Needs more bunnies (just kidding)
I never seem to watch much animation that isn't first and foremost escapist fun, but I knew what I was getting into watching this movie. I only read Richard "Watership Down" Adams' book of the same title a couple of months ago, and my feelings about it were mixed. For all it does right, his book frequently finds ways to misstep. Its simpleminded portrayal of animal research, for example, may well reflect a portion of this practice but I would've appreciated a nod to the fact that some animal researchers are actually looking for something instead of experimenting as randomly and sadistically as they can manage; the book is too propagandistic to make a very effective plea for animal rights. And just because I was smiling when I read that deus ex machina happy ending doesn't mean I swallowed it.
(weird note on the book: I was reading this book standing in line at Subway - I'm never eating there again, BTW, their policy of only hiring the stupidest possible illiterate inbreds annoyed me way more than that damn Gilbert Gottfried shadow-puppet ever could - and chuckled to myself during a particularly ironic moment. If you've seen the movie or read the book, it's the one where the near-starving dogs finally find pretty much the last source of food they should be eating under the circumstances, but of course they've gotta eat it anyway. The lady in front of me said "Excuse me, I haven't that book, but I hear it's like the most depressing thing ever, with all sorts of horrible things happening to the dogs and stuff, and you're laughing...")
The Plague Dogs is as close to an animated horror film as I've seen, and by golly it's got enough menace, blood, and death for any live-action one. Many viewers will find it preachy, though the film is nowhere near as preachy as the book. It's way too nasty for young kids, and adults are likely to find many parts of it pretty uncomfortable viewing, but it's definitely worth a look.
Rowf and Snitter (voices of Christopher Benjamin and John Hurt) are two dogs being held in a remote research lab in the middle of an English national park. Rowf's a big black Lab, cynical and grumpy, and no wonder, the whitecoats dunk him in a tank of water to see if he can break his last record for dogpaddling until he finally gives up and sinks. He doesn't like humans at all. Snitter's a little more optimistic, because he used to actually have a master and knows that for a domestic dog, nothing in the world is finer than having a master that loves him. Snitter has had some sort of brain surgery on him and wears a taped-on plastic cap.
One night, they manage to bust out of the lab, and they find life in the wild harder (and yet more rewarding) than they thought it would be, under the guidance of a fox whom they befriend (I never understood why they always call it "the tod" - is that English slang for fox?). But they have to eat, and of course eating sheep gets them noticed, then feared, when it becomes public where they might have come from.
The biggest change from the book is the setting aside of most of the human action; here, we just hear in voiceover conversations telling us of the public hysteria about the dogs, the lab's refusal to admit that they're even missing any, and ultimately, the deployment of the military to hunt down and kill the dogs. In some ways, that's good; the focus in the film is on the dogs, as it should be. Additionally, the research in the lab is kept mysterious, whereas in the book we were basically just told that there was no purpose. On the downside, we never get to learn of the ghastly circumstances surrounding just how Snitter ended up in the lab, easily the creepiest part of the book, for my money. Also changed is that ending, more appropriate here, it's like...well, like the ending of The Shawshank Redemption in the story instead of the movie.
All the voices are splendidly done by the cast, and the backgrounds are nothing short of gorgeous. Character animation is colorful and lively, which makes it all the more painful when Rowf, Snitter and the tod find that their actions have consequences and that humans always hold animals very tightly to those consequences.
The Plague Dogs is written, produced and directed by Martin Rosen, the same guy who also adapted Watership Down to the big screen. I don't think this movie (or book) could ever match my boundless affection for Watership Down, but the music is certainly better (less annoying John Denver-ish folk), and there is more variety in scenery (which is treated more, uh, "realistically"), though much less so in character, with only the three canine leads allowing for much prolonged interest.
Apparently, if you listen really closely, you can hear Patrick Stewart as one of the humans. I couldn't find him. Highly recommended, especially to those who don't often get exposed to animation outside of the Disney-style box.
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