Every week at SiftPop.com, we challenge our writers to come up with their favorite answer to a movie-related prompt tied to a recent release. This week, with the release of Arthur the King, we’re discussing some of our favorite human/pet movie duos! Let us know your favorites @SiftPop!
There’s a lot in Alien that’s about the gross aspects of sexuality parenthood, both implicitly and explicitly. The facehugger and chestburster sequences are obvious metaphors for rape, impregnation, and gestation, for instance, all disgustingly brought to life by H. R. Giger and the rest of the design team. But in that final sequence, when Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley is on her way to the escape pod to leave the doomed Nostromo behind, she stops goes back for the crew’s cat, Jones. It’s a wonderful juxtaposition that the creature on board the ship is a superior being to the human crew, and is only intent on their destruction, where the last surviving human is concerned enough for the life of the crew’s pet to want to protect it. Of course, Jones himself isn’t the most involved in the proceedings aboard the Nostromo, but he serves as a perfect way to show Ripley’s humanity and maternity in the face of a creature that has no humanity and simply seeks its next victim, and the fact she goes back for him is what ultimately sets humanity apart from mere beasts like the xenomorph. (Chris Bakker)
There are few bonds in life greater than that between a young boy and his dog. This bond is further strengthened when the young boy in question is blind and his pet is a seeing-eye dog, as is the case in Anatomy of a Fall with Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner) and Snoop (Messi). Throughout the film, Snoop is not only Daniel’s companion, but his literal and metaphorical guide through the world, playing a crucial role in helping Daniel understand the trauma happening around him. Working in the veterinary field, I have had the opportunity to work with many different guide dogs, their handlers, and their owners, and I can say without a doubt that they are better trained and more connected with their owners than any other dog I’ve met. Most dogs improve their owner’s quality of life, but the role that Snoop plays in Daniel’s life is meaningful and important in ways that most people will never experience. On the flip side, Daniel also seems to care deeply about Snoop and his wellbeing, albeit through the lens of a child who may not fully comprehend what wellbeing entails. In no small part due to the service he provides and bond he has with Daniel, Snoop is one of the goodest boys around, and deserves all of the love, treats, and pets that may come his way. (Jake Hjort)
Einstein the dog was the world’s first time traveller, and the subject of a scary moment for test audiences before the movie came out, as when the DeLorean disappeared with him on board, they thought he had died. I remember the first time I saw Back to the Future, thinking Marty (Michael J. Fox) was Einstein’s dog sitter, and for a time, I wasn’t sure why he was in the story. But you see in the scene in the parking lot that Doc is just a regular guy with a bit of a mad idea, and his dog helps humanize him a little more. Oddly, he’s named after a scientist who theorized time travel into the future was possible, but most of the time travel in the movies is into the past; I guess Doc just named him that because he idolized the scientist. The dog Einstein plays a slightly more significant role in Back to the Future Part II, as he goes with them to 2015. He’s also mentioned in Doc’s letter to Marty from 1885 in Part III, which confuses his 1955 counterpart for a moment, as it’s implied he thought his future self might have kidnapped the real Einstein. Sadly, the dog was written out of the musical, as live animals on stage are always a recipe for disaster. (John Tillyard)
When the Krippin Virus broke out in I Am Legend, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville (Will Smith) was reluctantly charged with the care of his daughter’s puppy, Sam. Smash cut to a decimated New York City where Robert lives in isolation with Sam as his only companion in a seemingly deserted world. As captivating of an actor as Smith is, I don’t believe for a second this movie would have worked as well as it does were it not for the relationship between him and man’s best friend. Over the course of the film, the duo hunts for food together, shares meals, and even adorably train together, with Sam running side-by-side on matching treadmills with her person. It’s eventually revealed that Sam is short for Samantha, and she is the goodest of good girls, an intelligent German Shepherd, whose love and loyalty for Robert knows no bounds. In what must be one of the most heartbreaking deaths in cinema history, animal or otherwise, in her final heroic act of selflessness, Samantha protects her owner from other dogs infected by the virus, but is devastatingly bitten, and ultimately succumbs to infection herself. In a final somber act of loyalty, Robert holds his best friend as she slips into viral induced madness, and he is tragically forced to strangle her, lest she maul him to death. With her sacrifice to save Robert, Samantha earns the distinction of Legend in her own right. (Jonathan Fedee)
All of the duos in this week’s BEC have one thing in common: They’re alive. The best person/animal team, in my opinion, have shuffled loose this mortal coil and reside in the wondrous land of Halloweentown. The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Jack Skellington and his faithful companion, Zero, have always held a place in my heart for being two of a kind. Zero is the best of boys always willing to lend a helping paw… er… bed sheet? Nose! Lend a helping nose to light Jack’s way, both literally and metaphorically. Jack has some delusions of grandeur throughout the story, but no matter how big he dreamed, Zero is by his side through thick and thin. Whether Jack’s lamenting in a cemetery and wandering off into the woods or lamenting in a cemetery and coming to a realization that being who he is better than pretending to be something he’s not, these two are together. Jack and Zero also make for some excellent merchandising. Every Halloween my house is adorned with amazing Nightmare Before Christmas decorations, and where there is Jack, there is usually Zero — they make the whole house festive. Any movie can have living characters, and some dogs in other movies try to copy Zero, but I promise you’ll never have to check www.doesthedogdie.com to find out the answer for this movie. (Nick Ferro)
Perhaps there is no more famous example of a boy and his dog in pop culture than Charlie Brown and Snoopy. By the time The Peanuts Movie took them to the big screen, they’d had decades to worm their way into our collective cultural hearts through their appearances in newspaper comic strips and their numerous holiday TV specials. Thankfully, the relationship between Charlie Brown and his beagle works just as well in 2015 as it did in 1950 when the strip made its debut. The basic story follows Charlie Brown as he tries to impress the new girl in class, The Little Red-Haired Girl. When so many modern remakes miss the boat, this one gets basically everything right. For fans of classic Peanuts fare, there’s a sprinkling of callbacks with lines and Snoopy’s most famous storyline — his rivalry with the Red Baron. While they are apart on separate adventures for a lot of it, the film still has some great interactions between the two. It’s somehow an underseen gem of a movie that’s sure to put a smile on your face, and shows why Charlie and Snoopy have endured throughout the years. (Jake Bourgeois)
Let’s head to the Wasteland to find a former and disenchanted highway patrolman and his tough-as-nails Australian Cattle Dog. Max and Dog are a pair of wanderers who you just don’t want to mess around with. The cattle dog is the perfect scrappy breed to survive the fall of humanity, but when you can train it to use a sawed-off shotgun… that is terrifying. Dog is the perfect companion for our titular stoic hero of The Road Warrior,and they are a pair of tough guys (or dogs), who you would not want to see pull up next to you on the highway. They are the perfect mirror of each other, representing each of their species with resolve, sternness, and grit. You fall in love with Dog from the start and how his story goes will leave you pouring tears. You always want to find the perfect companion, especially once the apocalypse happens. (Shane Conto)
One of the most iconic human/animal duos of all time is Shaggy and Scooby-Doo. Every generation has its own version of these characters, and for millennials it’s Matthew Lillard’s Shaggy in the 2002 Scooby-Doo movie. Shaggy and Scooby are the best of friends who enjoy eating, and running away from the monsters that the gang try to unmask. What makes them so iconic is their love for each other and for all things edible. Shaggy and Scooby may not be the smartest in the gang, but they are the glue that keeps them together. They may run away from evil, but with a Scooby snack they will face the monsters head-on. These two are the most memorable duo in media, and continue to bring laughter and joy to all who love them. (Austen Terry)
When the buddy cop movie exploded in the 1980s, there was a very small subset that tried to replicate the genre with an animal. Among the best of the bunch was Turner & Hooch. It’s not like detective Scott Turner (Tom Hanks) wanted to have a partner. He needed Hooch to help him find a killer. Like so many buddy cop movies of the time, the reluctant partnership yields the best results, and the audience gets to see them flourish together. Hanks is at his peak comedic form, and his chemistry with Hooch is off the charts. Hooch is endearing as the film provides so many funny and heartfelt moments that only a dog can deliver on. In an overloaded genre, Turner & Hooch is an adorable take on buddy cops. (Mike Hilty)
Wendy and Lucy is, fittingly, about a woman, Wendy (Michelle Williams), and her dog, Lucy. Wendy is close to being out of money and just wants to make it the rest of the way to Alaska, but when her car breaks down in the Pacific Northwest, she has to find a way to scrounge up enough money to keep going, and to, you know, survive. In typical fashion, Kelly Reichardt puts her characters in challenging situations, both mentally and physically. The most challenging of all is when Lucy is no longer tied up in the parking lot after a frustrating series of events leads to Wendy being arrested. The rest of the short 81-minute movie encapsulates the feeling of panic that overcomes Wendy as her dog’s safety becomes a larger concern than her own. And because you fall in love with Lucy, that same panic overcomes you. Wendy and Lucy is about a lot of things — like the way modern life suppresses simplicity, the basic human decency we all have access to, and gender dynamics in an increasingly complicated world — but at its core, it’s about that base, uncompromising connection we form with our pets. (Robert Bouffard)