There are plenty of animated movies about cute and cuddly animals… but
what about the not-so-cute-and-cuddly ones? Netflix’s latest animated movie,
Back To The Outback focuses on a group of the animals at the zoo who don’t get the love
that they deserve; and who make it their mission to return home to the wild.
But in a world full of animals who range from cute to creepy…
how do they stack up on the morality spectrum?
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge; and this is Back To The Outback Characters: Good to Evil.
As usual, we’ll be starting with the most pure and noble character
and working our way down to the most evil. This section is The Good.
Our Gold Medal for Most Good character goes to Jackie. The motherly saltwater
crocodile who we’re introduced to at the beginning of the movie.
Right away, we can tell that she is a wonderfully wholesome character; and acts
as the motherly figure to the other reptiles who desperately need some positivity in their life.
She’s reassuring to Maddie when she’s made to feel like a monster… and gets everyone to feel hopeful
and even optimistic despite their circumstances. It’s actually very sad when she’s taken away…
especially when her intent was to help Chazzy when he fell into the enclosure, not hurt him.
And let’s not forget that she’s in charge of the organization that helps the “ugly” animals.
If there’s anyone with a totally pure heart in this movie, it’s Jackie.
We’re giving the Silver Medal of Good to Maddie.
Maddie is idealistic despite the fact that the human world is against her.
She’s able to rally everyone behind her and act as the leader to get them back to The Outback.
She’s also bubbly and positive, even when dealing with Pretty Boy… who is an absolute
nightmare for most of the movie. And at the very end, she even saves Chazzy’s life
despite the fact that his dad has been hunting her and her friends down the entire time.
Maddie is no monster, and as her friends say at the end… she was beautiful the whole time.
We’ll give The Bronze Medal to The Little Girl. She was a part of a particularly heart-warming
moment that was nice to see because it showed that not all humans are jerks…
She saved Maddie and her friends by hiding them from Chaz,
and had a quick bonding moment showing off each other’s fangs… or braces.
Next, we have Jacinta. The shark. The first creature who helps our group escape to The
Outback. She is very nice and provides quite the aid to Maddie and friends…
She did allude to eating a lot of humans… but let’s just assume she was joking… right?
We’re going to rank Nigel next. He seems to be a little more cowardly at times,
but he reveals himself to be brave when needed. He’s also
very nice and complimentary; and supportive when needed. Whether it’s moral support for
Maddie… or a swift sting to knock Pretty Boy out cold in order to shut him up.
Zoe is also a good friend. She’s definitely a little more
aggressive and quick-witted with throwing shade or insults from time to time,
but she’s just as supportive of a friend as Nigel. She also reveals herself to be
quite crafty, when she very easily escapes from her entrapment and frees her friends.
Frank is third of Maddie’s friend trio, if we’re not including the koala. He’s a very nice spider,
although quite the quirky one… He certainly lets his hormones get in the way sometimes…
but we can’t hold the guy’s biology against him. The worst thing we can say about Frank
is that he has a habit of saying the wrong thing… even when he’s trying his best to make
someone feel better. Like when he keeps reminding Maddy of how deadly she is.
Moving onto The Tasmanian Devils. These guys came out of nowhere and really assisted when needed.
If it wasn’t for them, Maddie, Nigel, Frank and Zoe would have been in big trouble with Chaz.
We’ll also give a quick mention to Doug and Doreen. They might be disgusting,
but we can’t help but appreciate their positivity.
It was nice to see them show up in the end with a happy family.
And we’ll round out the good category with Legs The Spider. Another one of the many
helpful animals who was apart of the Ugly Secret Society. She helps Mandy and her friends through
the sewers. The only reason we rank her lower in that she said she ate her husband’s head…
and also threatened to kill Pretty Boy… but let’s just assume she was joking… right?
With The Good characters out of the way… we now move into
neutral territory. This is The Grey Area.
Now, hear us out… but we’re placing Chazzy in the Grey. Yes, he takes many of his dad’s bad
traits. He’s annoying and obsessed with hunting down the fleeing animals for most of the movie…
and he’s even shown to treat the animals in the zoo poorly. Like angrily beating on the glass…
But Chazzy does genuinely have a change of heart.
And as soon as he sees that maddie is scared, we can see that he is truly empathetic.
It’s pretty obvious that his poor behavior rubbed off on him from his father;
and we actually get to see him overcome it towards the end of the movie.
After much thought, we also decided to place Pretty Boy in The Grey Area. Now, one could argue
that he deserves a spot at the end of The Good Section… but we don’t think that he quite made it.
Let’s start with his personality from the start. He is pretty insufferable. To the point where
he’s actually the only character who is kind of annoying to the audience when they’re on screen.
He’s mean-spirited and totally narcissistic. He talks down to the reptiles as if they
don’t have any feelings, asking how anyone could ever love them. That is very cold.
Eventually, he seems to warm up a little bit… but all of the good deeds that he decides to do,
are only after the alternative option is spent for him. For example,
he only chooses to call for help to stop Maddie from being subdued by Chaz
after Chaz throws him aside and says he doesn’t want him back at the park…
Prior, he seemed more than willing to just abandoning the group and going back to his home.
Then he abandons Maddie and her friends to go to his fellow koalas without a second thought…
and he only comes back to maddie once he realizes how insufferable other koalas are.
He ends up doing good in the end… but his awful personality is hard to overlook.
Finally, we reach the villains… Or, I should say:
Villain. There’s only one Truly Evil character in this movie…
And that Gold Medal of Evil goes to Chaz. Now, Chaz appears to kind of redeem himself at the end,
at least on a surface-level… but the reality is… Chaz is a bad person.
Chaz’s son is young enough where we understand why he acts the way that he does…
Chaz himself is actually incredibly cruel. Now, we can’t hold what he says to Maddie against him…
Obviously, he doesn’t know she can understand him. But the way that he treats her and
other animals is just awful. He throws Maddie into the box without
any care… and he truly treats the reptiles as if they are monsters without any feelings.
For a zookeeper, he truly lacks empathy for the
creatures he should be in charge of taking care of.
And eventually once he’s gotten the better of, he reveals himself to be quite sadistic.
Throwing Pretty Boy out the bus window… and also booting him aside as if he’s replaceable as well.
On top of that, he’s clearly very narcissistic… to the point where he’s reading stories to his son
that are totally about himself. And those stories are straight up lies.
He’s a narcissistic liar and very, very cruel. All he cares about is his image.
Even in the end… it’s nice to see him come around…
and we’ll admit, there looks to be potential for him to evolve into a better person… but
he only changes his ways when he sees the creatures that he’s hunted saved his son.
Hopefully Chaz learned his lesson. Maybe he’ll have a redemption arc in a sequel.
But let us know in the comment section what you thought of Back To The Outback.
Who was your favorite character? Make sure to hit that notification bell and
binge our Good to Evil playlist. But most importantly, stay wicked!