Animal Lovers Be Warned: Movies to Avoid
There are certain movies and books that animal lovers should be warned against. Even as a child, I held grudges against films that surprised me with an animal death or hardship. I hated The Neverending Story solely because of the scene where the horse gets stuck in quicksand and left to die. Benji, the feature film and a book on tape episode, gave me nightmares about kidnapping. I couldn’t take The Incredible Journey even though I knew the pets made it home - the filmmakers threw a cat in the water!
I was disgusted with these movies enough so that they have stuck with me through the years. Recently, I have watched a few more such movies, and read one such book, that I wish somebody had warned me against. So if you care for animals, don’t buy into these:
* Eight Below: I’m not sure what kind of craziness got into me when i decided to watch this movie. It had so many strikes against it - Paul Walker is not a good actor; Disney thrives on heart-breaking scenes; and it’s a true story. “Surely, though, it’s a tale of survival,” I told myself. After the first dog died and another one became depressed and separated from the group, I turned it off.
* Gorillas in the Mist: Netflix recommended it to me. I apparently didn’t read the description, but rather just assumed that it was based on Jane Goodall. Wow, I was wrong. This film tells the life story of Dian Fossey, who did wonderful things that helped save gorillas from extinction. However, I did not need to see poachers in action, chopping off heads and hands, dangling babys, and leaving bloody messes of the gorillas that had names, distinct personalities, and lead roles. Furthermore, Dian was not a very likable person: she became so connected to the apes that she could not interact with humans … and then she’s murdered in her sleep. End of movie.
* The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst: “Oh,” I thought, “what a cute plot. A murder mystery where only the pet dog was a witness.” Not so at all. The scenes describing the creepy cult of men that mutilated dogs in hopes of giving them ability to speak were so disturbing and vivid. Do not read this book. Ever.
Any others that you would warn me against?
August 13th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I use to love Neverending story but that horse seen was so horrible for me as a kid.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Untraceable - a movie about a man who murders people on the internet. The more people who watch, the quicker they die. I can usually handle horror movies but before I watched it someone told me they open with the man doing horrible things to a cat so I decided not to even try watching it. For some reason torturing people is easier for me to watch than hurting animals.
August 14th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
My friend told me that there was a lot of plot line around cruelty to animals in the new X-Files movie and showed it, which I thought was strange, since I thought David Duchovny and his wife, Tea Leoni, were ethical vegetarians. My friend has a thick skin for this stuff and he said that even he thought it was too much, how they treated the dogs.
August 16th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
I can’t stand disturbing scenes with animals. I already knew that Eight Below was awful since it has to do with dog sledding and that’s animal cruelty.:(
August 17th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Don’t forget “Dances With Wolves”. Not only does it begin with vivid scenes of people being scalped alive, then the wolf Kevin Costner loves, is shot and killed for spite. Sorry, don’t care how many awards….I left the room and refused to return until it was turned off.
I did chuckle, Sally, when you could call a murder plot “cute”.
Can we all agree that violent acts against an innocent creature (human or other) is not entertainment. Let’s boycott!!!