User Reviews

I had the chance to watch Jim Henson's Dog City recently, and it proved to be quite an exciting experience. The concept of a city entirely inhabited by dogs was unique and charming, and the animation was impressive for its time. The attention to detail was apparent in every frame, and the fluidity of the animation was quite remarkable. However, the plot was lacking in some areas, and some jokes didn't quite hit the mark. While I enjoyed it overall, it isn't a must-watch. The characters, while fun and engaging, had little depth, and the story lacked the emotional weight that could have made it a more memorable experience. It's a decent animated movie worth watching if you're interested in the genre, but it's not something I would highly recommend.

I know, I know. A dog that solves mysteries. Of course Scooby Doo is going to pop into your mind when you hear that and you probably think this show is not original. Well it is. As the plot describes the show, Ace Hart is the creation of Elliot Shag (a muppet) and the two often talk with each other. This was a funny program but it has since dropped off the face of the Earth, never to be seen again. Too bad.

This is another under the radar gem and it's a favorite of mine in the aniamorphic subgenre. This is another of the wonderful Jim Henson's long line of works, but this show is on the long end that's been forgotten.

This show came out at a time when the anamorphic subgenre in animation was thriving, this of course was one of them despite overshadowed by many others like "TMNT" (80's version), "Duck Tales", etc.

The show was loosely derived from the short film called "Dog City" which was a gangster film but with a populous of puppet dogs, it was actually pretty good and recommend checking that film out. In this animated show they make it a detective noir, but they also make it more than that.

The music is pretty good it's the typical old style tunes you'd hear from the noir films, if you ever watched them and there's a decent theme song. The animation is also solid the typical 90's style which I like and miss, really like the character animation as each of the dogs are of course based on different breeds of dogs.

Characters are good from the main hero Ace Hart, really like the voice actor Ron White who does him as he really sounds like someone that could have done some of the detective radio shows of yesteryear; too bad he didn't do any of the detective audio plays from "Big Finish" that would have been cool, thinking about it more it would have been cool had there been audio plays based on this show.

But anyway, the Ace Hart character, is sort of the typical noir detective archetype. But what I like is how he reacts to everything that is happening in his world and ours which feels like the kind of how we might react if we ever had those encounters. In a way Ace is the voice of common sense as he is just making sense of both the case he's solving and the world around him.

Bugsy Vile is another in underrated animated villain. He's pretty much the mob boss archetype, but what makes him stand out is how he doesn't fall into conventions, nor does he want to, which is what makes him funny. The think about him is he is hung up on the philosophy of senseless which is why each of the capers and schemes he commits really have no logic attached to it and come of as they are ridiculous, though in a very strange way makes sense and is not a bad philosophy when you think about it.

Even like the cohorts he has who are also colorful and fun themselves along with a girlfriend he has whom is a cat and named uninspiringly Kitty; I know unusual pairing by scientific standards but I'm not one to judge and makes sense for his character.

However, as I said the show is a lot more because one of the things that make this show unique are that it takes place in both the animated world but also real world; or should I say alternate reality as we see the real world is an all-puppet dog populace. Really love those sequences as it's all practical effects from the set pieces but just the design of the puppets and how they move, with Jim Henson's company you can never go wrong there.

There are some good characters too from the Bulldog Landlord Bruno (voiced by Brian Meehl) with his flunky sidekick. Those two are sort of antagonists. It's just funny how much grief he gives and wants to give Elliot and he has some memorable lines, along with his flunky who has very little brain activity.

But of course, the protagonist is the animator/writer Elliot (voiced by Kevin Clash), whom I really like as his character is one, I can relate to as I'm a writer myself. But he's a struggling and passionate artist that we see is both trying to turn things around for himself and at the same time make the best story he possibly can.

Even like there is a bit of an arc for him in the show where in the first season we see he's sort of an introvert, a little repressed and passive aggressive. Not the most outgoing as we see in the first season, he wears sort of the stereotypical old-style writer/animator wardrobe. But then in the next he changes to the "Magnum P. I." look which is the Hawaiian shirt and we see him a little more confidant and loosened though still must struggle with certain dilemmas but who doesn't.

The other unique thing about the show is on it's use of being meta and breaking the fourth wall. This show really was ahead of it's time as it predated films like "Last Action Hero" and "Scream" both came years after this show, but with "Last Action Hero" it was on action, "Scream" the slasher genre of horror, this show is more on the Noir genre.

The humor is really cleaver from the dialog but just simply parodying all the conventions and clichés of a noir and if your familiar you catch them. But you can say even the mechanisms of the mystery aspect, each episode you can say is a mystery within a mystery, because we have the case that Ace is currently solving but also at the same time the story that Elliot is writing.

The real case is really how the story is going to unfold, which actually gives the show a sense of intrigue because personally I'm really not all that concerned about the case Ace is solving (there actually easy to solve as the cases are at novice level) but I was constantly wondering what was going to happen or what Elliot and Ace were going to do next to make a good story let alone keep in continuity.

I even like how the show gets at some of the reality on being an animator and writer. From how Elliot gets ideas for his next story that always seem to obviously come to him, but that's funny because it's true sometimes; believe or not ideas can be easy to find but they just don't seem that way at first or the problem is that we look too hard; the key is really to let the idea/s find you.

Or even whenever both Elliot and Ace both interact together as both are constantly giving input on what should happen next and what makes sense, it's much like how any writer/animator constantly struggles to create that next issue of a comic, episode, chapter in a book, or even simply filling out a single page; we constantly go back and forth with ourselves to figure out what works and doesn't.

But also, how what is going on in Elliot's life correlates to what's currently happening with Ace which is also true on how we can take some things from reality to put straight into stories and characters. And also, simply the value in creating stories how they offer escapism from reality and even can help in making life a little better, if we believe in what we create enough.

It would be cool to have a licensed comic book adaptation probably from "Arcana" as that company adapt Jim Henson works in comic book/graphic novel form, this could be another to add to that list. Though this most likely may not happen as the fanbase for this show isn't that big, but still, it's a nice thought to consider.

Overall, I really like the show it might not be for everyone though, but if your into Jim Henson's works, animorphic toons, the noir genre, meta comedies/stories, looking for any more lost 90's vintage animated gems, or all the above then "Dog City" is worth visiting.

Rating: 3 and a half stars.

Superior mix of muppetry and traditional animation. I'm only familiar with Dog City from the four episodes available on VHS, but these were enough to make me wish someone had released the whole series on tape. The characters are good, the dialog often sophisticated and should appeal to adults as well as kids (especially adults with an interest in the animation industry. The scenes where Ace Heart (the main animated character) converses from his storyboard with Elliot (the main muppet character, his animator) are great. Ditto the way events oin the animator's 'real world' seque into plot arcs in the animation series-within-a-series. Very clever and appealing all round.

I'm not a huge muppet/Henson fan, but this one was cool. Shame it never got the recognition it deserved.

8 out of 10 for an animated TV series.

A great show that has unfortunately fallen into obscurity. It was an effective mix of Jim Henson's Muppets, for the "real" segments, and traditional cell animation for the "cartoon".

It focused alternately on the life of animator Elliot Shag and the adventures of his creation, the Marlowe-esc Ace Hart "Private Eye... Dog". Elements of Elliot's real life often seeped into the plots of his cartoons. For example most characters were based on people he knows, though the Muppet characters seemed unaware of this. Likewise, the "Ace" characters were unaware of anything outside their world, with the exception of Ace himself who served as Elliot's more confident alter ego and was fully aware of the situation. Though there were frequent problems, most situations were eventually resolved in both spheres.

Sometimes it's debatable exactly who was creating the cartoon as Ace, his friends, and his enemies were very distinct characters going confidently, if unaware, through the situations set for them. The frequent "fourth wall" interactions between Ace and Elliot, often literally stopping the show, were some of the best parts of Dog City. Sometimes neither of them knew how it was going to end and the usual debates over plot points gave both their own views.

The cartoon plots were light hearted parodies of the noir genre, usually focusing on Ace's efforts against "senseless" crime boss Bugsy (based on Elliot's grouchy landlord Bruno) with the help of his strong willed love interest Police Chief Rosie O'Gravy (inspired by the animator's feelings for his neighbor Colleen) and plucky newsboy Eddie (who resembled the young delivery boy Arnie).

Though the writing was sometimes patchy it was usually funny and kept interesting by the characters. The show jumped the shark later in the run and started including more filler material but still retained some of its sparkle. Voice acting was a cut above the norm and the memorable saxophone based theme song rounded out a solid and sometimes great show. Like most reviewers I wish it would be released as a set.

An extremely bizarre set-up that worked more often than not. Eliot Shag, a Muppet, was the sole animator (and, one would assume, did all the voices?) for an animated noir series starring Ace Hart, Private Eye Dog. Ace functioned as Eliot's alter ego - suave where Eliot was unsure - and would occasionally stop the action of the cartoon to argue plot points with his creator. This provided the show with its best moments: Ace wanting to use a .45 despite Eliot's steadfast rule against guns, Ace's refusal to do anything "science-fiction-y", and of course Ace's frustration of never getting together with police-dog Rosie.

Some excellent characters in this show. I for one hate the ubiquitous "cutesy" kids that these shows always have, but Artie (and his animated counterpart Eddie) managed to be fun and endearing rather than annoying. Replacing the rather innocuous Colleen with the more headstrong Terri was a good move. The writers apparently tried to "up the hip quotient" on Eliot in the second season, ditching his sweater and giving him a Hawaiian shirt. I actually preferred him more as the awkward loner, but that was fine. Like many shows of its ilk, it did run out of steam at the end, padding itself out with pointless bits like "Madog's Poetry Corner" and "Terri & Dot". Still, a definite cut above most of the other animated/children's programs of the day. Cool-as-heck theme song, too.