ZooScope

Category: Imaginary Animals: No

  • We Bought a Zoo. Dir. Cameron Crowe. 20th Century Fox. 2011.

    We Bought a Zoo is a film loosely based on a memoir of the same name by Benjamin Mee which describes his purchase and restoration of the failing Dartmoor Wildlife Park – subsequently renamed Dartmoor Zoological Park – in preparation for its reopening. In the film, the death of Benjamin’s wife has led to a…

  • Povelitel’Mukh / Lord of the Flies. Dir. Vladimir Tyulkin. Kazakhfilm. 1990.

    Vladimir Tyulkin’s Lord of the Flies (Tyulkin, 1990), shot in Kazakhstan on the eve of the Soviet Union’s fall, discusses imperial, social, and human fragility within the microcosm of ‘Grandpa’ Kirill’s yard. As Kirill states, “My yard is… a state in miniature… I look upon the numerous breeds of animals living in my yard as nations”. Kirill,…

  • Happy Feet. Dir. George Miller. Warner Bros. Pictures. 2006.

    The Warner Bros. Pictures (2006) film Happy Feet tells the heart-warming tale of Mumble (Elijah Wood), a dancing emperor penguin who is a little different from the rest of his kind.[1] Mumble becomes an outcast in his own community because unlike every emperor penguin before him he is unable to sing. His talents lie elsewhere in the form…

  • Animals: Friend or Food?. Dir. Jason Young . National Film Board of Canada. 2003.

    Animals, a documentary film directed by Jason Young, follows a young couple’s journey through a year-long experiment in raising their own livestock on a farm in Nova Scotia. The re-birth of the abandoned farm the couple takes over mirrors his re-birth as he changes from urbanite to farmer. After questioning their relationship with animals, the two…

  • The Grand Seduction. Dir. Don McKellar. Entertainment One. 2014.

    Don McKellar’s 2013 film The Grand Seduction, delves into the lives of those living in the small fishing town of Tickle Head, Newfoundland. The film follows the life of Murray French, a lifelong resident of Tickle Head who is determined to reinvigorate and restore his once esteemed town. When Murray was but a young boy, the…

  • The Plague Dogs. Dir. Martin Rosen. United Artists Corporation. 1982.

    The Plague Dogs – Revival of a Masterpiece* By Loredana Loy Based on the book with the same title by Richard Adams, The Plague Dogs (1982) is a one of a kind movie. Snitter and Rowf are two dogs who escape from an animal experimentation facility only to find that the outside world is just as cruel.  They try to survive…

  • Babe. Dir. Chris Noonan. Universal Pictures. 1995.

    Based on Dick King Smith’s “The Sheep Pig”, Babe is the story of a young pig that is taken in by sheep dogs and the farmer Hoggett who eventually becomes a sheep herder himself. At the beginning of the film we first meet Babe in a pig farm where the pigs are shipped to meat factories.…

  • Mouse Hunt. Dir. Gore Verbinski. Dreamworks. 1997.

    Mouse Hunt is the story of two brothers, Ernie and Lars, who, following the death of their father, go through many financial setbacks. Ernie loses his restaurant due to a cockroach that he accidently brings there with a box of cigars he got from his father’s last possessions. The cockroach ends up being eaten by…

  • Dolphin Tale. Dir. Charles Martin Smith. Alcon Entertainment. 2011.

    Dolphin Tale begins with a view of the underwater world, showcasing the inquisitive nature of dolphins to their surroundings. Dolphin Tale is based on the remarkable true story of a Bottlenose Dolphin named Winter. When Winter’s tail becomes hopelessly entangled in a fisherman’s ropes causing Winter to wash ashore, a friendless and lonely boy tries to help…

  • Flicka. Dir. Michael Mayer. 20th Century Fox. 2006.

    Flicka is a film partially based on the novel My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara written in the 1940’s. This movie however, is set in the 21st century and the main character is not a boy, but a girl by the name of Katherine “Katy” McLaughlin. This gender change from book to movie could be…