Although it is full of clichés, "Strays" still brings a lot of laugh-out-loud viewing experience. This feeling is like even if you are familiar with the behavior patterns of cats and dogs, it does not prevent them from making you happy from the bottom of your heart. Animal movies have such magic.
Taming animals and making them speak has always been a great desire in the history of human evolution, and it is deeply ingrained in our genes. This desire gives animal movies an innate advantage.
"League of Revenge Dogs" stills
Animals are the protagonists. In terms of character setting, there are several formulas to choose from: human-like animals, animal-like people, or both animal and human nature.
The dogs in "The League of Vengeful Dogs" are animal-like people. You can tell the skin color, race and social class of each dog from their accent. They are mixed in society and have mature heads. Small dogs know how to bluff, big dogs suffer from anxiety. Dogs have their own understanding of people picking up their poop all the time. "It must be made into chocolate."
"League of Revenge Dogs" stills
This is the first layer of the character setup transparency. The second level is their child attributes. No matter how mature and worldly the dog is, part of it is a child, in need of food and protection from a strong person. Dogs are no longer afraid of fire after being with humans for a long time, but they will still be scared to death by fireworks. Abandoned by his owner, Fluffy finds himself unloved, lonely and hurt, just like the children in the orphanage in "Zucchini's Life". Fortunately among misfortunes, children have the ability to love. They love and support each other, just like this pack of dogs.
The third layer is of course the inherent attributes of the dog. Dogs cannot recognize themselves in the mirror. Dogs are very good at observing words and weighing pros and cons. Dogs love humans, except for couriers, postmen, and salesmen who infringe on their territory. Those are the targets of harsh words and curses.
The dogs here, no matter how resembling they are to humans, can still be very doggy at times. The polite urban civilized dogs often reveal their true nature without hesitation - urinating like crazy, rubbing against each other, biting rabbits, and howling at the moon. There were four dogs in a pack, and although the hierarchy in the pack was eliminated, as they ran by with the wind under their paws, there was the smell of wolves in the air.
"League of Revenge Dogs" stills
Humans love dogs not only because they love humans. Dogs are wild, innocent and less restrained people.
If you can't get food, you can steal it. Pure love is wonderful, and nothing better than a generous mating at the dog park, attracting the friendly eyes of all humans and the envious eyes of dogs.
When a dog says he wants revenge, he takes action. Although it is inevitable to catch people's bad habits and need to make a speech before taking action, in the end they took action happily.
"Revenge of the Dogs" is an R-rated comedy that combines real people and CGI. The sadness of abandonment is sugar-coated. There’s no sugarcoating what a dog’s fangs can do.
Dogs are not bound by human laws and morals. In the film, they fought together twice, tearing apart rabbits and chickens with their sharp teeth, accomplishing what we as humans cannot do. Because they are dogs, these are all natural and not abnormal, and there is no need to be troubled by annoying human psychological problems such as guilt and PTSD afterwards.
"League of Revenge Dogs" stills
At the moment of revenge, we have already projected ourselves onto these dogs. There was a time when I was worried that they would be soft-hearted and fall in love with the latter between bloodiness and domestication. Fortunately, they don’t. Dogs satisfy the vengeful animal in us.
This Revenge is a dog's road movie. Revenge is just the exclamation point at the end. Four dogs make their way through a playground and a forest, nearly being snatched away by an eagle in the wilderness. When hungry, they wolf down pink mushrooms and hallucinate.
In the fantasy world of lasers, dogs become wild and bite countless "toy rabbits". The next day after the poison passed, he realized that he had made a big mistake and tortured and killed the rabbit family, resulting in the "Rabbit Gate Massacre"...
"League of Revenge Dogs" stills
The advantage of animal movies is that they allow us to see that there may be rich inner dramas taking place under the rigid and single appearance. For example, when your pet dog rips toys apart like crazy, he may have transformed into an ancestor and indulged himself in an imaginary hunt. When the Boston terrier with a black accent appears on the stage, cut off the dubbing and just watch the action. It's just a puppy running wild and going crazy. The usually scoffing scene is paired with crazy lines. It turns out that the puppy knows that he is physically invincible, so he has to use his pretended madness to try to scare off the big dog.
In the world of dogs, scenes like this happen every day on every street. In most cases, after assessing the situation, the older dog will let the frantic puppy go. Like the two big street-fighting dogs in the movie, they frowned and turned away.
When you become accustomed to your own existence, you will make new discoveries when you look at animals. Comparing humans and animals is like looking into a funny mirror. The funny deformations will reveal another side of you.
Four dogs embark on a journey to seek justice for one of the dogs who was abused and abandoned by his owner. Get rid of toxic relationships, love yourself, respect friendships, enjoy the joy of life, don't be ashamed of your instincts, have the courage to embark on unknown new roads at any time, and take revenge without feeling guilty. "Revenge Dog" taught us so much in one breath .
"Vengeance Dog League" poster
Finally, it also gives a happy ending. The four-dog alliance returned victorious. From then on, they had a home and freedom. Long live friendship and love.
But we know it's not that simple. Dogs that escape from shelters rarely end up well. The life of a stray dog is miserable most of the time. It's obviously a light-hearted movie, but watching the dogs walking through human territory still gave me an ominous feeling. They can be caught at any time and their freedom and life destroyed without mercy.
At this time, it is best to be in the mood of reading fairy tales, admire the wonder of animals talking, laugh at every joke from a dog's perspective, and keep in mind what dogs teach us: every day is awesome.