15 minutes
THE term ‘a dog is a man’s best friend’ was first used way back in 1789 by King Frederick of Prussia. Humans have domesticated animals for companionship since a long time ago and nowadays, people would even treat their pets like their own babies.
Generations of pets have lived alongside humans, and that’s why it’s no surprise that humans would feature their best friends in movies to tell the story of the relationship between a man and his pet pal. One of the first movies with an animal protagonist is Rescued by Rover. The 1905 British silent short stars Blair the dog as Rover, a collie who leads its master to a kidnapped baby.
From the first heartwarming pet story, to even horror movies like Pet Sematary, here are a list of pet movies to honour our cute and beloved pets.
1. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
In this anime feature, 13-year-old Kiki moves to a seaside town with her talking cat, Jiji, to spend a year alone, in accordance with her village’s tradition of witches in training. A major theme of the film is maturity as Kiki face problems that many adolescents face such as finding a job, seeking acceptance, and taking care of herself. After learning to control her broomstick, Kiki sets up a flying courier service and soon becomes a fixture in the community.
But when the insecure young witch begins questioning herself and loses her magic abilities, she must overcome her self-doubt to get her powers back. In the movie, Jiji her cat served as the wiser voice to her and this beautiful Studio Ghibli work is a must-watch.
2. Beethoven (1992)
Who could possibly forget the massive St. Bernard and the comedic misadventures of his owners as they try to raise the slobbery Beethoven? After the family of George Newton (Charles Grodin) decides to adopt a cute St. Bernard puppy, the house turns upside as the adorable canine, dubbed Beethoven, grows considerably. Beethoven reminds us what a chore raising a dog can actually be, but how worth it it still is.
In the first two movies, Beethoven was the canine actor’s real name and was trained by Eleanor Keaton, widow of silent comedy legend Buster Keaton, so no wonder Beethoven was so good at slapstick comedy! Beethoven passed away not long after the second movie, though it’s reported that all of the dogs involved in the franchise were bred by Keaton.
3. Free Willy (1993)
In this ’90s classic, a troubled foster kid named Jesse is forced to volunteer at a marine park, where he meets and befriends Willy, a newly arrived, 7,700-pound orca who doesn’t much enjoy life in captivity. After finding out that the orca’s exploitative owners plan to kill the boy’s beloved killer whale, he hatches a plot to return Willy to the wild. Free Willy stars Keiko the killer whale, whose Japanese name meant “the lucky one”. This magnificent creature was living in an amusement park in Mexico when he was cast in Free Willy. After his lead role in the Warner Brothers film, Oregon Coast Aquarium garnered US$7 million (RM31.5 million) of public donations, the majority of which came from school children, to construct facilities to return Keiko to health with a view to releasing him back into the wild. During his time in Oregon, the killer whale gained over a tonne and when he was finally released in 2002, he struggled to adjust to the wild. At one point he was discovered in a Norwegian fjord, seemingly seeking contact with people and allowing children to ride on his back. Keiko died in 2003 at around 26 years old.
4. Babe (1995)
This movie is about a brave pig who doesn’t conform to the farm’s social hierarchy, and most importantly, finds acceptance for who he is. After winning a piglet named Babe at a county fair, Farmer Hogget takes it back to his farm and the piglet ends up having a motherly bond with a border collie named Fly. With no piggy parental figure to look up to Babe decides to herd sheep like a sheepdog. The film is based on the book The Sheep-Pig and filmed in Robertson, New South Wales, Australia. All 48 piglets used in the making of Babe were spared the slaughterhouse and the producers gave all the pigs to universities, colleges, and farms with room enough for them to live out their natural lives in peace after production was over.
5. The Secret Life of Pets (2016)
I’m sure all of us have wondered what our pets do when we leave them at home alone when we go to work, and The Secret Life of Pets is an animation imagined what our pets might think and do when we’re out and about. The protagonist of this story is the Jack Russell Terrier named Max who socialises with other pets in the building when his owner Katie is at work. One day, Katie decides to adopt a giant and unruly canine called Duke, so now that Max has to split his attention from Katie with him, he decides to find ways to get rid of his new brother.
6. Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021)
Based on the children’s book series of the same name by Norman Bridwell, Clifford the Big Red Dog tells the tale of 12-year-old Emily Elizabeth Howard who’s regularly bullied and one day decides to adopt a small red puppy whose family had been taken by dogcatchers. Mr. Bridwell, the animal rescuer tells her that the puppy will grow based on how much love it receives and sure enough, Clifford grows to giant proportions.
I grew up watching the series in the early 2000s, so Clifford has always been an endearing character from childhood. Clifford also teaches us that being different is a gift and shows us the importance of love, regardless of differences.
