If Australia had had a film industry in the 1940s and '50s, "Australia" would have been a movie it would have produced. Well, make that two or three movies.

With this sprawling epic, Australian director Baz Luhrmann sends a love letter to old movies and his native land. It's ambitious, it projects a variety of tones and the visuals are magnificent. But from its use of old Hollywood beginnings to the retro credits at the end, "Australia" is a tribute to the big-screen entertainments that captivated an earlier generation.

Luhrmann, who made the frenetic and colorful "Moulin Rouge," is a visual kind of guy. In the first part of the movie, he chooses a John Ford look reminiscent of the great American director's favorite landscape -- the American Southwest's Monument Valley. Though the look and the corny humor of this segment is all John Ford, the plot is from "The Cowboys" (1972), which starred Ford's favorite actor, John Wayne.

Nicole Kidman plays Lady Sarah Ashley, an Englishwoman who travels to Australia in order to persuade her husband to sell his cattle ranch and return to England. Once there, she finds that he's been murdered. By this time, she's also made the acquaintance of a cowboy simply called the Drover. He's played by heartthrob Hugh Jackman, who makes Crocodile Dundee look like a nerd.

Sarah has 1,500 head of cattle on her hands, and she needs to get them to Darwin to sell to the English army. However, a craven villain named Fletcher has been cheating the ranch, and she fires him for beating a mixed-blood Aborigine boy named Nullah. The villain is played by David Wenham, and he's a nasty piece of work. The Aborigine youth is played by Brandon Walters, and he's the thread that holds the movie together. He narrates the story and is a pure delight.

Fletcher takes his men with him and slithers to the Carney ranch, the biggest in the area. King Carney, played by Bryan Brown, wants Lady Ashley's spread and doesn't want her cattle to get to market. This is where the movie aligns itself with "The Cowboys." The Drover has to put a ragtag, inexperienced crew of cowboys together to complete the drive, including Lady Ashley.

This story could have been a movie -- and an entertaining one -- all by itself. But if you want to make an epic about your homeland, why not go for it? Western homage segues into World War II with the Japanese on the march. There's much strife here, but GREAT ROMANCE is the real purpose. The cowboy and the lady are by now an item, and the story takes on a "Doctor Zhivago" texture. Luhrmann clearly wants to create something in the monumental image of the two Davids -- David Lean and David O. Selznick. The first is best known for "Lawrence of Arabia" and the second "Gone with the Wind." Luhrmann doesn't quite get there, but he doesn't have to hang his head.

Among the many ingredients that go into this movie is a continuing reference to the iconic "The Wizard of Oz." Many filmmakers pay tribute to this classic but seldom to this extent. The second is Luhrmann's indictment of the way Aborigines were treated and also an inclusion of their alleged magical capabilities. Luhrmann also infuses the movie with many other movie references including "Casablanca" and "The African Queen." Have fun picking them out.

As for the performances, they fit the context perfectly. Kidman starts as an aristocratic caricature but evolves into one of her warmest and most likable performances. Jackson is the can-do Aussie. But best of all is Walters, a sweet little scamp who provides the glue that brings the cowboy and the lady together.

"Australia" is kind of like Thanksgiving dinner. You wind up with too much on your plate, but you can't really complain about the excess.