I found this rather dull.\r\nThough I dont have any expereince of the comics books I watched this not expecting much and I didnt get much.\r\n\r\nThe only bit I liked was the vernon the vermin song which I found funny.
The animation was fine if it was trying to match the comic book pictures i guess it got there.

Footrot Flats was the creation of New Zealand cartoonist Murray Ball. It was, in my slightly biased opinion, possibly the best syndicated comic strip on Earth, and at its peak, in the 80's, it was staggeringly huge in Australia and New Zealand. When I say it was huge, I mean it was bigger than 'Peanuts', 'Garfield', 'Dilbert' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' put together. There were more Footrot Flats books in Australia than there were houses. A survey found that the two most common names for dogs in the country were characters from the cartoon. There was a Footrot Flats THEME PARK in Auckland for Heaven's sake.

Murray Ball had been working on a screenplay for a Footrot Flats movie for some time, and the result was this film, which was released probably at the peak of Footrot Flats popularity, in 1987.

I don't know what it is - I've seen it since with things like 'The X-Files Movie', but if the comic's popularity crested at the time of the film, it began to wane afterwards. Did this have anything to do with the movie itself? It's impossible to say. Certainly a lot of people went into this film with a lot of expectations - number one of which was probably "What is The Dog going to sound like?" There were other expectations, too. Could NZ pull off its first feature length animated film? How do you make a feature length movie based on a four-panel cartoon strip anyway? And so on.

The film got a big kick-start. 'Slice of Heaven', a song from the movie, was released as a single. One of the most inventive and infectious pieces of pop that year, it shot to the top of the charts on both sides of the Tasman.

First impressions of the movie at the time was that this looked very unlike Disney. It was filled with the mucky, earthy colours of rural New Zealand. It was a long way from glamorous. This was probably to be expected. As the Encylopedia of Animation points out, the cartoon strip's frank depiction of farm-life (life/death/entrails/sex) meant that it was probably never going to be released in the USA*

The animation was... well, a bit ordinary, but not bad. Unfortunately Dog and Jess (his girlfriend) seemed off-model at times from the cartoon strip, though the human characters seemed fine.

If the animation wasn't the film's strongest point, the backgrounds probably were. Beautifully rendered ramshackle vistas of rural New Zealand and collapsing old farm buildings by Richard Zaloudek, they were worth the price of admission alone. The usually somewhat taciturn Murray Ball remarked that he'd been expecting artwork, but what he got was genius.

The voice cast works well for the most part. Australasia's most brilliant comic, John Clarke, was cast as Wal (using his natural voice as always), and was perfect. Most of the other characters were at least adequate, and Peter Hayden was inspired as Irish Murphy. Unfortunately the same can't be said for the most crucial role. Peter Rowley was just 'wrong' as Dog. This is the first thing I thought when he spoke, and what nearly everyone I knew came away from the film saying. Of course, none of them, including me, could tell you what The Dog _should_ have sounded like, and if you've never read the comic, and don't have a huge load of expectations, you might find that the voice is perfectly ok.

It was a hugely ambitious project, and in hindsight, has time been good to it?

Sort of. There are some problems which aren't really the film's fault. The soundtrack by Dave Dobbyn sounds very cheesy and 80's. The film itself is a tribute to a cultural icon which is slowly fading from memory, and doesn't have any context to support it these days, since the strip finished up in 1999.

Other problems definately were the film's fault. Though there was probably not time to shift it after it became a smash hit, 'Slice of Heaven' was wasted, not played during the movie at all until the closing credits, when there were scenes it would have been perfect in. Even if it hadn't been a hit, it was a great song, and not including it in the film proper seems incomprehensible. There was also a rather confused storytelling flow, with too many angles intersecting on the main plot, rather than a single clear narrative to hang the film on. This rather chaotic effect (dog rescuig Jess from the Croco-pigs, Cooch's stag being kidnapped, Wal trying to impress rugby selectors, etc) wasn't out of character with the strip, but it didn't translate brilliantly to the screen.

Still there is a lot to like about 'Dog's Tale', even if it is a sort of time capsule of Australia and New Zealand in the 80's. I pull it out and watch it every couple of years, and it's still a fun ride, though I always find myself wishing they'd done something differently. I still love the distinctive backgrounds and earthy, rural feel of it. There's nothing else quite like it.

As a postscript, I should add that 'Footrot Flats', the comic, seems to have an odd effect on Americans. At first it will seem alien and impenentrable, and then at some point addiction sets in and people become fanatics. I went on a long road trip through the US in 1997-98, taking a load of Footrot Flat books that I was going to sell at a convention. The friend I was travelling with started reading them, and told me he didn't get it, and that they weren't funny. By the end of the trip he insisted on buying them from me, and I had to mail him new books as they came out afterwards.

Well, I've rambled on somewhat. Perhaps your best bet is to grab some of the comic books off ebay, and see if you get into the Footrot universe, before picking up the film - but there's a time consideration, too. Traditionally the film has been available in NTSC VHS for the US market, but these seem to be out of production now, and I suspect the PAL copies might be dwindling. There's a petition to have it released on DVD, but unless they put it on region 1, that won't help you a lot if you're in North America.

With its depiction of New Zealand farming life, instantly recongisable to anyone from Tasmania or Australia - its witty, charismatic border collie lead, and it's dirty, mucky, true-to-life character, not to mention Murray Ball's comic genius, the strip will always be close to my heart, and the movie is a fond testament to that strip. Will it do anything for you, and will you be able to find a copy you can watch anyway?(check ebay for NTSC copies) - I can't say.

* One Footrot Flats book actually was released in the US, with an introduction by Charles Schultz. He and Murray Ball were mutual admirers of each other's work.