The Adventures of Milo & Otis

Rating:
Summary: Horrific Animal Abuse In This Movie
Review: When I began watching this movie, I was truly charmed by it and believed I was in for entertainment on the level of "The Bear." A few scenes into the movie I started to feel something was not quite right, though I thought surely experienced animal trainers were working behind the scenes. Surely these animals were not being hurt. Then the filmmakers sent a petrified kitten, obviously in great emotional distress and grave physical peril, down a river in a small wooden box. I wanted to jump through the screen and rescue this kitten, who was meowing for help as it rushed down river rapids. Every time I thought the torture was over, the filmmakers thought of even another imaginative mental or physical torture to subject this kitten or little pug dog to. A succession of abuses masqueraded as Milo and Otis's "adventures." There is no doubt in my mind that kittens and dogs were physically hurt or killed during filming (particularly when the kitten is thrown off a cliff into rough ocean surf). Right there on screne, we witness real physical battery and extreme mental torture. Think of what this movie teaches children. How many kids mimicked the film and put a kitten in a box and threw it in a river? How many tied something to a cat's tail only to watch it freak out while trying to get it off? How these filmmakers escaped legal prosecution or public outrage is beyond me. Instead the movie is highly praise by critics and audiences alike. Of course children likely cannot understand what's going on; and they likely love seeing all the little animals. It is up to parents, however, to teach them right from wrong and to protect them from things like this. It is up to all of us, Americans and Japanese (the ethnicity of the filmmakers), to protect animals, particularly the ones whom we have bred to trust us like cats and dogs, from abuse.

Rating:
Summary: Hit's Home!
Review: It's almost as if my Frankie (a pug) and my Raymond (a grey tabby) had a movie made about them! Frankie loves to swim and Raymond doesn't mind the pool so long as he's not getting wet. The two of them are inseperable and nothing but trouble. They also love TV and "Milo & Otis" is one of thier favorite movies.

A great flick for any age or species!

Rating:
Summary: Milo and Otis is a talented movie
Review: well, I've learned these songs to milo and otis.
10 yrs old I used to sing it and grew up with the song.
I been saying the movie was brillint..

Rating:
Summary: One or more cats probably died to make this movie
Review: This would be a great movie for kids if it weren't for the fact that one or more cats were abused and almost certainly killed in the making of it. If you must watch it, check out the scene where they really throw an actual cat off of an actual cliff. It's pretty horrifying, and it's edited so that you have no idea if the cat really survived, or if they just grabbed a new one and kept filming. Also, check out the disclaimer in the end credits. It says "animals were under close supervision with utmost concern for their safety". Notice it takes great pains not to say "no animals were harmed", which has been boilerplate language for movie animal disclaimers for decades. What does this tell you? Wouldn't they say "no animals were harmed" if none were? Even if that cat survived, throwing it off a cliff into water, into what looks like breaking ocean surf if memory serves me, is unspeakably cruel. I'm sorry to all the fans of this movie who don't want to believe this. I wish I could see it another way, too. I agree with you that it's very well made and enjoyable in so many ways. But the moviemakers' disregard for their animals' well-being ruined this for me. Please don't support this sort of thing with your money.

P.S. I am not a PETA member nor am I a vegetarian (not that there's anything wrong with either of those). I believe that using animals for human benefit is good and necessary as long as it is not done cruelly. And that said, I don't really have any problems with this movie apart from the fact that they threw a cat off a cliff into the ocean, and probably killed it. How anyone can endorse this film for children after seeing that is beyond me.

P.P.S. To Douglas Custer.
In your review you write: 'animals are much, much more akin to being in "adventurous" situations such as going down raging rapids and leaping off cliffs than we humans imagine'.

I agree with you here. But there's a difference between a cat climbing a tree on its own and falling out (as you mention your cat does), and a cat being thrown off a cliff into the ocean, as they did for the enjoyment of moviegoers and the profit of the producers of this film.

You also wrote: 'No, mental torture is not possible on the animals performing in this great kids film.'

I can't see any way to agree with you here. Anyone who's ever been around abused animals can see the effect it has on them, and not all abuse is physical.

Rating:
Summary: HEY! Persong below my review! Stop lying!
Review: All you need to know is that they really throw a cat off a 50 foot cliff into the ocean. If you enjoy watching stuff like that then you might like this movie.