Director Bryce Dallas Howard wanted her charming documentary to be a “dopamine hit.”
She succeeded. And then some.
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| Sergi has spent years traveling along Spain's Catalan coast in a kayak. He alleviated the loneliness by adopting a dog, Nirvana, whom he taught to become comfortable aboard the tiny craft (after overcoming an initial bout of doggie seasickness). They became inseparable.d |
You’ll laugh, cry, giggle, swoon and everything in between. Constantly. Helplessly.
Although enjoyable by viewers of all ages, Howard’s film will be particularly adored by children, who will see versions of themselves during the many brief “talking heads” sequences that feature youngsters.
The film focuses upon half a dozen adult individuals and couples, all of whom have made animals their life’s work, also because they enjoy being around them so much.
Each of those segments is bracketed by several of the couple dozen children, ranging from young adolescents to teenagers, who candidly and enthusiastically discuss their pets, or answer off-camera questions. The responses range from silly and amusing, to unexpectedly profound, all demonstrating anew what Art Linkletter proved back in the day: Kids say the darndest things.
These off-the-cuff remarks are in turn interspersed with fleeting “silly animal” film clips, revealing how adorable, unpredictable, delightful and — most of all — loving pets can be.
I’ve no idea how casting producers Juliet Axon, Nefertiti Jones and Ellen Martinez found all these folks — and particularly the children — but they’re all marvelous.
Howard and editors Edward A. Bishop and Andrew Morreale open with a rat-a-tat montage of heart-melting moments. A little girl bursts into tears when she realizes that her parents have gifted her with a black kitten. Another child observes that “Your house feels more fun when you have animals along with you,” while a third suggests that God made pets “...like mimes and magicians in an animal.”
Then we’re off to Ridgefield, Connecticut, where Travis and Adam — both longstanding “cat guys” — nervously sit in an airport waiting room, anticipating the arrival of their first dog via a courier from The Sato Project, which is dedicated to rescuing the abused and abandoned dogs of Puerto Rico. No surprise: It’s love at first sight.
In Asheville, North Carolina, Sterling Davis rescues stray cats for a living. He and his workers humanely trap them, have them spayed, inoculated and tested for disease, and then try to find “fur-ever” homes for them. His conversations — with everybody — include so many detailed references to his first cat, Rick, that some folks initially assume he’s talking about a person.
Stung by the fact that women using dating apps generally dismiss guys pictured with cats — instead of dogs — Davis created the “Tabby Dates” app to compensate for that ridiculous bias.
And here’s a heart-tugger: Landon, born with a cleft lip and palette, explains how — when he was younger — his parents presented him with Bilbo, a dog that also possessed both birth defects. Boy and dog bonded during numerous surgical procedures for both.
Shifting to Providence, North Carolina, Kristin and Jay — already living with countless cats and dogs — succumbed to the fleeting pot-bellied pig fad, and adopted Ziggy. Kristin felt she’d found the perfect pet: one that would top out at 20-25 pounds, with the intelligence of a 4-year-old child.
Well.
As countless similar adopters subsequently learned, pot-bellied pigs don’t stay small. As a full adult, Ziggy hit 299 pounds, and his antics made him a social media darling with more than 50,000 followers. He subsequently lent his name to a sanctuary that specializes in injured or disabled animals.
In Nagoya, Japan, Shinobu runs “Dog Duca” — named after his beloved canine companion — which rescues and re-homes “problem” dogs. He also addresses an additional need: In Japan, shelters aren’t allowed to let dogs be adopted by people 65 and older. (Is that ludicrous, or what?)
Shinobu’s Doc Duca defies that cruel bias. We meet Shizue, an elderly woman whose life blossoms anew after adopting dogs Dai and Momo.
“When we lose our way,” she notes, “dogs remind us how to be our best selves.”
In Virginia’s Charlotte Court House, former drug dealer Rodney turned himself around after joining the Earth Conservation Corps, which transforms young people’s lives and communities through hands-on conservation, career development and civic engagement. He now rescues injured dogs and birds, particularly raptors, and gives presentations to school children alongside his pet owl, Hoost, which is unable to hunt due to a broken wing.
(His memoir, Bird Brother: A Falconer’s Journey and the Healing Power of Wildlife, is worth a read.)
Rodney has built a sanctuary — Dippy’s Dream, named after his mother — where visitors can camp and spend time with dogs, cats, horses, goats and birds. He also conducts an increasingly popular service wherein he briefly traps birds, in order to release them again bearing prayers for the loved ones of the many people who contact him.
“What can get closer to God,” he asks, “than the bird?”
Inevitably, a final segment focuses on the cruel fact that a pet’s lifespan is so much shorter than that of its human companions. Many of the children talk about this inevitability: some obviously upset, some bravely pragmatic or matter-of-fact.
But the final word goes to Shizue, who observes — with the wisdom of her own advanced age — that “It’s our responsibility as guardians, to see them off.”
(And, oh boy — having embraced that responsibility many times — I lost it right there.)
Howard doesn’t overstay her welcome; Pets is a just-right 79 minutes long ... and I’ve no doubt many will watch it multiple times. Nor does she send us out on the preceding downer; the initial end credits are laden with some hilarious outtakes from many of the kids.
You’ll simply never find a better tribute to the bond between pets and their two-legged companions.
This film’s a treasure.
1 comment:
Okay, I was ready to skip this one, but your wonderful review convinced me to check it out this weekend. Again, thank you. I never miss a single review you post! (I even have a running list of all the films you rated 4.5 stars or higher since you started the blog!)
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