Story

The outback Australian town of Upson Downs has fallen on hard times. It hasn’t rained in over a year, and miserly Earl Robert-Barren (Jack Thompson) has put a dam on his property, drying up the river, creating drought and forcing his neighbours to sell their farms.

The inventive Shearer family is doing all they can to keep their home, but they seem to be fighting a losing battle. Widowed Grandma Dolly Shearer lives in a tiny, ramshackle trailer to one side of the property. Her daughter-in-law Susie (Celeste Barber) and son Brian (Jai Courtney) have had to take out an overdraft to pay off their home. Their son, Max (Jack LaTorre), is determined to capture his daredevil stunts on film, hoping that he’ll become famous. This is causing his parents a lot of stress. Their daughter, Annie (Lily LaTorre), loves to fix things but, try as she might, this problem might be beyond her abilities.

Annie and her dog Runt, whom she adopted as a stray, enter a dog show at the local fair and take first place, much to the horror of defending champion and nefarious show-off, Fergus Fink (Matt Day). Annie and Runt go on to win the National Competition and are subsequently invited to participate in the illustrious Krumpets Dog Show in London.

Annie pins all her hopes on winning the prize money to save her family’s farm. Despite their best efforts, things don’t quite go according to plan. Annie learns some valuable lessons about disappointment, dreams and the power of community.

Themes

Financial hardship; injustice; sacrifice; reckless behaviours; sabotage

Violence

Runt has some violence. For example:

• When Runt steals some sausages from a butcher’s shop, a woman chases him down the street with a meat cleaver. Others soon follow, and a man with a net repeatedly tries to corner and capture Runt.
• Max lights his bike wheels on fire as he tries to film a daring stunt. He ends up setting his pants on fire as his mother attacks him and his bike with a blanket, trying to put out the flames.
• When Annie asks Max to do something dangerous, he responds enthusiastically. He says, ‘I suppose I could fall and die. You’ll have to film me!’ He doesn’t plummet to his death, but he nearly slips and hangs on upside down.
• Max jumps from a tall height. As he lands, he realises that his arm is broken and his bone is at a very strange angle.
• When Annie goes to meet with someone, her father checks in with her. He says he just wanted to check that she wasn’t boiling in a cauldron.
• Robert-Barren is washed away in a rainstorm when his dam breaks.

Sexual references

Runt has some sexual references. For example:

• A presenter talks about a contestant’s ‘cocker’ (spaniel), called Peanut, and giggles repeatedly about the breed and choice of name.
• Two commentators talk about ‘stiff competition’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no substance use in Runt.

Nudity and sexual activity

Runt has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

• When Max’s pants catch on fire, he quickly gets them off and is standing in the yard in his underwear.
• Fergus Fink does weird gyrating dance moves, including hip circles and pelvic thrusts, as he takes off his jacket. Another time, he does similar moves and the camera zooms in on his mid-section.
• Susie and Brian kiss.
• Grandma Dolly and another woman appear to fall in love.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in Runt:

• Although YouTube isn’t specifically mentioned, Max seems to be uploading his videos to this platform.
• Susie frequently uses a Singer sewing machine.

Coarse language

Runt has some coarse language. For example:

• A character says that Susie’s pies taste like ‘shi-’. Annie quickly tries to talk over top of him so that her mother doesn’t notice the word.
• A character talks about ‘big, glittering, shi-’. The last consonant is lost, but the word is clear.

Other coarse language and insults include ‘Bugger off!’, ‘Bloody hell!’, ‘bastard’, ‘What the f-’, ‘Stuff your rams up your Jonesy’ and ‘you biscuit’.

There’s also some toilet humour when a dog urinates on Fergus, and another character says that he ‘nearly soiled himself’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Runt is a heart-warming Australian drama based on the beloved children’s book by Craig Silvey. This family movie has powerful messages about sacrifice and determination, plus beautiful examples of an impoverished community coming together to cheer on a child and a stray dog that no-one wanted.

Because of its coarse language, Runt is best suited to audiences over 8 years.

The main messages from Runt are that it doesn’t matter where you come from. It only matters who you are and how much you believe in yourself, in the goodness of others and in the power of community. The movie also shows the importance of not giving up and never underestimating the abilities of an underdog.

Values in Runt that you could reinforce with your children include courage, ingenuity, love

Compassion, respect, teamwork and helpfulness.

Runt could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

• lying – for example, in the movie Annie is taught that kind lies are OK
• depriving others of water and the effects that this can have on environments and communities
• sabotaging someone else so that you can get ahead.