A Dog's Mission
In March this year, "A Dog's Mission" set off a new "dog trend" in China. Similar to most similar themes, "A Dog's Mission" also achieves a tear-jerking effect by delicately depicting the moving emotions of the protagonist and the dog snuggling together. But what makes this new work different is that it adopts the perspective of a dog in a novel way to interpret the story of reincarnation. The puppy in the film has been reincarnated four times, and finally found its original owner again, practicing the longest confession of love with companionship. The director of the film is Lysé Holstrom, who made countless people cry with the American version of "The Story of Hachiko the Loyal Dog" eight years ago, and sensationalism and tear-jerking can be described as his best play. Coupled with the fact that this kind of pet theme has a natural lethality for a large number of pet lovers, "A Dog's Mission" is really difficult to think of.
As the most human companion, the dog is also the most common animal actor in the movie. Wang Xingren, who has been trained by professional animal trainers, is either well-behaved and docile, or sensitive and lively, and can often capture the hearts of generations of audiences with their loyalty and bravery. There are also a large number of dogs in movies, which appear in animated images and give us endless laughter under the flexible brush.
1. Lacey The Greyhound Lacey
Starring Elizabeth Taylor, who was only 11 years old at the time, Lacey the Greyhound (1943) created the first (and perhaps most famous) dog star in the history of cinema, the Scottish Shepherd Lacey. Adapted from the previously well-known best-selling children's book of the same name, the film was published in 1938 by the British writer Eric Mobley Knight, telling the story of Lacey, who was sold to the duke by his master during the Great Depression in the 1930s, and because of his master's longing, he waded back to his master's arms on a journey home. The film vividly and vividly expresses the deep emotion between Lacey and her owner, which opens up the fixed routine and mode of emphasizing the loyalty of dogs in similar films.
After its release, "Lacey the Greyhound" was widely popular, and Pal, the dog who played Lacey, also became a highly recognizable "star". Taylor was paid only $100 a week when he starred in the film, while Pal had $250. Since then, producer MGM has made a series of 7 films featuring Lacey while it is hot, and TV series and radio dramas based on this story have emerged for decades. In 2005, "Lacey the Greyhound" was remade again, but no matter how it was later remade, it was always the original version played by Pal that was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Pal later retired at the age of five, saying goodbye to the silver screen once and for all, but every subsequent Lacey, the dog used to play Lacey, was a direct descendant of him.
2. Hachiko "The Tale of Hachiko the Faithful Dog"
If Lacey is the most famous dog in the history of cinema, the only one who may shake his position in the contemporary era is probably the loyal dog Hachiko. Hachiko Tadahigu is a true story that takes place in Japan, the Japanese Akita Inu Hachiko, born in Odate in 1923, was adopted by his owner Hidezaburo Ueno in 1924 and brought to Tokyo. Every morning, Hachiko would watch his master at his doorstep and pick him up at the nearby Shibuya station in the evening. One night, Eizaburo Ueno suddenly suffered a heart attack while at work, and died of ineffective rescue. However, Hachiko still stood faithfully in front of Shibuya Station, as every day in the past, regardless of the wind and rain, waiting for his master to return home. This was a wait of 9 years until his death on March 8, 1935. In 1933, the Asahi Shimbun published the story of Hachiko, who quickly spread throughout Japan as a symbol of extreme loyalty. In 1934, at the place where Hachiko waited every day, a statue was even erected for it. Hachiko died the following year and was buried with his master, Hidezaburo Ueno.
Hachiko's story was originally adapted into a film by Japanese director Seiko Kamikayama in 1987 and later remade by Lysey Holstrom in 2009. Most domestic audiences have seen the later American version, and Holstrom's portrayal of the relationship between the owner and Hachiko, especially the dog's tuning, is indeed better than the Japanese version. In the Japanese version, Hachiko often lacks interaction with the characters, while in the American version, Hachiko's colorful and rich expressions add a lot to the film.
3. The Wind Bear "Antarctic Story"
In Japan, Hachiko has long become a legend, but in the hearts of many people, the 8 Antarctic sled dogs may be a more memorable miracle.
In 1955, when Japan wanted to participate in the observation of Antarctica by international organizations, the expedition recruited sled dogs from all over the country and finally decided to use the Birch Dog (also known as the Kupa Dog). In February 1958, a Japanese observation ship picked up the first wintering team members of the Antarctic base, and before leaving, they tied up 15 birch dogs and left them for the second group of team members who were about to take over. Unexpectedly, due to extremely bad weather, the second group of team members could not complete the handover as originally planned, and all the team members would return to China together, while the 15 birch dogs in the base were left in the icy Antarctic continent.
Of the 15 birch dogs left in Antarctica, 7 died shortly after failing to break free of the chains. The remaining 8 broke free of the chains one after another and began a difficult journey to survive in the harshest environment. Ritchie is the oldest and their leader, while Kazeren Bear is Taro and Jiro's father and navigator of the dog pack. Eight sled dogs huddled together in the snow and ice, trying their best to search for any food that might exist between the cracks in the glacier. They catch fish that occasionally jump onto the ice and even hunt seals, while also facing predators and harassment from enemies that are far more powerful than themselves, such as whales. In the hunt after hunt, dogs have died due to various accidents.
Teammates who returned to Japan naturally thought that the dogs would not survive the Antarctic, where food was extremely scarce, and that the inhumane act of abandoning the dogs also caused them psychological torture. After returning to China, they first apologized to the owners of the dogs one by one, and then erected commemorative bronze statues for the sled dogs in Wakkanai City. A year later, the expedition landed on the South Pole again, but was surprised to find Taro and Jiro next to the base. Their survival is also regarded as the greatest miracle of life.
This legendary story was made into the movie "Antarctic Story" in 1983, starring national superstar Ken Takakura, and the details of how the 8 sled dogs foraged for food and sought inches in the film were all imagined by later people, and the facts could not be examined. After its release, the film caused a huge sensation in Japan, sweeping the box office of 11 billion yen, ranking eighth in the history of Japanese domestic films. In 2006, Hollywood remade the story into Antarctica, which also received good reviews. In 2011, Japan's Fuji Television remake it into a 10-episode Japanese drama "Antarctica", as a grand gift for the 60th anniversary of Taiwan, invited the national idol Takuya Kimura to star, Sakai Masato and Ayase Haruka to play, which shows how deeply the story of the bears is deeply rooted in Japan.
4. Little Q 《Guide Dog Little Q》
Compared with the vigorousness of the Antarctic sled dog, the story of the guide dog Little Q tends to be flat on a daily basis. Directed by the famous Japanese Korean director Choi Yang-il, "Guide Dog Little Q", adapted from the novel "Goodbye, Koru" by Japanese writer Kengo Ishiguro, is a biopic featuring the Labrador guide dog Little Q (formerly known as Quall, meaning feather, because at the root of its left hind leg, there is a feather-like black birthmark that is close to a cross shape, pronounced Koru in Japanese).
To become a qualified guide dog, the puppy must leave the mother for 45 days, live in a foster home until the age of one, and then be sent to the guide dog training center for training. The training process is very rigorous, and there are strict and orderly courses on all aspects of the dog's temperament, reaction, movements, etc. The guide dog that has completed the training still has to go through multiple procedures with the blind owner to adapt to each other, and successfully pass the trainer's guidance test before it can become a guide dog in the true sense.
The film truly recreates the process of Xiao Q's training, and the most difficult part of the process - the run-in with the owner Mr. Watanabe (Kaoru Kobayashi). At first, Mr. Watanabe was reluctant to accept the service of a guide dog, but under the thoughtful "service" of Xiao Q, he gradually developed a tacit understanding and affection with Xiao Q. While his feelings were heating up, Mr. Watanabe died of kidney failure, and Little Q had to return to the training center to wait for the adoption of the next owner. However, when Xiao Q finally had a home after a long wait, his own body was difficult to support.
"Guide Dog Little Q" does not have too much of a colorful sensational bridge, although it is also tear-inducing in many times, but more through the delicate performance of ordinary drops, it is touching in the silent place. The unique significance of this warm novel is also that through the writing of functional dog breeds such as guide dogs, it praises the unimaginable sacrifices made by animals in order to serve people, and the irreplaceable care and comfort they can give people.
5. White Dog 《White Dog》
Among the many films featuring dogs, Samuel Fuller's White Dog (1982) is definitely an outlier. This short and compact work is neither warm nor tear-jerking, but has a certain horror and murderous atmosphere.
The protagonist of the film is a white German Shepherd who is injured by actress Julie in an accident and brought home, and then helps Julie force the gangsters back during a burglary. But after this heroic act, Julie discovered that the white dog would pounce on the black man every time he met him, and it turned out that the dog was a weapon that had been specially trained by racists to attack black people, and this dog had a proper name, called "white dog". In order to restore him to his docile nature, a black animal trainer spent five weeks training him to no longer be strongly aggressive toward black people. But at the end of the film, a shocking scene is staged again- the domesticated white dog pounces fiercely on the white man next to the black man.
White Dog has a strong metaphorical color, and its naked reference to racism once led to the film being banned. At the beginning of the film, it has been pointed out that dogs are actually color blind, can only distinguish between black and white, and the human race has no meaning to dogs. But the brutal training he had received since childhood (hiring blacks to abuse puppies) planted the seeds of racism in the white dog's heart, and this dark seed was destined to accompany him throughout his life.
"White Dog" is based on the 1970 novel of the same name by French writer Roman Gary, and according to Gary himself, such "white dogs" really existed in Western society in the 1960s. Even after the uproaring civil rights movement, racial discrimination has indeed persisted in American society. What White Dog presents is the most nonsensical and cruel essence of racism.
6. Goofy "Goofy Family"
Compared with the ever-changing loyalty attributes of dogs in live-action movies, the Wang Xingren in cartoons is undoubtedly more diverse. Removing the shackles and shackles of reality, dogs not only become more natural masters, but also a variety of anthropomorphic settings also make them stars with very different personalities. If most of the dogs in live-action movies are responsible for sensationalizing and tear-jerking, they are good at making fun and joking in cartoons.
Thanks to the aura blessing of disney in the animation kingdom, goofy (meaning stupid) has become the most famous dog in the animation industry. In the beginning, Goofy was nothing more than a passerby who played soy sauce in the Mickey Mouse cartoon, acting as an audience member in Mickey's Opera Troupe in 1932, and it was only because of his hoarse laughter that he stood out from the audience and was impressive. At that time, Goofy was not called Goofy, but Dipby Dawg. It was only in 1939, when the animated short Goofy and Wilbur came out, that it was renamed Goofy. Since then, he has appeared as a supporting character in other Mickey Mouse animations, always presenting himself as a simple-minded, clumsy and gluttonous person. Goofy often messes things up when he does things, but because of his linear way of thinking, he is able to "see the essence of complex things", and has experienced countless adventures with Mickey.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Goofy worked with Mickey Mouse Donald Duck in 48 animated short films to weave countless audiences' fond childhood memories. In the 90s, Goofy, who used to be only a green leaf, finally survived and ushered in the peak of his life in Disney's animated series "Goofy Family" (1992).
In Disney's character genealogy, Goofy became a well-known figure like Mickey, Minnie Mouse, and Donald Duck. In fact, in the Mickey Mouse animation, there is also a famous dog, Mickey's pet Pluto. However, Pluto could only live in his kennel sadly.
7. Snow White The Adventures of Tintin
If Goofy's going out is stained with Disney light, The fame of Snow Is leaning on the big tree of "The Adventures of Tintin".
The Adventures of Tintin, created by Belgian cartoonist Hergé, is one of the most popular children's books of all time. Since its debut in 1929, it has been translated into 58 languages, including Chinese, and has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, making it one of the top celebrities in the manga industry. Tintin takes readers around the world in the comics, with adventure stories as the mainstay, supplemented by science fiction. Spread anti-war and humanitarian ideas in the course of intense and exciting adventures. The protagonist Tintin is an upright and brave journalist who uses his wisdom and boldness again and again to smash the conspiracy of evil forces. And Bai Xue is Tintin's inseparable partner, although naughty, but he can always stand up at key moments and help Tintin turn the danger into a disaster.
In the 1960s, France made two live-action films independent of comics, Tintin and the Golden Fleece (1961) and Tintin and the Blue Orange (1964). Later, two animated films were produced in the early 1970s, The Sun Temple of The Adventures of Tintin (1971) and The Mystery of Shark Lake (1972). In the 1990s, three seasons of television animation co-produced by France and Canada truly restored Hergé's original work to the screen. Later, the animated film series directed by Spielberg triggered the expectations and reverie of countless people around the world.
In Spielberg's hands, The Adventures of Tintin was made his best "Raiders of the Lost Ark"-style treasure hunting adventure, and the typical Hollywood chases and fights somewhat eliminated the humor of the original book. And the snow white snow has also become one of the most brilliant characters in the film, and its astute and wise performance is more than a star and a half stronger than the clumsy Captain Adok.
8. Snoopy Snoopy: Peanuts Movie
Like Snow White, Snoopy is his owner's pet, but he's undoubtedly much more prominent than his owner, Charlie Brown.
Like The Adventures of Tintin, Snoopy already has a world-famous comic book image. On October 4, 1950, Snoopy made his debut in The Peanuts Comics, when he didn't have a name, but just walked past Petty's home with pre-ordered flowers on his head. Initially he was not anthropomorphized, but just an ordinary Migru Hound. It wasn't until the January 9, 1956 comic that he stood up on his hind legs for the first time. Later that year, it also performed its own choreographed "dance" for the first time. Since then, Snoopy has lived in the hearts of a wide range of readers as a "person" with a distinct personality.
Snoopy loves sweets and hates cats, and the most common behavior is to get stuck in his own imaginary role-playing and struggle to extricate himself. Among his cosplay objects, not only snakes, rhinos, lions and other animals, but also real or virtual characters such as Beethoven and Mickey Mouse, and the most famous image is the Ace Pilot of World War I. At the same time, Snoopy is also a writer who is always writing but always rejected, and since July 12, 1965, he first wrote on the roof of a dog with a typewriter, and his endless career of rejection has begun.
In the latest Snoopy: Peanuts Movie (2015), these qualities of Snoopy are highlighted, especially the passage where he fantasizes about being a World War I pilot, which contrasts with the main storyline of Charlie Brown.
But for Snoopy, the big screen is more like a cameo in the nature of a ticket, and his real career focus is still the brand image derived from comics. In the comics and various animated series, she has long been a symbol of popular culture, and her image has been registered as a globally renowned brand. Today, Snoopy's brand image has long been opened to daily necessities, clothing, toys, stationery, bags, shoes, children's clothing and other aspects, and has a large number of loyal fans around the world. Snoopy himself was named "the first dog in pop culture" by the American Kennel Club in 2009.
9. Grommett, Super Invincible Dog: The Curse of the Human Rabbit
Perhaps the only thing that can compete with Snoopy in the matter of playing cool is the superstar of British clay animation, the super invincible dog Gromitt. Gromitt is wallace's pet, witty, brave, hardworking, kind, and the only regret is that he can't speak. Its daily job is to take care of Wallace's diet and living, as well as to cooperate with Wallace's work. He loves newspapers, plays sweaters, is proficient in gardening, and like Snoopy, occasionally dances a self-choreographed dance to the accompaniment of music. It is no exaggeration to say that Wallace, as the owner, has almost all the limelight stolen by this "omnipotent" pet dog.
Since 1989, when the first "Moon Picnic" of "Super Invincible Dog" first met the audience on television, enjoying Wallace and Gromit's treasure is a must-see reserved show for British audiences at the end of the year when they are having a family party. The trendy clay animated short was also nominated for that year's Academy Awards. Two or three episodes of the subsequent series, "Leading the Goose into the House" (1993) and "Razor's Edge" (1995), both won the Academy Award for Best Short Film that year. At this time, the production team behind "Super Invincible Dog" Aardman Studio also began to attract the attention of the world, and the later Aardman Studio also became the mainstay of the stop-motion/clay animation industry. The well-known Chicken Run (2000) and Shaun the Sheep (which began with an animated series and a big movie released in 2015) are their masterpieces.
By 2005, Wallace and Grommett finally had their first big movie, Super Invincible Dog: The Curse of the Human Rabbit. This 75-minute animated feature film not only won considerable box office in both the United Kingdom and the United States, but also won the British Academy Film Award and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature film, becoming a phenomenon that attracted global attention. Even in the eyes of discerning critics, this is a masterpiece that can get an A-rating.
10. Sparkey, Frankenstein
Of all Disney cartoons, Frankie Dog Sparkey is probably the most terrifying protagonist. And of all the animations featuring dogs, it's probably the one with the most gothic temperament.
The gothic temperament of "Frankenstein Dogs" is naturally due to Tim Burton, who is known for his dark style. But the big name of "Frankenstein Dog" is mostly due to the sci-fi horror film "Frankenstein" (1931), which is an important figure in the history of cinema. Frankenstein was originally a novel by British writer Mary Shelley, in which the role of the mad scientist Frankenstein also symbolizes the blind fanaticism of human beings for science. In the movie Frankenstein, boris Karloff plays a monster created by Frankenstein, which is the terrible result of this fanaticism.
As the name suggests, Frankenweenie is clearly a high homage to Frankenstein. The scene in the film where the puppy Spatchy is brought back to life after being shocked by electric shocks is almost a reproduction of the scene in "Frankenstein" in which the monster is given life. Then the scene where the protagonists Victor and Sparki are chased by the neighbors as monsters and hide in the cabin and are burned to death is also a replica of the classic climactic scene of Frankenstein. The theme and story of Frankenstein Dog fit Perfectly with Tim Burton's favorite style for decades, burton not only added a touch of warmth to the darkness, but also seamlessly grafted many of his favorite classic horror film elements and bridges into this new story. For audiences familiar with horror movies, the less than 90 minutes of "Frankenstein" is full of feelings and memories.