Hello and welcome to another installment of my “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” series for Influx. After years of searching for the weirdest films I could find, I have yet another mondo-bizarro film to talk about–as well as heartily recommend!
By Martin Hafer
Despite the obviously off-putting title, this is an amazingly wonderful animated film!
Years ago, I was dragged to an anime convention by my oldest daughter who was gaga about Japanese cartoons and manga. There I saw a lot of interesting things but the one that piqued my interest the most turned out to be Korean, not Japanese. Seeing Korean animated films at an anime convention here in the States is not that unusual. What caught my attention was the title…Doggy Poo!!! I was intrigued to say the least. However, I assumed that the movie was not really about dog droppings and eagerly grabbed the DVD case to read about what it really was about…and it turned out that it was, indeed, a film for kids all about a piece of excrement. Wow…it seems that the filmmakers really chose a topic here!! Imagine…trying to make a film all about…well…poo?!?!
When I arrived home, one of the first things I did was shove the DVD into my machine to see if the movie was any good. My daughter assumed it was not and refused to even watch it with me. However, after seeing this cute film, I convinced her and a few of her friends to watch it with me…and they, too, were soon hooked! The story, believe it or not, is very inspirational and by the end of the film, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room! The filmmakers managed to take such a disgusting and awful story idea and make it charming! Seriously. And, not only was it a lovely children’s film, it was one that actually appealed to all ages–provided, of course, that they were actually willing to watch it in the first place!!! The film has it all–not just a great story but wonderful voice acting, amazing stop-motion animation as well as some delightful music.
Now it IS possible that I am insane and so are my daughter and her friends…that’s a reasonable assumption based on the film’s subject matter! However, at the time I was a teacher at an art school and decided to show it to some of the students–and they, too, adored the film. In fact, when I showed it to a large group of the kids, all of them seemed to love it and asked for me to play it again!!
Has any of this piqued your interest?! Well, if you do see this film I do have a couple recommendations. First, although you have a choice of watching it in Korean or dubbed into English, try the Korean version. While I loved the voices in the English language version, the wonderful closing song is absent–and you really have to hear that song. My advice is see it in both versions. Second, after you see the film, watch the special features, as they show you how the film was made. It’s fascinating and you won’t regret seeing these behind the scenes clips and see the huge set constructed for the film.
If you don’t believe me, try watching the film yourself. Then, if you think I am right (and I am right!), you then might find yourself showing it to your kids or grandkids or even renting some kids in order to show it to them! It’s that good.
Doggy Poo….who would have figured?!
Martin’s Grade: A+
