Energee went into financial difficulties. It was placed into administration on June 28, 2002 and closed down for good not too long after.

Soundtrack
A soundtrack, recorded by the Marionette Theatre of Australia, was released on 14 July 2001.

Video games

 * The Magic Pudding Adventure - The same month when the movie was released, an interactive game called "The Magic Pudding Adventure" was released with video highlights from the movie and 5 re-playable activities including Sink or Swim also released on DVD.