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The Bad Guys. Dir. Pierre Perifel. Universal Pictures. 2022.
Being good is no fun at all — or is it? Pierre Perifel’s feature directorial debut, tells the story of an infamous criminal group comprised of anthropomorphic animals — the titular Bad Guys — and how their leader begins to realise how good it feels to be…good? Following a parallel plot to Disney’s Zootopia (2016),…
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Garfield. Dir. Peter Hewitt. 20th Century Fox. 2004.
This 2004 family comedy revolves around Garfield, a lazy, lasagna-loving cat who has the perfect life with his owner, Jon. Accustomed to luxury treatment, lavish meals and relying on his quick wit to get his way, the film opens on Garfield’s extravagant morning routine and his devious antics around the cul-de-sac. Unsurprisingly, Garfield is at…
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Bait. Dir. Mark Jenkin. British Film Institute. 2019.
Core to Mark Jenkin’s 2019 film, Bait, is a narrative depicting the gentrification of the coastal land and community in Cornwall. Following Martin, a local fisherman, Jenkin’s film emphasises how the tourism industry alienates and disenfranchises localised heritage and livelihoods. Martin’s job is central to this. The fish and lobsters that he catches serve as…
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Song of the Sea. Dir. Tomm Moore. StudioCanal. 2014
Song of the Sea is full of magic, mystery and mayhem. Ben, a ten year old Irish boy, discovers that his mute sister Saoirse is a selkie. After Saoirse’s true nature is revealed, her father, blinded by fear, retaliates and hides the coat that enables her to transform. This separation causes Saoirse to fall ill.…
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How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Dir. Ron Howard. Universal Pictures.2000.
For as much as this film teaches us about the meaning of Christmas, it equally teaches us about the relation humans hold with animals, through both interaction and perception. The protagonist, The Grinch, lives in a cave at the top of Mount Crumpit with his dog Max, after running away from his adopted home in…
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Porco Rosso. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli. 1992.
Porco Rosso follows a former fighter pilot who abandoned the Italian military, transformed into a pig, and becomes a bounty hunter that fights pirates. One day he meets American pilot Curtis who was contracted by pirates and is in love with Porco’s friend Gina. Curtis realises Gina loves Porco despite him being a pig and…
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Under the Skin
Under the Skin is a science fiction film directed by Jonathan Glazer and released in 2013. It tells the story of an alien disguised as a human woman (played by Scarlett Johansson) who drives around Scotland in a van and uses her sexuality to persuade them to come back to her house. She is presented…
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Train to Busan. Dir. Yeon Sang-ho. Next Entertainment World. 2016.
Content warning: This article contains images of real animal death. The opening of Yeon Sang-ho’s action-horror film Train to Busan (2016) interprets the circumstances that lead to the epidemic at the centre of the ‘zombie apocalypse’ genre through an incident with a farmer and a deer. Considering the film’s narrative is characterised by a linearity…
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An American Tail. Dir. Don Bluth. Universal Pictures.1986
“There are no cats in America“ Don Bluth’s An American Tail is a 2D animation family film in which the human drama of religious persecution, poverty and immigration at the end of the 19th century is narrated through the eyes of a Russian Jewish family of mice, the Mousekewitz, and particularly through Fievel, the seven-year-old…
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Hocus Pocus. Dir Kenny Ortega. Walt Disney Pictures. 1993
Thackery Binx is one of the central figures of Hocus Pocus, and in doing this the film considers the status of domesticated animals within society and cinema. Hocus Pocus acknowledges cats’ role as a domestic sphere defenders. Binx is specifically transformed into a cat because of the meanings we associate with them in our society,…
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