Animated Reflections - Footrot Flats: A Dog's Tale

Officially titled - Footrot Flats: A Dog's Tail Tale (cause the main character is the Dog and grammar isn't his specialty), this animated movie is based on the comic strip series by Murray Ball. Given this was a New Zealand venture with animation done in Australia and was released in the mid-late 80's, I would not be surprised if no one outside this region would have heard of it. I would also not be surprised if some of the humour is lost on those outside of this region as much of it is rural based from these regions.

Talking about a movie rather then a series is a little different for Animated Reflections, but this is one of those animated movies I did see as a kid and it does hold a special place for me.

The story is more a collection of situations that are forming around as the main story. It follows much like it does in the comics, situated in the fictional town of Raupo in New Zealand and the nearby rural property of Footrot Flats, owned by Wallace Footrot. Wallace may be the farmer (plus a massive Rugby fan) and one of the central characters, but the real star is his Boarder Collie, a dog called...errr...Dog. Known as 'The Dog' in the comic series, he does have an actual name, but he refuses to let anyone speak it.

One of Footrot's neighbours is a kind and friendly farmer nicknamed Cooch and his dog called Jess. In fact, there is a flashback scene that explains how Wallace got Dog, how Cooch got Jess and how Dog and Jess met, which is different from the one in the books, but can understand why it was changed to better suite it for a movie.

The other neighbour that Wallace has to deal with are the Murphy's, which consist of Irish Murphy and his two sons Hunk and Spit (yeah this movie prefers to use every ones nicknames, which I guess makes it more amusing and makes characters stand out more). Irish's main goal is to get Cooch's Stag, Spit is competing to get into the All Blacks Team (the national Rugby team for New Zealand) which is one of the parts as Wallace wants to impress the selector and Spit is going for the same gig. Finally there is Hunk and he is.....just there really. He's not too sharp so I guess they couldn't do much more with a character like that. The Murphy's also have a group of nasty pet dogs and there land is inhabited by their pigs, which are referred to as 'Croco-Pigs' due to the fact that they kind of act like aggressive Crocodiles.

Beyond that there as support characters like Wallace's Aunt Dolly, his niece Pongo and Rangi, a local boy who helps out on the farm (who is also a character who appears to be of indigenous decent, so glad that there was more acceptance of that here). Another character is also Cheeky Hobson, Wallace's girlfriend and someone who the Dog has no trust for what-so-ever. Finally there is Horse, a cat that lives in the area and is basically a total bad-ass who is usually moody. They all play parts in the story, but are limited due to what you can put into a movie (the more I keep watching it the more I feel like it would have made a great T.V. series). Oh, there are rats and one particular nasty one which when you see his is very over the top looking.

Animation wise, it is done in a style that matches the art style of the comics, which was a brilliant decision. The characters are outlined well with colour added to them (as can be noticed well in Pongo's hair with her pigtails having straight black lines like in the comics with orange colour in-between them). The backgrounds are done with lines and colour with things like scribbles and marks to make it look like the background of a comic strip. Movement is smooth most of the time (being hand drawn animation does mean there are issues from time to time, though you have to be looking for them to actually notice any) and rapid movement even has the added lines to show the movement like in the comic strips. I really like this style and would like to see more shows based on comic strips use this sort of visual style.

While I enjoyed the Soundtrack, I would completely understand if other did not. Produced by New Zealand musician Dave Dobbyn, the most famous song from this soundtrack is Slice of Heaven (which I do love). Other songs are more hit or miss for me, but the non vocal music I do enjoy (I do like Cooch's theme on the OST,). Not much more to say, so I suggest looking them up and seeing which ones appeal to you.

Overall, a great movie that I recommend, though it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Like I said earlier, this was one that I have seen multiple times growing up and has stuck with me. What I don't get is why I haven't seen it on television in some time. Happy to repeat crap movies over and over again, yet this gem never gets a shot, why? Anyway, go check this one out and have some fun.

Note:
So yeah, it's been a while since I've looked at anything and this seemed like a good step into getting back into the swing of things. Sorry it's not up to the usual standards, but its clear that mine were becoming more like critic reviews more then the reflections I wanted to write about. Might need to review a few more things until I can get this series right, hopefully I'll get it down pat soon enough. Also, sorry about the screen shots but only had a Blu-ray version and not a DVD version, so didn't have much for visuals for this one. Had to make do with what I could find, so hopefully I'll be able to get one down the track or a Blu-ray player for the PC, which ever one comes first I guess.