Doggy Poo
KichigaiSaru
Doggy Poo takes place in a small farm town on the side of a well-trod cart path. The story begins in early fall, when the colors of nature are at their most vivid. On this most serene path, between stone-fenced houses in this rural town, a little doggy comes into view, from which springs our main character, Doggy Poo.
Doggy Poo is a touching tale of a little poo’s existential crisis. After it “wakes up,” it is immediately filled with awe at the vast beauty of the world around it. It is immediately confronted with trouble, as a bird flies up to peck at it, only to realize that it’s ‘just a doggy poo.’ This creates a void in the poor little poo’s heart. It knows what it is now, but why, exactly, is it? So his journey begins, full of tears and new friends, a path to enlightenment. In the end the poor little poo finds his purpose and meaning. In finally giving itself completely to something else, it is able to add to the beauty of nature that had so inspired it in the first moments of it’s consciousness.
Do not let the title, or the subject, of this movie dissuade you from watching. As the old saying goes, “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.” This gem of a movie has been sitting on the stack being skipped over by everyone, time and again, as they reach for something prettier, something shinier. This is a beautiful living example of just what this movie is all about. Something that was “just a doggy poo,” not fit for food, nor play, nor anything else, was able to find a purpose. Something that was ignored or scoffed at over and over again, turns out to hold something beautiful.
The author obviously holds deep respect for nature, in all its forms, extending this love even to the farmers who till the land. He brings the very soil to life, dug from the ground by the diligent farmer, and dropped by mistake on the side of the road. The author does an incredible job at giving a voice to the sorts of things that just don’t have voices.
The animation was also very well done, from the sculpting of the character models, to the absolutely astounding scenery. The only complaint I have regarding the animation was that you could see fingerprints on some of the characters from time to time. Although this wasn’t a serious problem, it was noticeable, and worthy of mention. I’m sure it’s hard to avoid this issue with clay based animation, but having not had much experience with it in the past, it did stick out at me. This trivial little problem though was far overshadowed by the rest of the work. I absolutely can not stress the beauty of the scenery enough. It really does a wonderful job in taking you away to the rural farmlands, with uncluttered land, and beautiful rolling clouds.
This is a children’s story, just as a disclaimer, so it should be approached as such. Secondly, this is stop action rather than typical drawn animation. Finally, the pace of the story is a little slow. This can be attributed largely to the slow speech of the characters. This is the only thing that bothered me at all with the movie, although it worked well with the very meandering feel of the movie.
Technical/Extras: 9.5
I can’t say it’s perfect, but it’s so near it it’s incredible. The stop action animation was done very well. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, from beginning to end, transporting you to another land of calm serenity.
Entertainment: 9.0
This is admittedly the weakest part of the movie. There were morals taught, lessons learned, and nature’s relations explained. There were only a couple of scenes, though. While beautifully done, the variety was slightly lacking.
Overall: 9.5
Walden meets Siddhartha. A beautiful movie, made for kids, but sure to be loved by those of all ages.
