The Plague Dogs is impressively animated (especially in the opening scenes) and, for a cartoon, remarkably downbeat.
While the book suffered from a "tell, don't show" attitude, spending much of its time in an impassioned and sometimes overwrought critique of animal experimentation (perhaps justified; the horrific and generally ludicrous experiments in the book were apparently based on actual horrific and ludicrous animal experiments), the movie is content to show you what happens and let you be horrified on your own. People are wisely pushed as far out of the movie as possible, allowing it to be focused almost entirely on the animal protagonists.
Sadly, the best thing about the book, Snitter's extreme confusion between fantasy and reality, and his poetic way of speaking, have been almost entirely lost in the movie. The book's description of Snitter's experience in the shed is far more surreal than what you get in the movie.
While the book suffered from a "tell, don't show" attitude, spending much of its time in an impassioned and sometimes overwrought critique of animal experimentation (perhaps justified; the horrific and generally ludicrous experiments in the book were apparently based on actual horrific and ludicrous animal experiments), the movie is content to show you what happens and let you be horrified on your own. People are wisely pushed as far out of the movie as possible, allowing it to be focused almost entirely on the animal protagonists.
Sadly, the best thing about the book, Snitter's extreme confusion between fantasy and reality, and his poetic way of speaking, have been almost entirely lost in the movie. The book's description of Snitter's experience in the shed is far more surreal than what you get in the movie.