JOCK THE HERO DOG

2011, Alliance Films

Animated

Rating: PG

Approx. 89 mins.

THE STORY:

Based on the 1907 classic Jock of the Bushveldt, the film tells the ostensibly true story of the valiant canine companion to a gold prospector in 1880s South Africa. Jock and his owner navigate the unfamiliar, unfriendly animal and human cultures, suffering cruelty from both camps. Ultimately, both emerge successful and are rewarded with female partners.

QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE:

• Stupid 
• shut up 
• fatty 
• butt 
• almost every utterance is mean/ unpleasant

VIOLENCE: 

• Yes! Human on human, animal on animal, you name it.

TEACHING POINTS:

• None whatsoever  

THE UPSHOT:

In a word: horrible.

As the narrator, Donald Sutherland sounds semi-comatose. Ted Danson and Mandy Patinkin have never sounded so annoying. Bryan Adams should stick to music and photography. The fact that this is one of the very few gigs Michael Richards (Seinfeld’s Kramer, post-highly-publicised racist rant) has had should give you an indication of how desperately terrible the voice work in this film is.

The animation is as awkward and disorienting as a '90s video game. The story and characters lack any kind of depth. Although the story is set in Africa, almost every character is white. Even the animals are audibly Caucasian.

When I first saw the PG rating “for some menace and peril” I rolled my eyes at the Victorian prudishness. About 10 minutes in I wished they had been less euphemistic, and actually used a more meaningful word like ‘violence’ or ‘cruelty.’ The ultimate message seems to be that almost all people and animals are evil at heart, and the world is an evil, evil place.

1/5