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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5826219e_ca79_48cd_b99c_d31fcfc5b427.jpeg]]
2 [[caption-width-right:350:"We’re going [[TitleDrop back to the outback!]]"[[note]]From left to right: Zoe the thorny devil, Frank the funnel web spider, Nigel the scorpion, Pretty Boy the koala, and Maddie the taipan.[[/note]]]]
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4''Back To The Outback'' is a 2021 Australian-American animated adventure comedy film directed by Clare Knight and Harry Cripps. The film follows five Australian zoo critters--a tender-hearted taipan snake named Maddie (Creator/IslaFisher), lovesick funnel-web spider Frank (Creator/GuyPearce), cynical thorny devil lizard Zoe (Creator/MirandaTapsell), a neurotic marbled scorpion named Nigel (Creator/AngusImrie), and a pompous koala named [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Pretty Boy]] (Music/TimMinchin)-- that are NotEvilJustMisunderstood, who embark on an adventure to get [[TitleDrop back to the outback]]. The trip is not without its perils, as zookeeper Chaz Hunt (Creator/EricBana) and his son Chazzie are on the hunt to catch the animals and bring them back to the zoo.
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7!!''Back To The Outback'' provides examples of:
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9* AccentSlipUp: When [[spoiler: Chaz admits to his son that he never went on all those adventures he wrote about in his books,]] he temporarily slips into an American accent, and reveals he is actually from Florida.
10* AerithAndBob: The Tasmanian devils are named Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Dave.
11* AffectionateNickname: When Pretty Boy warms up to Maddie, they start referring to each other by their initials.
12* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: Funnel-Web spiders and Tasmanian devils in real-life don't have purple fur like the ones seen in the movie. Also, inland taipans are not blue.
13* AmbiguouslyGay: Nigel is heavily implied to be homosexual, as proof by his interactions with or referring to Pretty Boy.
14* AmbiguousSituation: Does Norine [[SpeaksFluentAnimal truly understand]] what Maddie is saying, or is she just really good at interpreting what animal noises and body language means?
15** After Maddie claims that she's "pretty deadly", Norine's expression implies that she ''does'' understand her.
16* ArtisticLicenseArachnids: Nigel's sting is twice used to render Pretty Boy unconscious. In real life, a marbeled scorpion's sting is extremely deadly. Surviving getting stung ''once'' would be unlikely enough.
17* AudibleSharpness: Maddie’s fangs make a distinct ''shing'' sound when she brings them out. When Pretty Boy bares his teeth, there’s a ''boing'' sound instead.
18* BloodSuckingBats: The bat colony that helps the group is stated by Dave to drink warm blood, and Maddie tells one (Vlad) to get away from Pretty Boy’s neck. Interestingly, official material lists them as flying foxes, which are herbivores.
19* ButtMonkey: Pretty Boy suffers a lot of painful and unhygienic moments over the course of the movie.
20* CallBack: Earlier in the film, Pretty Boy is shown entertaining his fans by riding a small fire truck. In the climax, he and Maddie use a ''real'' fire truck to rescue their friends.
21* CarnivoreConfusion: Animals eating other animals is only really briefly brushed up on a few times.
22** First where the group clearly thinks they are going to be eaten by a shark (who turns out to be an ok gal named Jacinta).
23** Jacinta sadly notes to the group that Duncan the dung beetle, who the cast had met at the zoo sometime before the start of the film, had been eaten by a seagull shortly after being released back into the wild, and nervously hides them from the view of another seagull that passes by.
24** Vlad the flying fox (which are actually herbivorous bats in real life) tries to fly off of with and feed on Pretty Boy while his colony helps the group get through the mountains, with Maddie telling him off for it.
25--->'''Maddie''': No, Vlad! Get off his neck! Bad, bad bat!
26* ConnectedAllAlong: Early in the film, the group offhandedly learns from Jacinta that an unseen dung beetle they knew from the zoo named Duncan had been eaten by a seagull one month prior, after being released back into the wild. Later in the film, the group gets help from some dung beetle U.S.S agents to get past some human cattle ranchers. It later turns out [[spoiler: the leader of the dung beetles is Duncan’s brother, and recognizes Chaz as the human who took him away, leading to him organizing the other dung beetles to roll boulders into the chasm Chaz is chasing the protagonists in, in an attempt to avenge his brother.]]
27* CovertGroup: The "Ugly Secret Society", or "U.S.S" for short, is an international rescue organization of "misunderstood" animals, who help other animals in need, but their agents will only do so if their secret password is spoken.
28* CurbStompBattle: Dave, Lucifer, and Beelzebub kick Chaz’s butt quite handily, causing him to frantically call to his son to throw him a rope so he can get the heck out of there.
29* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Throughout the film, Nigel is shown to REALLY like Pretty Boy since he's so cute, even asking at one point if he could wipe his butt on his body.
30-->'''Nigel''': Can I wipe my bottom with your fur?
31-->'''Pretty Boy''': ''*confused*'' What!?
32* ExplosiveBreeder: The two cane toads Maddie frees have an absurd amount of children by the end of the film, and it’s implied they only did so in 1-2 weeks tops.
33* {{Fauxreigner}}: [[spoiler:Chaz isn't an Australian. He's an American.]]
34* FriendlyNeighborhoodSpider:
35** Played straight with Frank the funnel web spider, who is a good-natured arachnid and one of Maddie's TrueCompanions who desperately craves a girl to call his own.
36** Zig-Zagged with Legs Luciano, who is a charming redback spider who leads an entire horde of similarly-noble spiders that work for the U.S.S. and help save the main group from a mob of angry humans and help them navigate through the city. On the other hand, she has no qualms about killing Pretty Boy for being too attractive until Maddie vouches for him.
37* GreatEscape: The group escaping the zoo at night plays out like a prison break, complete with guard towers scanning the area with search lights that Maddie and the others have to avoid.
38* GroinAttack: Chaz kicks Dave in a sensitive area to buy himself some time to run past the Tasmanian devil.
39-->'''Dave''': Ahh! My bloomin’ onions!
40* HypocriticalHumor: During the group's encounter with Jacinta, Pretty Boy complains about the shark focusing only on herself... then asks that everyone focus on ''him'' instead.
41* IAteWhat: Chaz turns around to vomit when his son gives him . . . something to drink based off of something he read in one of his father's adventure/survival books.
42-->'''Chaz''': I’m parched. Where’s the FIJI water?
43-->'''Chazzie''': We drank it all, but here.
44--> ''*pours a liquid in his father’s mouth with a leaf*''
45-->'''Chaz''': ''*gulps*'' What is it?
46-->'''Chazzie''': ''*smiling innocently*'' My urine.
47* IAmAMonster: Maddie was feared by the public and they called her a monster much to Maddie's dismay.
48* ICantBelieveImSayingThis: Pretty Boy invokes this just before [[spoiler:using the U.S.S's secret phrase to save Maddie]].
49* InstantSedation: Nigel’s venom and the tranquilizer serum both knockout their targets within seconds, and both have the added effect of causing Pretty Boy to foam at the mouth when it kicks in.
50* InterspeciesAdoption: Jackie, a saltwater crocodile, refers to Maddie (a snake), Frank (a spider), Nigel (a scorpion), and Zoe (a lizard) as her babies, and considers herself their mother. It’s implied she watched over them all as they grew up, as she recalls that when they were brought to the zoo, they were too young to remember their old homes. [[spoiler: The animations during the end credits imply that she may have taken Pretty Boy (a koala) under her wing as well.]]
51* KidsAreCruel: Chazzie shows shades of this when he threatens to thump another kid if he doesn’t tell him where the escaped zoo animals are, but given his actions later, it’s likely he was just putting on a "tough guy" attitude to try and impress his father.
52** Chazzie rather abrasively wakes the animals up at the zoo by angrily beating their cages with a stick and calling them names.
53* LiarRevealed: After being pressured into doing so, [[spoiler: Chaz]] reveals to [[spoiler: his son]] that [[spoiler: he's not actually a badass wildlife expert and only wanted to do that stuff because he saw someone else doing it on TV.]]
54* LivingCrashpad: The group is terrified when they fall off of a cliff, but are relieved when they land and realize they happened to do so on [[BeautyIsBad Pretty Boy.]]
55-->'''Frank''': Ooh! Sweet!
56-->'''Nigel''': Like a tiny cloud filled with hate!
57* MatingSeasonMayhem: With the bulk of the film taking place during funnel web spider mating season, Frank keeps involuntarily starting up a mating dance, and at one point flirtatiously asks a black widow spider if she is busy later.
58* MeaningfulName: Played with. Chaz officially introduces Maddie as "Medusa" in her first appearance in his show, almost certainly after the figure from Greek mythology, famously depicted as a monstrous woman with snakes instead of hair. While he likely thought it was a fitting name seeing how deadly taipans can be, even going so far as to call her a monster, Maddie doesn’t really share any traits with her namesake other than eating meat and being a snake.
59* MisplacedWildlife: Downplayed. Pretty Boy notes that they are not in Tasmania when they encounter Tasmanian devils (a species that in the past could be found throughout Australia, but now are only found on the island state), prompting their leader, Dave, to explain that they were passing through the area on holiday.
60* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast:
61** Two of the three Tasmanian devils the group meets are called Lucifer and Beelzebub, the names of which are shared by two figures who are often portrayed as separate demons, or as different names for the devil.
62** Chaz introduces Maddie, a taipan (one of the most dangerous snakes in the world) as Medusa, after the monstrous, murderous woman from Greek Mythology famously depicted with snakes for hair.
63* NightmareFetishist: Norine is ''fascinated'' by Maddie and the others, and helps them escape the school bus, correctly guessing that they just want to get home.
64-->'''Norine''': Deadly...
65-->'''Maddie''': Thanks. You're pretty deadly, too.
66* NoEndorHolocaust: Played with in regards to Maddie releasing a mated pair of cane toads, which are an invasive species in Australia and wreak havoc on the local ecosystem. Zoe tries to convince Maddie that there ''might'' be a good reason that the two animals in particular are in captivity in separate cages after noticing warning posters about cane toads, but ultimately nothing much comes from it, aside from the two having had '''[[ExplosiveBreeder lots]]''' of children by the end of the film, which admittedly ''is part of the problem.''
67* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: The main conflict of the film comes from people’s beliefs that the cast are murderous monsters, just because they look a little scary and have the ''potential'' to seriously harm people.
68* NoOshaCompliance: The wildlife park Chaz works at lets people walk right up to "cute" animals, has nothing to stop people from falling into the crocodile pool other than a waist-high wall that children can easily climb over, and during his show where he shows off "the deadliest creatures on the planet", there are no barriers between him and the guests, and he and his assistants handle animals in ways that would've gotten them in hot water in real life (such as ''roughly chucking a snake into a wooden chest''). He even brings said deadly animals ''right up to the people in the front row'', and allows what he believes to be a frantic, angry crocodile to run around near them. If Jackie wasn’t actually [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood a really nice crocodile]], or even if they had a different crocodile in the pool, Chazzie would have been croc food.
69* OddNameOut: The Tasmanian devils the group meets are called Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Dave.
70* OhCrap: Maddie, Pretty Boy, Frank, Zoe and Nigel when Jacinta appears.
71** The non-mammals again when they spot Chaz catching up to them on the bus.
72** In fact, they do it quite a lot.
73* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: When Chaz introduces Maddie to the audience at his show, he calls her "Medusa", but among the other animals (as well as the movie credits and other official material), she just goes by Maddie.
74* PredationIsNatural: Predators are never shown in a bad light just for being predators, fitting the film’s theme of the cast being NotEvilJustMisunderstood animals, most of which are predators themselves. When Dave and the other Tasmanian devils lead the group to a colony of flying foxes[[note]]which are herbivorous in real life,[[/note]] who can lead them through the mountains, and tells them not to worry because "they only drink warm blood", he remembers that Pretty Boy is the only member of the group who ''isn’t'' cold blooded, and just comments "Oh, sorry mate. That’s a bit awkward.".
75* QuakingWithFear: Maddie trembling in fear after a surprise encounter with [[spoiler: Chazzie, who is also trembling in fear,]] is what clues him in on her being NotEvilJustMisunderstood.
76* ReplacementGoldfish: After assuming Pretty Boy was "murdered" by Maddie and the others, he watches the world mourn him on the news for less than a minute before moving onto adoring Giggles the quokka, who they even gave his blanket to.
77-->'''Pretty Boy''': What? He stole my snuggly! That’s my snuggly! I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE, GIGGLES! YOU’RE DEAT MEAT!
78* ScaryScorpion: The humans see Nigel as this but he is actually a friendly guy.
79* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Exaggerated with Nigel. When Zoe claims he's turning beige, he lets out a high-pitched shriek that shatters the glass cage they're in.
80* SignsOfDisrepair: After Nigel shatters the cage, he rips off part of the "UNBREAKABLE GLASS" sticker, removing the "UN".
81* SnakesAreSinister: PlayedWith, but ultimately a rare [[AvertedTrope aversion]] as while the humans see her as a threatening monster, Maddie is one of the sweetest snakes you could ever meet.
82* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Played with in regards to Norine. It’s established at the start of the film that humans can’t understand what the animals are saying, but she seems to be the only one who does, or at the very least understands them way better than anyone else can.
83* SpidersAreScary:
84** How humans see Frank, a funnel web spider.
85** The redback spiders the group meets are introduced in a somewhat menacing fashion, and make the group quite nervous as they make their approach.
86* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: [[spoiler:Part of the reason Pretty Boy returns to help Maddie and the others is because one of the group of koalas he joined is a MotorMouth who can't stop talking about herself.]]
87* ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler:During the {{Flashback}} to the day he decided to adopt his "animal hunter" persona, Chazz states that "Charles Huntington was no more".]]
88* ThreateningShark: Played with. While crossing the harbor to reach the city after escaping captivity, the group meets a great white shark named Jacinta, who is a NiceGirl that helps them by informing them of the Ugly Secret Society's existence and giving them a lift to the other side of the harbor. On the other hand, she doesn't deny Maddie's assumption of her having eaten more people than Maddie is capable of poisoning and accepts her self-given title of "the face of death".
89* TitleDrop: "Tonight, we’re going ''back to the outback!''"
90* TokenHeroicOrc: Downplayed. Norine is not only the only child to not be afraid of the protagonists upon seeing them, but the ''only'' human in the entire film they encounter who realizes at first glance that they aren’t actually doing anything to try and hurt anyone, and as a result decides to try and help them.
91-->'''Zoe''': Guess they’re not all like Chaz.
92* TrustPassword: The Ugly Secret Society has the secret password "I’m Ugly. You’re ugly. We should all be this ugly. Ugly is the new beautiful." that when spoken, alerts any nearby U.S.S agents close enough to hear it that a fellow member, ally, or person/people under their protection needs help and/or is in danger.
93* TruthInTelevision: Many dangerous animals in real life such as poisonous spiders, bugs, and snakes often get a bad rap because of their appearance & potential for serious harm, but in reality only bite, sting, or otherwise attack humans if they feel threatened, ''not'' because [[ItAmusedMe they feel like it.]]
94* VisualPun: The Tasmanian devils that help the group out have tufts of fur that look like slicked back hair. Combined with their buff physiques, you could say they are quite the "handsome devil(s)".
95* VolatileTasmanianDevil: Downplayed. The Tasmanian devils that save Maddie and the others from Chaz are quite vicious while on the attack, but are pretty friendly once things settle down.
96* VomitIndiscretionShot: Chaz turns around to vomit after Chazzie [[IAteWhat tells him what he just gave his father to drink]], although it seems like there wasn’t much in his stomach, so visually it looks more like he’s doing a SpitTake.
97* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: Smaller, more realistic bugs seem to be fair game for being tortured and eaten, while bigger bugs like Nigel the scorpion have a relatively cuddly design by comparison. Maddie is also quite adorable, but because she’s an inland taipan snake (one of the most venomous snake in the world), people are scared of her.
98* WhyIsntItAttacking: An inversion of sorts. When Maddie accidentally falls on [[spoiler: Chazzie, both are shocked and huddle in fear, with Chazzie calling for his dad.]] After a few moments he cautiously glances at Maddie, and realizes that despite what [[spoiler: his father has been telling him]] all this time about the animals they are trying to catch being dangerous monsters, in reality she is just as scared of him as he is of her.
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