A forgotten animated film directed by the man who made Watership Down in 1978, and also adapted from a novel by the same author who wrote it, Richard Adams. Watership Down is famously not for small kids, although it's smart and good for older children. The Plague Dogs, on the other hand, is so relentlessly bleak that it makes Watership Down look like The Rescuers Down Under. You might call it All Dogs Go to Heaven, but Only After They've Been Through Hell. That's not to disparage it, but just to paint the mood. The story follows two dogs who escape from a government lab where they've been cruelly experimented upon. The film opens with one of the two protagonists, Rowf, struggling to stay afloat in a giant tank of water as two researchers take notes. We watch the poor lab sink to the bottom of the tank, drowned. The scientists pull him out and revive him. The second protagonist, Snitter, has had experimental brain surgery performed on him, and he has trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality. After the two escape, they forage the rather bare countryside for food. Finding little, they end up going after sheep. This puts the local farmers on the defensive, and they begin to hunt the two down like, well, dogs. When the laboratory releases information that the dogs may also be carrying bubonic plague, the military is called in to get rid of them. It's an extremely difficult movie to watch, especially if you love animals. A lot of people will be turned off because there is just no hope to be had. We know there is no real escape for the two. There's also constant talk about death between them, and how it might be better. It's dark as hell, and you should only show it to children if you want to give them nightmares or screw them up. Personally, I was deeply moved by the film and highly recommend it. Too bad Rosen didn't produce anything other animated films besides this and Watership Down. Both are beautifully animated (well, the animation is a little bit choppy in The Plague Dogs, but the drawings themselves are gorgeous), and he tells stories well. Supposedly this movie is a lot more solid than the original novel.
Review of The Plague Dogs
