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Theatrical release poster

The film's theatrical release poster.

I Among Dogs: A Bluey Movie is a 2024 animated family comedy-drama film directed by Joe Brumm and based on his popular children's television show Bluey, and is the sequel to Bluey: The Movie. This film revolves around human teenager Nathan Faulkner as he arrives in Canistralia after a plane crash, and then bonds with the Heelers, leading to all kinds of hijinx. The film stars Dave McCormack, Melanie Zanetti, Brad Elliot, Emily Taheny, Dan Brumm, Myf Warhurst, Patrick Brammall, Claudia O'Doherty, Chris Brumm, Sam Simmons, and Megan Washington reprising their roles from the show. Joining them is Finn Wolfhard as Nathan, along with Paul Hogan, Evanna Lynch, Liam Aiken, Bill Murray, Chris Pratt, Judy Greer, Kate Winslet, and Tom Felton playing some new characters. As is standard practice for the show, all child actors are uncredited, with child characters instead being credited as themselves. The film also features multiple songs by Custard, including the original song 'Biscuits'.

Talks for a second Bluey film began shortly after the success of the first film. The premise came about when series creator Joe Brumm was asked by a friend what he thinks would happen if a human ended up in Bluey's world. Subsequently, Brumm would conceive of the character of Nathan, and the film would go into development, with a massive viral marketing campaign behind it. The film was released on June 20th 2024, to generally favorable reviews.

Plot[]

     A human teenager wakes up in the forest following a plane crash. Initially confused, he soon remembers that he is a fourteen year old named Nathan Faulkner, and so begins to survive in the wilderness. One day, three days after the plane crash, he goes to explore a cave, only to come across a skeleton. Then, as he turns to leave, he runs across Bluey. While Bluey is confused, having never seen a human before, Nathan runs away terrified, assuming that Bluey is a monster, and had eaten the skeleton when it was alive. Then, as he runs through the woods, he is nearly shot at by another dog, a Grey Nomad camping in the woods to be exact, before passing out in some bushes. Soon afterwards, Nathan finds himself surrounded by the Heelers, who, while they initially get off to a rough start, decide to take Nathan in until they can find his parents. Shortly afterwards, they return to the Heeler House, where Bluey and Bingo play a game of 'House Tour' with Nathan, giving him a taste of their playfulness, which is only taken further when Bluey and Bingo, after dinner, invent a new game called 'Human Tree' to play with Nathan, which he enjoys. The next day, Bluey secretly brings Nathan to school to meet her friends, who soon accept Nathan as a friend as well, save for Mackenzie, who distrusts Nathan. However, while they do manage to have lots of fun, this soon gets them in trouble when Chilli gets a call from Calypso, who is concerned about Nathan, as she has never seen a human before. However, Calypso and Nathan are soon able to come to an understanding. Nathan also learns thanks to Chloe that humans used to live with dogs a long time ago. However, he doesn't find out what happened to them. The next day, Muffin and Socks come over to visit, where they soon encounter and bond with Nathan. However, Nathan is then visited by CPIA agent Andrew Kahlon, and his partners Danielle and Michael, who were the same agents sent to investigate his plane crash. They inform Nathan that he is now living in the country of Canistralia, and then break the unfortunate news that his parents died in the plane crash, which initially causes Nathan to become severely depressed. However, Bluey and Bingo soon help restore Nathan's spirits, which, coupled with a pep talk from Wendy and his befriending Judo, helps Nathan out of his slump, whereupon he resumes his new normal life.

Later on, Nathan goes to a library with Bandit, Chilli, Pat, Bluey, Bingo, and Lucky. Whilst here, Nathan befriends Lucky, and then encounters Andrew and Danielle again, who explain that Canistralia was once openly integrated with the rest of the world, until the New Zealand War of 2015, which caused the UN to seal it off from the rest of the world and relocate all the anthropomorphic dogs there. After this, Nathan is introduced to Canistralia's citizens, and while it initially gets off to a rocky start, Nathan is soon accepted as a citizen, where Bandit and Chilli then adopt him. After this, he spends the night with Chris to help her move new furniture into her house, and learns of his grandfather Alfred's friendship with her. After returning to the Heeler House, Nathan helps Mackenzie trust him, and later takes Bluey and Bingo to the park, where he meets and plays with Coco and Snickers. After this, he then meets a beautiful Husky named Hailey, who claims to be fascinated with humans, and Nathan soon falls in love. Upon hearing of this, the Heelers set up a get-together with Hailey, meant to serve as an unofficial first date. During this, Bandit tries to help Hailey and Nathan bond, which initially seems to work, however, when Hailey leaves to supposedly have a smoke, Nathan finds that not only does she already have a boyfriend, but she actually hates humans and was just dating Nathan to mess with him. While Nathan is initially downcast at this, the Heelers help him to recover. However, Nathan still never fully gets it out of his mind, until Rad and Frisky come over to the Heelers' house for dinner. There, not only do Nathan and the Heelers get to meet Rad and Frisky's newborn daughter Wahnie, which helps Nathan recover from his second depression, but Nathan also helps Bandit remember his childhood friendship with Nathan's father. Following this, Nathan sees that Hailey has been making posts on social media slandering him. After this, Bingo takes Nathan to meet Harley, who teaches Nathan karate, which he then demonstrates on Hailey and her boyfriend Dan when he runs into them at the Supermarket, and later on Banjo when picking Bingo up from school. After this, Nathan and the Heelers attend Nathan's parents' funeral, where Nathan ends the film on a bittersweet note.

Cast[]

Main Characters[]

  • Finn Wolfhard as Nathan Faulkner, the film's 14-year-old human protagonist. Of the role, Wolfhard said, "When I initially got the call, I almost backed out, thinking 'Oh crap, I'm gonna be in a movie based on a show for toddlers, my acting career will be ruined forever!" But then, I watched the show, and called back to accept the gig almost instantly. When I got the script, I thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to breed legions of new fans. Now, in terms of prep work, Joe told me that Nathan should be 'As if an average human teenager fell into Bluey's world with no prior knowledge of the show'. So I more or less played myself." Wolfhard also plays the younger version of Nathan's father during Bandit's flashbacks.
  • Dave McCormack as Bandit Heeler, Bluey and Bingo's father, Chilli's husband, and Nathan's adopted father. Of the film, McCormack said, "When Joe gave me the call, my immediate response was 'this is the stupidest idea we've ever done and I love it.' When I went into the studio, they told me that I could do whatever I wanted for the film. So, I got the band back together to do an original song. And so, 'Biscuits' was born."
  • Melanie Zanetti as Chilli Heeler, Bluey and Bingo's mother, Bandit's wife, and Nathan's adopted mother. Of the film, Zanetti said, "I was really interested in the film. And I think this is mainly because I wanted to explore the adoption angle in a way the show couldn't in seven minutes. So I interviewed real-life mums of adopted kids, to do something more realistically."
  • Bluey Heeler as Herself. Due to the show's policy of not crediting child actors, Bluey is credited as having played herself, and treated as such during all the film's marketing. During a faux interview with Scholastic News, Bluey said, "This is only my second movie, so I decided to give the kids a performance for the ages. And I especially loved working with Finn."
  • Bingo Heeler as Herself. During a live TV spot shown on ABC to promote the film, Bingo said, "Just like me in the movie, I was kind of scared by Finn at first, I've seen a fair few human kids mine and Bluey's ages at live events and whatnot, but he was the first human teenager I've ever seen. So, I used that to enhance my initial performance."
  • Kate Winslet as Hailey Husky, Nathan's would-be girlfriend who soon turns into an antagonist for the film. Of the film, Kate said, "I'm a little embarrassed to say it, but I hadn't actually heard of the show when I got the call. And when I admitted it to Joe, he said, "Oh it's okay, you aren't playing an existing character!" So, all I really had to do was be a bitch to Finn while we were recording, but pretend to be nice at first."
  • Tom Felton as Dan, Hailey's boyfriend and the secondary antagonist of the film. Of the role, Felton said, "This was pretty big for me. Since Harry Potter wrapped, I haven't gotten to do many things for kids that were as big. This is also my first animated movie role, which is cool too. For this film, I just wanted Dan to feel less like Hailey's lover and more like her slave."

Supporting Cast[]

  • Paul Hogan as Andrew Kahlon, a Professional Investigator and longtime member of the CPIA assigned to the Nathan Faulkner investigation. Of the role, Hogan said, "I was somewhat familiar with the show, so when I heard they were making another movie and wanted me to be in it, I almost immediately went to the studio, and was even more sold on it when I heard I'd be playing a 'super-cool secret agent', as my grandkids said when they saw me in it. So, I tried to almost be an Australian dog version of James Bond"
  • Evanna Lynch as Danielle, Andrew's partner at the CPIA, who aids in the Nathan Faulkner investigation. Of the character, Lynch said, "I was told about that character early on after being cast, but knew I didn't want to be a typical 'Bond Girl'. So, I just went for Cameron Diaz in Charlie's Angels."
  • Liam Aiken as Michael, a rookie at the CPIA being trained by Andrew and partnered with Danielle, who is also drawn into the Nathan Faulkner investigation as a result. Of the role, Aiken said, "He's a rookie to the whole 'Professional investigator' thing. So, I drew on similar characters in movies like this, primarily the Karate Kid."
  • Emily Taheny as Wendy Chow, The Heeler Family's neighbor, Chilli's best friend, and an eventual personal confidant to Nathan. Of the film, Taheny said, "When Joe talked to me about it, I didn't know what to think, but when I got the script, I almost immediately agreed to do it. In terms of performance, I tried to be like the world's best school counselor, and I think I almost served as a Jiminy Cricket to Nathan's Pinocchio."
  • Brad Elliot as Pat, the Heeler Family's other neighbor, Bandit's best friend, and Nathan's eventual Squash Coach. Of the film, Elliot said, "My main concern here was the film's premise probably being perceived as too scary for kids. But when I went to a test screening and saw that the kids loved it, I was sold."
  • Dan Brumm as Stripe Heeler, Bandit's brother, Bluey and Bingo's uncle, Muffin and Socks' father, and Nathan's adopted uncle.
  • Myf Warhurst as Trixie Heeler, Bandit's sister-in-law, Stripe's wife, Bluey and Bingo's aunt, and Nathan's adoptive aunt.
  • Patrick Brammall as Radley Heeler, Bandit's older brother, Frisky's husband, Bluey and Bingo's uncle, and Wahnie's father.
  • Claudia O'Doherty as Frisky Heeler, Rad's wife and Wahnie's mother.
  • Wahnie as herself, Rad and Frisky's newborn daughter.
  • Bill Murray as Alfred Faulkner, Nathan's now-deceased grandfather who was a friend of Chris before the New Zealand War, and who appears to Nathan in a dream to explain this to him.
  • Chris Pratt as Nathan's dad, who appears in Nathan's dreams, and is also shown in several of Bandit's childhood flashbacks.
  • Judy Greer as Nathan's mom, who appears almost exclusively in Nathan's flashback dreams.

Production[]

Conception[]

Sketch

The inspirational drawing.

Talks for the film began shortly after the first film was released. Initially, Joe Brumm struggled to come up with the story, stating, "I knew we couldn't just do the same thing again. This can't be another episode of Gilligan's Island where they almost get off the island, it had to be a major turn in the Heelers' lives." Later on, Dave McCormack would go to lunch with Joe, and show him a drawing his daughter had made of herself playing with Bluey. This gave Joe the idea, "What if a human somehow wound up in Bluey's world, but with no prior knowledge of the show whatsoever?" After asking this, Brumm went back to the studio and partnered with Richard Jeffrey to write the story.

Story[]

Originally, the human character was going to be an adult described by McCormack as the 'Polar opposite of Bandit', but this was turned down as Ludo argued that the character needed to be more relatable to the viewing audience. Then, they thought about a young child around Bluey's age, but Brumm vetoed that idea, believing that this didn't allow for much emotional weight. Then, the idea of a teenager was conceived by Jeffrey, who stated that it would be 'the best of both worlds', as a teenager could be relatable to the viewers while being feasibly good friends with Bluey and Bingo. From there, Nathan's character was conceived, and the story was developed further. The character of Hailey was created by Brumm to be a foil for Nathan, and add some more tension to the story. Originally, Nathan would receive the news of his parents' deaths when Andrew showed him a photo of his parents' charred skeletons. This, however, was deemed too scary for children, so instead, Andrew simply showed Nathan his father's destroyed T-Shirt.

Casting[]

Paul Hogan was cast almost instantaneously as Andrew upon getting the call. Hogan would say on this, "It was really a wish-fulfillment thing for me. My grandkids are both fans of the show, and they love Judo and Bluey and Rusty. So when I got the call, I decided to do it for them." Lynch and Aiken would join later on, with Felton and Winslet shortly behind. Wolfhard proved slightly trickier, as when he got the call, he wasn't particularly familiar with the show, and almost backed out as a result. Upon watching some episodes however, he agreed to do the film.

Marketing[]

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