What were the people thinking who made this film?! I understand that they wanted to do something positive, but the end result is pretty lame and seems rather irresponsible to me--plus the film is like propaganda--and poor propaganda at that.
Now the idea of telling dog owners to be sure that the free pet they give away goes to a good home is a valid point--I wish the film had focused more on this. Someone taking a free dog under false pretenses in order to exploit the dog might be a serious issue--though I would love to see data showing this is, indeed, occurs with any regularity. When I was a kid, lots of stories about Asian families taking in free pets and eating them were common--though later it turned out that these were mostly urban legends. So I wonder just how possible and "based on actual events" this film really is. I'll give you my summary and if you can clue me in that this is a serious and widespread problem, I'll retract my review--though this film sure looks and sounds like an urban legend and it's not especially well made.
The film begins with a lady calling about an ad for a free dog and then arranges to go visit the family. To clue you in that she "ain't right", they show the same lady then talking to a stuffed toy bunny about how great it will be to get a new friend. In the next scene, you see someone leaving the home of the pet to be given away--and it seems that the couple giving away the animal didn't feel the person had an adequate home for the dog--so they were apparently trying to do the right thing. The lady who phoned enters and everything seems to be going fine. In fact, the lady who wants to adopt the dog then brings in her dog and they seem to get along great. Once the lady who just adopted the dog goes home, and completely out of the blue, one of the dogs is playing with the bunny and the lady responds by bashing the two dogs to death and throwing them in the dumpster!!! Talk about subtle! What follows are some messages across the screen about the dangers of giving away dogs and how they will be eaten or abused or what have you.
While this information at the end of story might be true, what in the heck did this have to do with a crazy woman bashing dogs to death with a frying pan?! Is there some frying pan-killing disorder that is responsible for thousands of dog deaths?! I was left confused and a bit angry--like the film was propaganda and meant to scare the crap out of people. Were the couple giving away the dog expected to have a psychological evaluation done of anyone wishing to adopt their dog?
As I said above, if there is a widespread problem of people taking free pets and then beating them to death with frying pans or what have you, then show me the facts. If this is indeed a problem (and not either an urban legend or an isolated incident of a nut or two), then I will remove my review. However, if there are puppy mills, medical labs and other unscrupulous folks taking free pets and abusing them, then why not make a film about that and not a nut with a frying pan?! It's just creepy and rather sick.
If you haven't guessed, I hated this film. It is not entertaining and I am not sure if it's even educational.
Now the idea of telling dog owners to be sure that the free pet they give away goes to a good home is a valid point--I wish the film had focused more on this. Someone taking a free dog under false pretenses in order to exploit the dog might be a serious issue--though I would love to see data showing this is, indeed, occurs with any regularity. When I was a kid, lots of stories about Asian families taking in free pets and eating them were common--though later it turned out that these were mostly urban legends. So I wonder just how possible and "based on actual events" this film really is. I'll give you my summary and if you can clue me in that this is a serious and widespread problem, I'll retract my review--though this film sure looks and sounds like an urban legend and it's not especially well made.
The film begins with a lady calling about an ad for a free dog and then arranges to go visit the family. To clue you in that she "ain't right", they show the same lady then talking to a stuffed toy bunny about how great it will be to get a new friend. In the next scene, you see someone leaving the home of the pet to be given away--and it seems that the couple giving away the animal didn't feel the person had an adequate home for the dog--so they were apparently trying to do the right thing. The lady who phoned enters and everything seems to be going fine. In fact, the lady who wants to adopt the dog then brings in her dog and they seem to get along great. Once the lady who just adopted the dog goes home, and completely out of the blue, one of the dogs is playing with the bunny and the lady responds by bashing the two dogs to death and throwing them in the dumpster!!! Talk about subtle! What follows are some messages across the screen about the dangers of giving away dogs and how they will be eaten or abused or what have you.
While this information at the end of story might be true, what in the heck did this have to do with a crazy woman bashing dogs to death with a frying pan?! Is there some frying pan-killing disorder that is responsible for thousands of dog deaths?! I was left confused and a bit angry--like the film was propaganda and meant to scare the crap out of people. Were the couple giving away the dog expected to have a psychological evaluation done of anyone wishing to adopt their dog?
As I said above, if there is a widespread problem of people taking free pets and then beating them to death with frying pans or what have you, then show me the facts. If this is indeed a problem (and not either an urban legend or an isolated incident of a nut or two), then I will remove my review. However, if there are puppy mills, medical labs and other unscrupulous folks taking free pets and abusing them, then why not make a film about that and not a nut with a frying pan?! It's just creepy and rather sick.
If you haven't guessed, I hated this film. It is not entertaining and I am not sure if it's even educational.