Animal Behaviour (2018) User Reviews

A Pig, A Dog and A Bird Walk Into a Psychiatrist's Office

[boblipton · 7/10 · 10 February 2019]

The National Film Board of Canada hasn't shown up much in the last couple of years of Oscar noteworthies, and so it's good to see them back again with this traditional "funny animal" cartoon. A bulldog is a therapist leading a group session that includes a preying mantis, a leech. a pig, a bird and a cat. A new group member appears, an ape with anger issues who's in denial. they all have their obsessive behavior, actions that are typical of their species, but expressed in popular psychobabble.

It has some serious points to make about anthropomorphism and self-obsession, but mostly it's very funny. That's the thing about the NFB, they're interested in making good short subjects.... that appeal to people. Assuming that you consider me a person, and aren't more worried about pigs, leeches, and so forth.

Amusing but not notable

[jamesrupert2014 · 7/10 · 26 February 2019]

I was surprised that this short was up for an Oscar in the best short-animated category. The film, which is about a diverse group of anthropomorphic animals in therapy (led by a reformed pit-bull) is moderately funny but not particularly clever, innovative, nor memorable.

Comedic shrink session with animals

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 17 February 2019]

"Animal Behaviour" is a Canadian 15-minute animated short film from 2018 written and directed by Alison Snowden and David Fine. And even if these two have enjoyed a really long career in the industry, it is already almost 25 years since they won the Oscar. The National Film Board of Canada has been an even stronger force when it comes to Oscar wins and nominations in the Animated Short category, even if their recent record was not that greatg to be honest with many European animated shorts taking away intention from them. But with this one here Snowden, Fine and the NFB show everybody they still got it. This is a little movie that takes place at the psychiatrist's office with the maningful difference that the therapist is a dog and all the patients are other animals like a locust, a bird, a cat... And we get to see what happens when a new patient enters the group, namely a big ape with aggression problems. Well, what can I say about this one. I must say it took a little while for me to get interesting and that I would somewhat care for the characters and what they are telling. It is really all about the comedy. Don't look for great progressive ground-breaking animation or real depth in terms of anything. The film relies mostly onm individual jokes related to the animals like the locust talking about her millions of children in a comedic fashion (babysitter's there tonight) or the dog forgets for a moment that he is a shrink and jumps out of and in a window to get back the stick to the ape. The latter is almost the only one whose animal traits don't play a big role. Well unless you count that he eventually turns into the elephant in the room and breaks everything down. Somehow I felt that for a really good short, something was missing. To me, this felt more like a good pilot episode for a potentially recurring series involving these or other animal characters. But it wasn't a bad watch or anything. Still better than Bao I guess, but I won't be cheering for it at the Oscars. Not that it has any chance to win anyway I assume. Overall, a cautious thumbs-down, also a solid watch for the younger ones.

A Look at Overcoming Psychological Cliches

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 23 February 2019]

This animated short is quite wonderful. They use animals as patients in a psychologist's group session The pig has an eating problem, the praying mantis, dating issues, and so on. The pacing is fine and dull until a gorilla with anger issues shows up and throws the place into chaos. It is skillfully crafted and reaches a point where the usual is cast aside to move one to reality. However, our dog psychiatrist never really gets the message.

Stale humor, uninspired animation

[nehpetstephen · 2/10 · 10 June 2019]

I've watched quite a few Oscar-nominated animated shorts recently, and I've come to the conclusion that of the matrix of characteristics and circumstances that contribute to the nominating process, quality apparently does not play a very large role.

The animation in this film is unremarkable, the voice acting unexceptional, and the screenplay quite lame. The writers have taken the most tired stereotypes about animals (eg., cats are so fastidious about cleaning themselves! dogs are so eager to please!) and turned them into the most predictable jokes possible about neurosis (what if that cat had OCD! it's almost like the cat can't stop washing her hands! hahaha!). There are no surprises here, no marvels, and unfortunately no laughs.

Couple of funny lines but that was it.

[james-patrick-732-463468 · 5/10 · 24 February 2019]

I wish there was more to it. Started off like a good idea but just kinda fizzled.