Scarygirl spreads eco message

IN cinemas around the region is the visually ravishing Australian computer-animated fantasy Scarygirl with an ecological message about protecting the planet’s dwindling resources.

Adapted from Nathan Jurevicius’s acclaimed graphic novel, Scarygirl is stylised to resemble stop-motion, anchored to a misunderstood teenage heroine.

There is nothing scary about Arkie (voiced by Jillian Nguyen), a cutesy, anthropomorphic octopus-human hybrid who staves off self-doubt by chanting her mantra: “Nothing to do but to do it!” Nguyen’s warm vocal performance endears us to her plucky protagonist.

Teenage octopus Arkie (Nguyen) lives in seclusion on a peninsula with her father Blister (Rob Collins), who channels magical powers of healing through his tentacles. Arkie is an aspiring inventor but Blister discourages his daughter’s fascination with technology, urging her to become one with nature by manipulating an elaborate system of pulleys and mirrors to harness the sun’s rays and sustain their self-contained coastal ecosystem of insects and plants.

Arkie ignores her father’s advice and one of her experiments malfunctions, attracting the attention of bounty hunter Chihoohoo (Tim Minchin) hired to capture a giant octopus. He spirits Blister away to the City Of Light to be used as the power source for an experiment conducted by grief-stricken scientist Dr Maybee (Sam Neill).

Self-proclaimed renaissance rabbit Bunniguru (Remy Hii) and ovoid sidekick Egg (Kate Murphy) offer to accompany Arkie on the long trek to save her father.