- Released: January 24 2019
- Directed by: Vincent Kesteloot, Ben Stassen
- Running time: 1 h 25 min
- Rating 3/5
Synopsis
After being cast out of the palace by his once-trusted best friend, a corgi named Rex must find a way to get back to the queen and become "top dog" again.
My Thoughts
The story is basic, but it’s executed all right. I felt like the basic story beats were present and Rex does grow throughout the film. However, the way it is done here is also just very basic, which doesn’t make the film stand out. There’s movies that have done it better and deserve to be checked out more.
The characters are kind of the same, basic, but not really too horrible. Rex makes for a good dynamic protagonist who goes from a pampered royal to an open-minded dog with lots of friends and a love interest. He realizes how teamwork can help you overcome great hurdles, so that’s cool to see, especially when you see him and his friends stand up to this giant bully of a Stafford. There’s other characters. Wanda is our main love interest, but she’s more than that. She takes initiative and is smart of her own. She’s not a super great female character or anything, but I’m glad she was more than just a trophy wife for Rex to obtain.
There’s of course Rex’s friends, who are all right. The villains, Tyson and Charlie, are just kind of boring. Charlie’s isn’t too interesting, but it makes sense, seeing how this puppy came into his life and became the favorite dog of the queen rather than him. Tyson however is a very bland and forgettable. He’s just a bully and he’s been a fighting dog. But they never delve into how his fighting life has impacted him. This could’ve been some potential for a redemption arc or something, seeing how dog fights are really abusive and obviously have twisted him in some ways mentally, but it never gets addressed. Maybe because it’d be too dark, I don’t know.
The visuals are pretty good. I really expected this to be a cheap and uninteresting looking movie, but it’s actually not too bad.
First of all, the character designs are, for the most part, good. They look distinct yet still like what they’re supposed to represent. They’re usually pleasing to look at and have a nice style to them. My main problems with this here are two dogs, however: Mitzi and Tyson. Mitzi looks just really weird because she has those uncanny human-like lips (and a pink tail for… no reason?). Tyson himself hardly looks like an Amstaff, hardly like a dog even. Mitzi’s design is bad, but she at least looks somewhat like a corgi. I have no idea what they were going with for Tyson’s design other than “generic over-the-top villain”. The humans look fine, by the way. The textures are also night.
The animation is actually really good. I never spotted any mistakes or weird or rough-looking movements. It’s nothing spectacular, but much better than I expected. Don’t have much to say about it. It’s just nice-looking.
Of course, we have the backgrounds and environments. They look fine as well. Nothing really looked too grand, but pretty good.
The music was generic but fine. None of it stood out, though.
The humor was kind of hit and miss, honestly. None of them really made me laugh, and some of them were even just gross-out or weirdly sexual. So I wouldn’t recommend it for the jokes.
Segway-ing into something else here… Yeah, the inappropriate subjects in this movie. It’s weirdly sexual at times. Trump gets bitten in the nuts (yeah, he’s in this for whatever reason), Mitzi keeps assaulting Rex and Charlie. Just… yikes. Someone needed to look at what their target audience was. With the whole Mitzi-thing is just yikes in general. I know that Charlie is a horrible dog, but having him be forced to spend the rest of his life with her is just cruel. I wouldn’t wish that upon my worst enemy. They also simply could’ve punished him by sending him to the pound, but that’s never addressed. He gets to be married to Mitzi, who has no boundaries. Just makes me feel really uncomfortable. Leave the guys alone (yes, even Charlie). Yikes.
Just an average but nonetheless generally enjoyable film. It’s got some good visuals, a neat cast of characters, a good message but some hit and miss humor.
I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone per se, especially due to the unfortunate jokes and of course Mitzi’s actions. But if you can look past that and want to see an average but nonetheless fine movie, maybe check it out. That’s all for now! See ya.
(We’re not addressing the Trump-thing. We’re just not.)
The visuals are pretty good. I really expected this to be a cheap and uninteresting looking movie, but it’s actually not too bad.
First of all, the character designs are, for the most part, good. They look distinct yet still like what they’re supposed to represent. They’re usually pleasing to look at and have a nice style to them. My main problems with this here are two dogs, however: Mitzi and Tyson. Mitzi looks just really weird because she has those uncanny human-like lips (and a pink tail for… no reason?). Tyson himself hardly looks like an Amstaff, hardly like a dog even. Mitzi’s design is bad, but she at least looks somewhat like a corgi. I have no idea what they were going with for Tyson’s design other than “generic over-the-top villain”. The humans look fine, by the way. The textures are also night.
The animation is actually really good. I never spotted any mistakes or weird or rough-looking movements. It’s nothing spectacular, but much better than I expected. Don’t have much to say about it. It’s just nice-looking.
Of course, we have the backgrounds and environments. They look fine as well. Nothing really looked too grand, but pretty good.
The music was generic but fine. None of it stood out, though.
The humor was kind of hit and miss, honestly. None of them really made me laugh, and some of them were even just gross-out or weirdly sexual. So I wouldn’t recommend it for the jokes.
Segway-ing into something else here… Yeah, the inappropriate subjects in this movie. It’s weirdly sexual at times. Trump gets bitten in the nuts (yeah, he’s in this for whatever reason), Mitzi keeps assaulting Rex and Charlie. Just… yikes. Someone needed to look at what their target audience was. With the whole Mitzi-thing is just yikes in general. I know that Charlie is a horrible dog, but having him be forced to spend the rest of his life with her is just cruel. I wouldn’t wish that upon my worst enemy. They also simply could’ve punished him by sending him to the pound, but that’s never addressed. He gets to be married to Mitzi, who has no boundaries. Just makes me feel really uncomfortable. Leave the guys alone (yes, even Charlie). Yikes.
Just an average but nonetheless generally enjoyable film. It’s got some good visuals, a neat cast of characters, a good message but some hit and miss humor.
I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone per se, especially due to the unfortunate jokes and of course Mitzi’s actions. But if you can look past that and want to see an average but nonetheless fine movie, maybe check it out. That’s all for now! See ya.
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