I watched this one under the bias of all the bad reviews, my distate of Nicole Kidman's wooden and uptight acting, with the redemption of some great shots of Hugh Jackman.

WELL I WAS SHOCKED!!! It is an outstandoing movie. Given the CGI issues and Nicole's top lip going up (in bee sting style) and down.

Overall jam packed with awesome Aussie Talent - too many to list. The storyline (remember this is a story so license to good ol' Baz) covers many themes but the main ones are tolerance, redemption, acceptance and perserverance.

Brandon Walters and David Gulpililli deliver superb performances, as does David Wenham in his passively evil delivery as Fletcher.

Most of the male audience thought this film would be a "Hugh perv" for their wives and partners but most commented positively after the film finished on how good it was. I particularly loved the way Baz Luhrmann ties in the themes of dreaming (as in the Wizard of Oz) and the dreamtime of our indigenous Australians.

I took my Nan with me (she grew up in the White Australia policy period and had "black" help) it was surprising to see how it effected her - particularly t5he poignant scene where Nicole Kidman's Lady Ashley challenges the priest who claims Aboriginal Women forget their children. That had a profound effect on me.

Wonderful movie - yes it might be difficult to translate to DVD but vwell worth taking the time to seek it out and watch it

PS. I was also advised Hugh Jackman's son Oscar makes a cameo appearance as one of the boys on Mission Beach and Nicole's niece Lucia Hawley makes a cameo at the Governor's cliff top mansion as the little girl with a bow in her hair.

Ok, I enjoyed this film because I banished the following thoughts from my mind: That the budget was more than the GDP of some countries, Nic and Hugh should have known better and it was one long tourism advertisement. If you can get past the dodgy dialogue and predictive story it is a quite an enjoyable experience. Could have been helped by chopping an hour off the running time. Overseas audiences will love it - the romanticism of the Australian Outback!

What a disappointment. Wooden acting matches totally unbelieveable storyline with embarrassingly poor CGI. Add to this self-indulgent direction and you've got a totally unmemorable film. It's bad on the big screen and certainly won't make the transition to your home cinema.. Bottom line, don't bother!