Buckley's Chance

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1:47

Buckley's Chance

2021

1h 39m

Adventure

Drama

Kids & Family

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

40%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

33%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

A year after the loss of his father, 12-year-old Ridley and his mother, Gloria, move from New York City to Western Australian to live with Ridley's estranged grandfather. Ridley ends up lost, deep in the Outback without a soul in sight. He comes across a wild dog, entangled in an old barbed-wire fence. As he saves the dingo from certain death, the two form an unexpected bond and embark on an epic journey of adventure and survival to find their way home.

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David Stratton

The Australian

06/29/2021

3.5/5

Fortunately, Ben Nott's very handsome location photography impresses as do most of the performances, Nighy's included once you get used to the fact that, like his screen grandson, he seems alien to the Australian wilderness.

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Sandra Hall

Sydney Morning Herald

06/24/2021

3/5

None of it brings any freshness for the formula. Swap the dingo for a mustang and the Outback for the American West and you have a storyline very like the one anchoring Dreamworks' latest animated feature, Spirit Untamed.

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Luke Buckmaster

Guardian

06/24/2021

1/5

The film is like one of those old, bad Disney dramas nobody remembers, in which everything feels fake - even real outdoors sets, as if nature itself has been hoisted upon a soundstage.

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Cris Kennedy

The Canberra Times (Australia)

08/02/2022

3/5

While the film's ending left me a blubbering mess - a "happy tears" blubbering mess - I'm sure your own family will enjoy this adventure film without the tears.

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Carla Hay

Culture Mix

09/03/2021

Buckley's Chance starts off as an earnest but bland family drama before it takes a steep nosedive into being an idiotic chase movie with very little suspense on how it's all going to end.

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Tom Cassidy

Common Sense Media

08/11/2021

2/5

It's a curse when a bad performance overshadows the rest of a movie. Unfortunately that's the case with Buckley's Choice. Nighy's Australian accent is so off-course, talking about it is unavoidable.

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Reverend L

Nov 1

Good Lord this is a dreadful film. How did Bill Nighy get involved with this? I bet he fired his agent. The poor old dingo completely misrepresented. Not in the history of the world has a wild dingo befriended a boy in the Australian outback. The woeful Australian and American accents from all 3 main characters. Ol' Bill didn't even try to sound Australian. The aboriginal station hand was the only real deal in this. A couple of shameless phrases to try and appease an American audience. I did sit through it, though, in some sort of weird curiosity. See if you can get through it.

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Kit P

06/01/2024

Had me wincing sometimes but..... good young family flick that moves along mostly quickly enough to avoid popping the bubble ... I wonder what convinced Bill Nighy to do it?

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Rose H

06/01/2024

An awful movie, utterly unbelievable, I can’t believe I sat through it.

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05/14/2022

Really wanted it to be good, but it's terrible. It's hard watching famous foreign actors take on Australian accents. Very predictable plot, extremely cheesy. I haven't looked into who made the movie but I'm 99% sure they are American, terrible directing, didn't feel Australian. Do better.

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02/22/2022

I like Bill Nighy but he is miscast in this role as a Aussie outback sheep station owner. The story is disjointed. Dingos are misrepresented. They are not like wolves and a serious threat to humans (maybe babies). The raging river and waterfall scene is misplaced for outback Australia. The boy is one moment on a hill with nothing but red dirt of the outback in the panorama and then in a dam in the middle of a desert. Some of the language is inserted for overseas consumption and not what would be used in the outback. When was the last time anyone out in the donga called a woman "ma'am"? The film could have been a lot better done.

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02/10/2022

Apart from some obvious errors to suit American audiences this is a brilliant & moving film. Beautifully shot & acted (except for some accents) this is well worth watching unless you are completely heartless. With a sad yet at the same time also uplifting ending.

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Tim Brown

Director

Bill Nighy

Spencer

Victoria Hill

Gloria

Kelton Pell

Jules Churchill

Milan Burch

Ridley

Martin Sacks

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Buckley's Chance: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

A year after the loss of his father, 12-year-old Ridley and his mother, Gloria, move from New York City to Western Australian to live with Ridley's estranged grandfather. Ridley ends up lost, deep in the Outback without a soul in sight. He comes across a wild dog, entangled in an old barbed-wire fence. As he saves the dingo from certain death, the two form an unexpected bond and embark on an epic journey of adventure and survival to find their way home.

Director: Tim Brown
Producer: Tim Brown, Scott Clayton, Andrew Mann, Gilbert Adler, Todd Giroux
Screenwriter: Tim Brown, Willem Wennekers
Distributor: Vertical Entertainment
Production Co: Joker Films, Productivity Media
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Kids & Family
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 13, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 13, 2021
Runtime: 1h 39m

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