Pretty much in agreememt here. When I watched it, the whole thing felt like it was designed for people who are easily made to gush emotionally over dogs. It pretty much lost me in the opening scene. A bunch of ownerless puppies in an alley or something - along comes an animal control van, and they only take one puppy to its death (our main character of course), leaving all the others behind. Because... I dunno, animal control people are big meanies, and that one puppy is just that unlucky?
I'll give the film credit for one thing: not overly anthropomorphizing the dog. The dog thinks like a dog, or how we think a dog might think, if dogs could narrate. It only understands the basics: food, play, friendship, smell. It lives in the moment and never understands the nuances of the human world going on around it. As a side-effect though, it's not like the dog could reach deep philosophical insights.
Pretty much in agreememt here. When I watched it, the whole thing felt like it was designed for people who are easily made to gush emotionally over dogs. It pretty much lost me in the opening scene. A bunch of ownerless puppies in an alley or something - along comes an animal control van, and they only take one puppy to its death (our main character of course), leaving all the others behind. Because... I dunno, animal control people are big meanies, and that one puppy is just that unlucky?
I'll give the film credit for one thing: not overly anthropomorphizing the dog. The dog thinks like a dog, or how we think a dog might think, if dogs could narrate. It only understands the basics: food, play, friendship, smell. It lives in the moment and never understands the nuances of the human world going on around it. As a side-effect though, it's not like the dog could reach deep philosophical insights.