There are two animals that can instantly be connected with Australia, that both begin with the letter K – koalas and kangaroos.

As cuddly as koalas seemingly are – despite the fact they hate being handled, kangaroos have enjoyed global awareness, especially with the success of the late sixties Australian show Skippy, with an eastern grey kangaroo starring as the namesake star.

Their cuteness level is no doubt set to see a massive jump, as it were, with the release of this charming family film.

When an attempt to save a dolphin in Sydney’s bay for attention - being a weatherman for a local TV channel – backfired, Chris Masterman (Ryan Corr), found himself travelling to the coastal town Broome in Western Australia, hoping to get some work in front of the camera there.

His journey there didn’t go well however, when he hit a kangaroo on the road, in the middle of nowhere. Sadly that roo died, but Chris noticed she had a joey in her pouch, that survived. He decided to rescue it, and take it to a nearby town, Silver Gum, where it could be looked after.

But when he gets there, he discovers they don’t have any facilities for kangaroos. He does meet with 12-year old ingenious girl Charlie (Lily Whiteley), who just so happens to have a passion for joeys, and persuades him that he is now responsible for it, having killed its mother.

With the repair of his car reportedly to take a while, Chris finds a remote place to stay, with the young joey, and tasked with taking the mother role with the orphaned animal. But he soon finds that his role, and his stay, are extended far longer than anticipated.

Having had an exhaustive career as a TV director over the years, including a number of episodes for various US shows such as Bones and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., this is the second time that Kate Woods has directed a feature film.

Although based on the life of Chris ‘Brolga’ Barns, it takes large strokes with its artistic license bringing it to the screen, such as that Barns worked as a zookeeper, and not a weatherman, and he didn’t run a kangaroo down, he just found it.

All these liberties were to create a cartoon-like world, full of larger-than-life characters/caricatures, to help support the cute baby kangaroo narrative.

And they are liberties, in a bid to be a wholesome family film, where the roos are the real stars.

The story of Chris the weatherman is certainly far-fetched, especially with him given the duel parent role – mother to the joey, and father figure to Charlie, whose father has passed away. He plays the buffoon well, and Whiteley is convincing as a kangaroo lover.

The real stars however, are the joeys, many of whom were rescued joeys from the Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs, which is a nice touch, and they are very photogenic and utterly adorable.

There is obvious CGI used, mainly for the adult kangaroos, but that’s only to be expected as adult roos aren’t known to be very responsive to directions in front of camera.

It’s way over the top than necessary, adding far more colour to the red desert setting than needed, with its brash, mainly indigenous cast, but it’s the young joeys that hold your attention throughout.

Even though kangaroos have more of a reputation for not being receptive to a cuddle than koalas, more likely to respond with a right hook or two, the joeys featured really rev up the ‘awww’ factor, and guarantee to steal a fair share of hearts in the process.