McKenzie avoided the film possibly becoming a political statement about mining. She stated, "It's not a political film. It's not anti-mining. But through a whole lot of means, the world is disintegrating. They're stripping everything. Even though it's a resources boom … that means you just can't drink the water and you just can't eat. If you stay connected to country, you wouldn't do that." McKenzie has also stated that the movie is a "love letter" to her adopted father who showed her "love through action". She added that she "was also interested in the idea of tradition and traditions. And the generational gap. The context for that is the notion of country that I speak about later on." McKenzie stated that she wrote the film for David Gulpilil, who won the $50,000 Red Ochre Award at the Australia Council's National Indigenous Arts Awards for long career in Aboriginal arts. McKenzie likened having Gulpilil in her film to working with "[Robert] De Niro or [Meryl] Streep." Gulpilil also struggled with gout at the time of filming, which received additional praise from the director. To cast Pete, McKenzie claimed to drive "everywhere for months" with her local casting director, Jub Clerc. They found Wallaby playing in Fitzroy Crossing and asked if he would like to audition. She states Wallaby improvised as if he had read the script. Peter Galvin of SBS called "Satellite Boy" "beautiful-looking and sweet-natured". He added, "Stripped of its specifics, McKenzie's story offers a series of well-rehearsed themes familiar from a brief history of Indigenous cinema: the city vs. the bush, the spiritual vs. the material, family vs. independence, traditional vs. (white) secular life. Yet, none of this feels stale, tired or worse, preachy." "The Hollywood Reporter"s John DeFore stated, "McKenzie's vision isn't as otherworldly as some that have taken wide-eyed moviegoers to the outback, but it suggests that...Australia is still big enough to keep secrets from Europeans bent on taming it." Sandra Hall of "The Sydney Morning Herald" notes the film "tells a gentle tale about the sustaining glories of the natural world, the spirit of adventure and the interconnectedness between the past and the future." "Variety"s Eddie Cockrell called the film a "resonant generational drama", adding, "Though steeped in the realism of Kalmain's juvenile delinquency and Lynelle’s yearning for a life removed from her cultural heritage, "Satellite Boy" balances these modern dilemmas with a subtle yet reverberant symbolism that embraces the history and spirituality of Aboriginal tradition."