I watched 'The Plague Dogs' for the first time today on LoveFilm Instant because I love dogs. I didn't even know this film existed until 31 years after it was made, but I decided to give it a go anyway.
As I mentioned in the title/summary of this review, the most positive aspects are the realistic backgrounds, true-to-life character designs (especially the animals) and the voice acting. The negative points of this film are its slow pace throughout, some disturbing scenes (such as a dead slightly balding dog being burnt in an incinerator and sights of a dead bloody sheep and lifeless chickens) and some of the animation being as slow as the film's pace. The camera movement was sometimes rough and choppy as well. As for the music, the beginning and ending songs were a treat to the ears and the background music was sparse yet chilling. The story was somewhat hard to understand, but I liked the chemistry between the two leading dogs Snitter and Rowf (whose name I thought was spelt 'Ralph' because they're similarly pronounced). When I first saw The Tod's eyes shine in darkness, I thought he was an owl but he is, in fact, a fox. I did find his name rather unoriginal because there is already an animated fox named Tod in Disney's 'The Fox and the Hound.' I also feel this film is a tad intense for a PG in the UK due to its disturbing scenes, language and sights of blood. It should be rated a 12 at the very least.
All in all, this was a decent if slowly-paced film that had its artistry and voice work as its redeeming merits. 7/10.
As I mentioned in the title/summary of this review, the most positive aspects are the realistic backgrounds, true-to-life character designs (especially the animals) and the voice acting. The negative points of this film are its slow pace throughout, some disturbing scenes (such as a dead slightly balding dog being burnt in an incinerator and sights of a dead bloody sheep and lifeless chickens) and some of the animation being as slow as the film's pace. The camera movement was sometimes rough and choppy as well. As for the music, the beginning and ending songs were a treat to the ears and the background music was sparse yet chilling. The story was somewhat hard to understand, but I liked the chemistry between the two leading dogs Snitter and Rowf (whose name I thought was spelt 'Ralph' because they're similarly pronounced). When I first saw The Tod's eyes shine in darkness, I thought he was an owl but he is, in fact, a fox. I did find his name rather unoriginal because there is already an animated fox named Tod in Disney's 'The Fox and the Hound.' I also feel this film is a tad intense for a PG in the UK due to its disturbing scenes, language and sights of blood. It should be rated a 12 at the very least.
All in all, this was a decent if slowly-paced film that had its artistry and voice work as its redeeming merits. 7/10.