Family Movies for the Homebound V: Dogs, Cats, and Other Pets
Posted on April 6, 2020 at 8:00 am
Copyright 1979 MGM
More movies for families to share, these are all stories of children and teens and their pets:
Because of Winn-Dixie: Kate DiCamillo’s book about a girl and her dog in a small southern town is filled with atmosphere.
Lssie Come Home: The first film featuring the most famous dog in movies stars Roddy McDowell and Elizabeth Taylor in a story set in Yorkshire. Joe (McDowell) and Lassie are devoted to one another, but Joe’s father falls on hard times and has to sell Lassie to a wealthy duke (Nigel Bruce). The duke’s granddaughter (Taylor) lets her go, and Lassie has to find her way home.
The Three Lives of Thomasina: A little girl’s beloved cat dies, euthanized by her stern veterinarian father, who believes the cat is critically ill. But cats have nine lives. With the help of a mysterious woman who lives in the woods, the cat returns, first without a memory of her previous life but then she recalls her past and is reunited with the girl who loves her.
Dreamer: Inspired by a true story, this film stars Dakota Fanning as a little girl who believes an injured horse can race again. SEE ALSO: “National Velvet,” included in List I.
The Black Stallion: One of the most cinematically stunning films ever made, this story of a boy and a horse who are shipwrecked together, then rescued, and then the horse enters a race. Mickey Rooney co-stars as the wise horse trainer.
Fly Away Home: Goslings imprint on the first thing they see, which is how a batch of baby geese think that a young girl is their mother. To keep them safe, she has to find a way to lead them to a sanctuary — by flying there.
Interview: Dogs on the Inside, Documentary About A Prison Program for Rescue Dogs
Posted on February 10, 2015 at 7:00 am
“Dogs on the Inside” is a profoundly moving documentary about a program that teaches prisoners how to care for rescue dogs. Seeing the dogs and the men in prison learn patience and trust from each other is touching and inspiring. I imagine it will attract the attention of Hollywood as it would make a great feature film.
BC: Doug and I were looking for a story about dogs that we wanted to be both compelling and kind of informative about how great dogs are. But we wanted it to have a little bit of an edge and we discovered this prison dog training program and thought it was both a no-brainer in the sense that the program existed and taking stray dogs and pairing them with prison inmates, I thought it was interesting. I think that was the story to bring to life on film.
What did the inmates learn from the dogs?
BC: I think the biggest thing that they learned was understanding, kind of getting outside of their own heads and learning about the benefits of helping others and in this case it was dogs.
DS: I think the most important thing they learned was that they are still human. If an image were to pop in your head of an inmate you might just think that of something negative and I think what this film does is remind people that wherever you are, if you are even an inmate it does not matter, you’re still human.
CS: From an inmate’s point of view, it was more often learning how to cope and deal with not only the other cons but also with dogs as well and growing with them as well as a person.
What are the qualities that are required for the inmates who participate?
Copyright 2015 Bond/360
DS: Before they can be allowed into the program, each of the inmates is thoroughly screened. What they are looking for is patience, responsibility, and trust, and most importantly caring. And overall they cannot be violent, they cannot have any type of violent history.
Are there other programs like this throughout the country?
DS: There are and since we started filming over three years ago they have been continuing to pop up all over the country.
And are there any studies being done of how effective they are or monitoring the participants after they leave?
BC: Yes. There is a great program called New Leash On Life USA, based in Philadelphia. And they are the gold standard for this type of prison program because they have measurable results and the recidivism rate for prison inmates coming out of Philadelphia prison system goes down about 50% by comparison to the average. These guys are actually staying out of jail because of what they do helps them get internships, help get them placed in jobs in animal care and those kinds of things. So it is much about a person as it is about an animal.
Do many of them chose to continue professionally with animal care when they get out?
CS: I want to be a zookeeper. I love animals in general. The person that gets into these dog programs, they have got to love animals first and foremost. If I could, I would own a farm and adopt all of them. Because I love animals in general but reality is that I can only take the step of helping the dogs that are in shelters. I’m going to be donating my time doing that in a shelter out in Springfield, Massachusetts. I’m going to get my education and try to see if I can become the very best zookeeper that there ever was in history.
Candido, tell me a little bit about your first experience in working with one of the dogs.
CS: My first experience was with Sam, who was a very scared dog, he was very skittish, he used to tremble when he first got there. He used to growl when anyone got close to him and it took me a little bit of time to actually get him comfortable with me. What I mean by that is, it took me a few days but I got half my body inside the crate in order for him to feel comfortable with me. Then once I was able to finally caress him and rub him, I guess he looked at me like “Wow! You are not what I expected.” So with that being said I carried on and everything, he was a Chihuahua and by the end of the term he got adopted to a very young, very beautiful kindhearted person. She got married, the lady that is Sam’s owner and they sent me pictures of Sam in a tuxedo, so I’m guessing he was the Best Dog.
When an animal has been abused and is afraid of people, how do you gain their trust?
CS: I know that for me it took a lot of patience first. I looked at Sam the way I looked at my own life. I could relate to the way he felt, the way he thought probably. And in the beginning when I tried to get close to him and he growls, I got up, kept walking around doing whatever I had to do in the room but I still talked to him and I told him “Don’t worry about it. I got you, I’ll take care of you, sooner or later you’ll come around.” And that’s basically it, you have got to have a lot patience and a lot of love for any animal that goes through something like that. I mean it’s horrendous to begin with but you have got to have a lot of understanding too behind it. I’ll say this too, it took a little bit of bribery too. I used to give them treats, and I mean, who doesn’t like treats? I love treats. I love candy bars so you give me a candy bar and I’ll do anything for one bar, how about that?
So you can identify.
CS: Yes, I could definitely, with Sam and with every dog that kept coming through there.
And what was the most important thing that you learned from the training that you got about working with the dogs?
CS: I learned a lot actually. The trainer that we had, her name is Paulette, she is a very good trainer. She taught us and it was installed in me by her to have patience but be firm, to be loving and caring at the same time. But also to try to understand their point of view as much as possible. It’s about them primarily, you’ve got to put them first before yourself. It’s like having a baby, when you have a baby, your baby comes first before yourself.
What do you want people to learn from this film?
DS: If they could adopt a dog that would be wonderful but that’s a lot of responsibility so I think one of the things that people can take away from this film is that they have the opportunity to make a difference on their own. And it is attainable for them, it is not too far out of reach for each person. And not only that but to remind people that everyone is equal and to believe in second chances.
BC: I think for me it is to remind people that there’s some really good things going on around the world. That is one of the motivations we had in looking for a story. It just goes to show that with effort and the right thoughts we can really create the magic in this world.
Actress Glenn Close interviewed writer/director/voice actor Bob Peterson of Pixar about “Up” and especially about dogs, the dogs in his life and the dogs on screen. Peterson provided the voice for the adorable Dug, one of the most popular characters in the movie.
I wrote Dug as a combination of all the dogs I’ve owned. Marcella, Precious, Rosy, and Ava are all in there. The distractibility of Dug (SQUIRREL!!) is based on a game I’d play with my dogs. On a hot day the dogs would be panting to cool themselves down. So, I’d jump in and pant along with them. Then I’d stop abruptly and pretend I’d seen something important. The dogs would do the same and go to attention along with me. Long pause. Then, everyone back to panting. It was hilarious. Also I’ve noticed that dogs have an amazing capacity to give love immediately to people that they meet for the first time. Hence the line “I have just met you and I love you.” Dug says this to our old man character, Carl, when they first meet. It’s a challenge to Carl accept his new “family” who loves him and needs his attention.
A pampered pooch goes on an unexpected adventure but just about everything else in this movie is only too predictable. Drew Barrymore provides the voice for Chloe, a cashmere couture and diamond collar-clad chihuahua. She enjoys the high life with her wealthy owner, Viv (Jamie Lee Curtis), with a full schedule of shopping and parties. But then Viv’s niece Rachel (Piper Perabo) loses Chloe in Mexico and it will require the help of humans and dogs and even a rat and an iguana to get her safely home.
The protected princess must find her way in a world that is dirty and scary but also exciting. She is chased by bad guys with a scary Doberman named Diablo (voice of Edward James Olmos) and tricked by thieves (a rat voiced by Cheech Marin and an iguana voiced by Paul Rodriguez). But she is befriended by a brave German Shepard (voice of Andy Garcia). And her friends come to the rescue: Rachel and Sam, Viv’s handsome landscaper (Colombian actor Manolo Cardona), and Sam’s lion-hearted chihuahua Papi (voice of George Lopez), with the help of Officer Ramirez (Mexican actor Jesus Ochoa).
The trailer makes it look like a light-hearted doggie fish out of water story with a Busby Berkeley-esque musical number that does not appear in the film. Instead it is a lazy strung-together series of sketchy episodes — oh! the sheltered darling got all muddy and lost a bootie! Dear me, the alabaster goddess is surrounded by brown dogs with accents! Will Delgado desert her? Will Diablo catch her? Will Rachel and Sam start to like each other?
A wide range of outstanding Latino performers does not keep this film from an overlay of condescension and caricature. The jokes about couture and beauty treatments and Rachel’s mistaking the landscaper for a non-English-speaking gardener will not mean anything to the film’s target audience of young children. They will enjoy the cute pooches and “tinkle” humor but may be frightened by the mean Doberman and dog-napping bad guys.
It’s a messy, lackluster movie that feels like it was put together by a committee, product, not story, with a soundtrack of over-played, over-familiar, all-but-inevitable radio favorites. Could Cheech Marin ever have predicted that he would once again appear in a movie that features his signature song, “Low Rider,” and that it would be such a dog?
