Guard Dog

Guard Dog (2004)

**** (out of 4)

Hilarious, Oscar-nominated animated short has a loyal owner taking his kind dog out for a walk and soon we see the dog grow violent towards various apparent kind things. We then learn why dogs hate little squirrels, kids, flowers, grasshoppers and various other items. This is the first film I've seen from Plympton and I became an instant fan within these short 4-minutes. This was an incredibly clever little gem that has more brains than the majority of animated films out there so it's easy to see why this has gained such a big cult following over the years. Having a loyal dog see the "truth" behind evil creatures like the squirrel is very funny and over and over we just see these creatures and how they want to kill the owner. We get a decapitation, a hanging and that's just the start. Seeing as how there's all sorts of violence and blood, this here certainly isn't for kids but adults should really dig the humor, the beautiful animation and most importantly the clever way of presenting the events in the walk through Hell Park. A true gem that even gets a wonderful joke aimed at Ronald McDonald.