Review: Peppa Pig takes a trip to Oz in fun-filled big screen outing

REVIEW: She’s porky, she’s perky, and she’s putting her trotters down at the movies for the very first time. But can Peppa Pig hold up a full film?

Peppa’s Australian Holiday (G)

Directors: Mark Baker, Neville Astley

Starring: the voices of Harley Bird, Morwenna Banks, Richard Ridings.

Rating: ***

If you’re happy and you know it, clap this ham

She’s porky, she’s perky, and she’s putting her trotters down on the big screen for the very first time.

Peppa Pig has been TV’s toast of the toddlers all around the world for almost two decades now, so a shot at movie stardom is well and truly deserved.

While Peppa’s motion picture debut is really just a compilation of unseen episodes from her long-running series, it has been cleverly crafted as an entry-level experience for little ones who may not have been to a cinema before.

Peppa Pig learns to throw a boomerang on her Australian holiday, with the help of the Kangaroo family. Picture: Supplied

Breaking up each adventure of Peppa and her friends — which kick off here in Australia with a visit to good friend Kylie Kangaroo — is a colourful collection of audience-participation sequences.

Parents, you know the drill here: catchy call-and-response shout-outs, improvised invitations to dance, and sudden singalongs.

The character’s trip Down Under includes a scuba diving excursion with the Kangaroo family. Picture: Supplied

Fun in the sun. George and Daddy Pig in Peppa Pig's first Australian holiday. Picture: Supplied

(Make that a lot of sudden singalongs. Including three — yes, three — wriggling renditions of that ancient earworm The Hokey Cokey.)

All the additional activities loaded in the feature format come at the expense of conventional plotting.

However, it’s doubtful the select target audience the filmmakers have in mind — basically any budding movie buffs yet to start primary school — will find any cause for complaint here.

Originally published as Review: Peppa Pig takes a trip to Oz in fun-filled big screen outing