Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale

This film was indeed a big hit when it came out in the mid-80s. I watched it again recently for the first time since seeing it on the big screen, and was suprised at how different my perception was of it as an adult rather than a kid. As a kid I don't remember the awful synth music being quite so awful, yet of course this can be put down to the decade which spawned it. The voice of the dog was also far too weak and naieve, and was the script, I didn't feel that it captured the dog's character as I imagined it having grown up reading the Footrot Flats cartoons. Aside from the script and soundtrack though, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie again. The backgrounds are great and really capture the dark gritty feel of rural New Zealand. The animation is good and the rugby scenes are funny and really capture the end of an era - farmers dreaming of being All Blacks, not for money but for glory. The days before the All Blacks donned Adidas shirts. I think that if the soundtrack was re-recorded and some of the script changed this A Dog's Tail could be re-released and make a comeback in the theatres. However as a slice of 80s it is a pristine example as it is.

Vale Murray Ball - and thank you TV3 for screening this homage to a bygone era.

Yes it's dated, sexist, homophobic and probably racist to boot, but there's still something quintessentially endearingly cheerful about this snapshot in time of a bygone age.

Our heroes face Homerically impossible odds against the evil forces of the Murphys, rats, wild pigs, the weather and anything else you can think of - but time after time they snatch victory from the jaws of defeat - this is the kind of spirit that led to the invention of Number 8 fencing wire, this is New Zealand...

This movie was a great adaptation from the comic, expressing New Zealand culture with excellence that it's beautiful as well as its funny. So original, yet so entertaining, this movie really hits the emotions, with an eerie soundtrack throughout all the terrifying scenes that was just too hard to miss, probably the best part about the movie for me. The characters are so unique and some are so enjoyable, and Dave Dobbyn's 'Slice of Heaven' at the end was so neat, just wish it wasn't forced into the END.

Unfortunately, the movie had a lot of problems. I feel like there's no plot, majority of the characters and scenes are quite forgettable and some of the scenes are too unnecessary or just too long or too short. And while it is actually funny, it's for all the wrong reasons. Many parents would complain that it's not for kids and you can see why straight away from all the inappropriate mayhem, half of which is just unnecessary. It's a bit of a shame really, this could have been a great movie but it feels like a missed opportunity. And yes, it tries to cram way too much stuff in, like minor characters from the comic, leaving almost no more time for the climax of the movie, which definitely could have been better. The animation is also pretty janky, even for hand-drawn animation.

So in conclusion, it's a great movie for anyone who has enjoyed the comics, with plenty of laughs and kiwi spirit, but it does not fail to disappoint, as there is a weak plot, forgettable and unnecessary scenes and characters and too much gore and inappropriate mayhem at the wrong times.

This film was an amazing event when it was released in New Zealand. Footrot Flats has for several decades been New Zealand's most popular and best loved journal cartoon strip. Murray Ball's characters are household names to millions of Kiwis around the world, and this film gave them living character, voices, movement. The film was celebrated immensely and rightly so as, made as it was with that unique NZ quality that comes with our movies, it had cartoons speaking with Kiwi accents that weren't forced or too Australian, NZ scenary, NZ themes that captured the rural environment of the day - everything about it was, and to many people no doubt still is, very familiar. The film has Dog - the real-life inspiration for whom died a few years back which received national media attention - saving Jess, his bitch, and starting a family, trying to keep Wall and his girlfriend Cheeky apart, and discovering the meaning of being alive, as well as the human menaces of his life living their simple existences. A must for all patriots of Aotearoa, anyone who's lived on or spent time on a farm out the back of some place here or there, or anyone who loves good quality animation.

This movie was bloody excellent - sorry but its almost like a opening line by Wallace Footrot. Anyways They are releasing this movie on DVD for the first time in almost 20 years on November the 9th, 2005. The movie set the scene for many New Zealanders or as we call them Kiwi's. It shows the life on the farm, as well as the sport that many Kiwi's love, Rugby. the life of a jealous dog who loves his owner and Loves his owner to love him. The trials and tribulations of a Dog, and owner relationship, with the beautiful animal lover neighbor, his pet cat, named horse who is ferocious and a fine example or a fine male dominant cat. We can forget the many others in this movie as well