Slow-mo kangaroos speed hop across the countryside captured in beautiful long cuts. Then the camera runs alongside, you can see right into their eyes.

Unfortunately, too soon we fly to the dry baron outback cracking into unattractive rocks and cliffs.

Back to the animals, a momma koala carries junior on her back up a tree ... simply charming. And then the crocs.

This is a documentary of traditional style; a narrator educates our ears while our eyes gaze. The picture shifts to a computer animation of the Antarctic split. Though hardly impressive, the land mass division point is made. Back to the animals - which far and away give life (no pun intended) to the production. The majestic roos and cute koalas - surprisingly evolved from the same marsupial possum.

Then all attentions migrate to the vast desert ecosystem comprised of honey ants, ant eating lizards, a six foot lizard that can outrun a human, the platypus, marble-eyed frogs, fish, frenzy of birds, pelicans and the water/dust cycle that rules their lives from reproduction to death. A sweeping storm front moves in time-lapse, spectacular.

The title of the production unfairly implies a more comprehensive look at Australia. I was actually expecting its political history or at least a look into its people -- aboriginal to modern. These are not among the goals of the film which is at its best bringing to the big screen the natural wonder of some very beautiful and curious creatures mustering along in inhospitable environments. Slight disorganization and the baron wasteland sequence belie the picture's total effect and hamper its conclusion. Still, a very good way to see some of the grounds and critters of the land down under.

Fun Fact not in the film (but in its press notes):
The kangaroo retained its name from the aborigines. When European settlers first encountered the exotic creature, they asked..."What is it?" The Aborigines replied, "Kangaroo." (Which translates to "I don't understand.")