Blog 11 - The Plague Dogs

After finishing The Plague Dogs this morning, I have conflicting feelings about it. On one hand, it was a very emotional movie that really showcased the destructive effects of animal testing. On the other hand though, at some points I felt as though the film was trying a little too hard to convey this message, and that the animation disconnected me from what I was supposed to be feeling.

No one can deny that this film really plays with the emotions of the viewer in order to prove its point. From the very first scene where the black lab is being drowned only to be resuscitated to the final scene where the two dogs are swimming aimlessly toward an "island," the film leaves no [negative] emotion untouched. I know I felt saddened when the dogs were treated so poorly in the village, even though they were only trying to survive. I felt angry when the workers at the testing facility were trying to cover up what they were doing and what had happened (because they knew they had created a real mess). The scene that upset me the most was the death of the fox who had helped the dogs on their journey. The death of this fox just seemed so unnecessary and depressing. Because of all the emotions that run through the viewer's mind, I think it can be said that the film successfully helped the audience to see animal testing in a different light - as something destructive, harmful, and not preferable in many circumstances (if at all).

At times during the film, I did feel as though the creators or producers were trying a little too hard to convey their message. For example: I am not sure why it was necessary to show the dogs being hunted by humans so much. It seemed as though these scenes constituted almost half the movie. One or two would have been affective enough in my opinion, there was no need to add more. Also, all the scenes that seemed to be specifically designed to make us sad for these dogs (like when people in the town were talking about how nasty Snitter's bandage was and they should stay away from him) seemed like overkill with all the other emotions the movie was already piling on us. The other downside to the movie was that it was animated. While the animation was very good and lifelike, I still felt at times that I couldn't feel quite what the filmmakers wanted me to feel because I felt like I was watching a cartoon that I couldn't translate into real life. This is probably more of a personal critique; I have never really liked watching cartoons anyway (I loved movies like Homeward Bound - with real animals - when I was growing up), so the animation did make it slightly less interesting for me.