Tag: Comedy
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Turner and Hooch. Dir. Roger Spottiswoode. Touchstone Pictures. 1989.
Charles Darwin once stated ‘It is scarcely possible to doubt that the love of man has become instinctive in the dog’. [1] In the case of Turner and Hooch (1989), Hooch’s love for Turner and vice versa takes its time and only arises onside the development of a perfect police office-police dog understanding and partnership.…
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The Mask. Dir. Charles Russell. New Line Cinema. 1994.
This scene in the film The Mask shows the protagonist Stanley in prison after being caught by police when in his Mask character. This short clip from the film allows us to truly see first-hand the love that Milo has for his owner, as well as the intelligence that he has. The pet- relationship that…
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Rango. Dir. Gore Verbinski. Paramount Pictures. 2011.
“Rango’s” animated Western storyline is narrated by an owl mariachi band with thick Spanish accents who tell the story of a nameless pet chameleon. The anthropomorphic chameleon sees himself as an exceptionally gifted actor in his terrarium with a wind-up goldfish and a damaged Barbie doll as his characters in his plays. After an accident,…
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Crocodile Dundee. Dir. Peter Faiman. Paramount Pictures. 1986
“A city girl like you? You wouldn’t last five minutes, love. This is a man’s country out here.” – Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan) Crocodile Dundee is a 1986 action/comedy film, following the character of Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan), nicknamed “Crocodile” after being mauled by a crocodile, an Australian bushman, as he meets his eventual love…
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How to Train Your Dragon. Dir. Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders. Paramount Pictures. 2010.
Despite the movie’s title, How to Train Your Dragon does not present ‘trained’ dragons. The title insinuates the shift from foe to friend is a means of ‘training’ a dragon, when this is actually achieved through the development of a mutual understanding of the other. The film’s false equation of this mutual agreement reduces the…
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Storks. Dir. Doug Sweetland, Nicolas Stoller. Warner Bros.Pictures. 2016.
Anthropomorphism and stereotypes are often utilized in children’s animation since they cater to a broad audience. The film Storks uses anthropomorphic animals in order to create vivid and lively characters with human characteristics whom the audience can relate to. Moreover, integrating well-known stereotypes in the storyline can evoke empathy or disdain for real animals, such…
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Ted 2. Dir Seth MacFarlane. Universal Pictures. 2015.
Ted 2 is the second instalment of the Ted series in which John (Mark Wahlberg), as a child wishes for his teddy bear, Ted (Seth MacFarlane), to come to life. What follows is thirty-something years of memories, shenanigans and improper behaviour. The first film follows the pair as John finally learns to ‘grow up’. We find…
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The Grand Budapest Hotel. Dir Wes Anderson. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 2014
“Did he just throw my cat out the window?” The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014) uses the death of a domestic animal to drive the dark comedic elements within the film, without accentuating sinister undertones that the audience would expect to accompany the death of a beloved animal. Anderson transforms the cat into a…