DVD: "Australia" brings the Outback back

Based on the enormous cardboard stand-up for Australia that I came across in the theaters, I didn't really know what the movie was going for. It looked kinda like a Romancing the Stone meets Crocodile Dundee with a splash of Legends of the Fall.

In the way, the ads were right on - Australia does try hard to convey an epic story: heroes and villains, beginning in media res, agony and ecstasy. It largely succeeds, but the tone is very intentionally storybook, with over-acting, highly crafted slo-mo and close up shots, which might lose some viewers who would take it as too silly or youthful.

The moral situations are - indeed - transparent as the characters are pretty obvious, but that's not to say they lack depth. The aboriginal characters - particularly young Nullah - are the heart of the film.

The direction is sometimes ambiguous, since it's just as much a story of a time in Australia's history as it is a linear tale of a man and a woman in love, but the meandering feels good, not to where you find yourself checking the clock to see when it's going to end.

The visual scenes, many of which are CGI while others offer a broad scope of Australian landscape, are well done, with few moments that break away and feel contrived as happens in many lower-budget films that try for the same scale.

The film is long and requires a sharp ear to keep from missing anything (and due to the sometimes-heavy accents), but is perfect for a lazy afternoon or romantic evening where you want to be taken away for a couple of hours, have a few laughs and a few tears, and come away feeling pleased - though perhaps unchanged - by the whole experience.

Not as cheesy as a Harlequin Romance, but not as haunting as Legends of the Fall, but either way worth the rental.