I've given two stars for the charming, freehand-style animation -- very enjoyable and unlike Disney or Pixar. The film has a handmade, European look to it and often very pleasing. I understand it was drawn in some kind of computer animation based on drawings, but it looks like it was hand-rendered.
I had such high hopes for this film; it's about a dog and I'm a dog lover...I'm a HUGE sucker for any sort of sentimental dog story. Alas, this is more of a cynical and very odd memoir about a German shepherd female ("Alsatian bitch" in the UK lingo) who is owned by a curmudgeonly old writer, J.R. Ackerley. I have not read the book, but from my understanding the film is faithful to it.
Why odd? because Ackerley is a pretty strange dog owner, obsessed with his dog's bowel and bladder habits and almost nothing else. We don't learn too much about why he wanted a dog, or what Tulip's personality was like, or even many funny anecdotes about her life with him -- but fully 2/3rs of the film seem to be musings on her bladder and bowel habits, plus animation of the same.
At least 1/3 of the film is about Ackerley's rather unpleasant attempts to breed Tulip, with a lot more information than anyone wants to know. This makes the film 100% unsuitable for young children, and probably awkward even for older children. You also wonder what else was wrong with Ackerley's life that he didn't concentrate on his own relationships (he admits upfront to being lonely and isolated) to the point he obsessed over his DOG'S sex life.
Eventually, Tulip gets impregnated by a rough stray in the neighborhood ("Lady and The Tramp"?) and has a litter of 8 puppies, at which Ackerley seems gobsmacked that he actually has to deal with the results of the breeding he pursued so avidly -- apparently without the slightest plan for taking care of the puppies! Indeed, he is shown preparing to DROWN Tulip's puppies! UGH! I was warned off this from other reviews, but imagine going into this COLD; it utterly destroys any sense that he loved or cared for this dog. He seems heartless. What kind of person could DROWN a whole litter of puppies? (Note: he had a vet, and could have euthanized the puppies or even aborted the pregnancy.)
There is also a odd problem with the timeline; supposedly Ackerley, born in 1896, adopted 18 month old Tulip when he was "well over 50". That would make it the 1940s -- when the war and wartime deprivation was ongoing. Yet it isn't mentioned AT ALL. In fact the film suggests it is taking place in the 60s or 70s, or even more recently.
The book was published in 1956, when Ackerley was 60 and Tulip passed on. That means the most recently he could have had her was roughly 1948 (she lived to 16), but probably it was earlier even than that. No matter how you do the numbers, if she died at 16 but BEFORE 1956, then Ackerley had to be younger than 50 when he got her.
Also, Ackerley is depicted as if he was nigh onto 80, a frail elderly man. That could not have been close to true until the very end of Tulip's life -- which is not remotely shown. The story about her basically ends after her puppies are rather heartlessly given away (no small wonder, as they were "mutts" and not purebred German shepherds! at least they were not DROWNED!). We are simply told "after that, she lived to 16" (a very old age for any dog 60 years ago).
The tone of the film is just terribly odd, with strange ramblings, like a fantasy about some fellow dog owners (whose male dog is selected to be bred with Tulip), and how Ackerley imagines them as naked. Frankly, I just don't get the whole "obsessed with sex" theme mixed with "my wonderful old dog" theme. It is awkward, unpleasant, not very well handled and of course, it makes what otherwise might have been a delightful story of a man whose life was wonderfully filled with the love of a good dog into a bit of a peep show. Too bad.
(Note: the real Tulip was named "Queenie"....why change her name? It's not like she's going to sue.)
I had such high hopes for this film; it's about a dog and I'm a dog lover...I'm a HUGE sucker for any sort of sentimental dog story. Alas, this is more of a cynical and very odd memoir about a German shepherd female ("Alsatian bitch" in the UK lingo) who is owned by a curmudgeonly old writer, J.R. Ackerley. I have not read the book, but from my understanding the film is faithful to it.
Why odd? because Ackerley is a pretty strange dog owner, obsessed with his dog's bowel and bladder habits and almost nothing else. We don't learn too much about why he wanted a dog, or what Tulip's personality was like, or even many funny anecdotes about her life with him -- but fully 2/3rs of the film seem to be musings on her bladder and bowel habits, plus animation of the same.
At least 1/3 of the film is about Ackerley's rather unpleasant attempts to breed Tulip, with a lot more information than anyone wants to know. This makes the film 100% unsuitable for young children, and probably awkward even for older children. You also wonder what else was wrong with Ackerley's life that he didn't concentrate on his own relationships (he admits upfront to being lonely and isolated) to the point he obsessed over his DOG'S sex life.
Eventually, Tulip gets impregnated by a rough stray in the neighborhood ("Lady and The Tramp"?) and has a litter of 8 puppies, at which Ackerley seems gobsmacked that he actually has to deal with the results of the breeding he pursued so avidly -- apparently without the slightest plan for taking care of the puppies! Indeed, he is shown preparing to DROWN Tulip's puppies! UGH! I was warned off this from other reviews, but imagine going into this COLD; it utterly destroys any sense that he loved or cared for this dog. He seems heartless. What kind of person could DROWN a whole litter of puppies? (Note: he had a vet, and could have euthanized the puppies or even aborted the pregnancy.)
There is also a odd problem with the timeline; supposedly Ackerley, born in 1896, adopted 18 month old Tulip when he was "well over 50". That would make it the 1940s -- when the war and wartime deprivation was ongoing. Yet it isn't mentioned AT ALL. In fact the film suggests it is taking place in the 60s or 70s, or even more recently.
The book was published in 1956, when Ackerley was 60 and Tulip passed on. That means the most recently he could have had her was roughly 1948 (she lived to 16), but probably it was earlier even than that. No matter how you do the numbers, if she died at 16 but BEFORE 1956, then Ackerley had to be younger than 50 when he got her.
Also, Ackerley is depicted as if he was nigh onto 80, a frail elderly man. That could not have been close to true until the very end of Tulip's life -- which is not remotely shown. The story about her basically ends after her puppies are rather heartlessly given away (no small wonder, as they were "mutts" and not purebred German shepherds! at least they were not DROWNED!). We are simply told "after that, she lived to 16" (a very old age for any dog 60 years ago).
The tone of the film is just terribly odd, with strange ramblings, like a fantasy about some fellow dog owners (whose male dog is selected to be bred with Tulip), and how Ackerley imagines them as naked. Frankly, I just don't get the whole "obsessed with sex" theme mixed with "my wonderful old dog" theme. It is awkward, unpleasant, not very well handled and of course, it makes what otherwise might have been a delightful story of a man whose life was wonderfully filled with the love of a good dog into a bit of a peep show. Too bad.
(Note: the real Tulip was named "Queenie"....why change her name? It's not like she's going to sue.)