‘Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero’ – IOTW Report

‘Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero’

Saturday, 26 January 2019, 8:00 MJA Uncategorized 7

WFB: At the request of Free Beacon head honcho Michael Goldfarb, I recently checked out Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero. Though dismissive at first of the idea of reviewing an animated film about America’s most-decorated dog, I eventually came around. After all, as Mr. Goldfarb put it: “Every cartoon my kids watch is cramming social justice bullshit down their little throats and finally—a movie about killing the Hun!”

 

One is immediately struck by the mise-en-scene of director and co-writer Richard Lanni’s film: his is an idealized sort of America, one where can-do spirit overcomes all manner of obstacles. Before he was Sgt. Stubby he was just an unnamed mutt living on the street, stealing bones out of trashcans and avoiding cars in the streets. After attaching himself to a regiment of doughboys headed off to World War One, Stubby wins over the heart of a gruff drill sergeant and becomes the mascot for the troops.

It isn’t until we get to the frontlines in France that we see Stubby’s true worth. He clears the trenches of vermin, warns of incoming gas attacks, and finds wounded men in No-Man’s-Land. More than that, though, Stubby imbues the American troops so far from home with a sort of will to live, nursing back to health an ailing young man suffering from Spanish influenza. Sgt. Stubby is truly a meditation on the meaning of “man’s best friend,” a reminder that we’ve evolved alongside dogs for millennia.  read more

7 Comments on ‘Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero’

  1. ….this is an amazing TRUE story of an incredible dog and handler, and is very faithful to historical accuracy, right down to the locations and unit emblems. You forget that it’s an animated movie 5 minutes into the burn, it’s an absorbing and compelling story that makes NO apologies for America. I recommend it to both fans of quality animation AND to WWI buffs.

    …and if you’re worried about it, the dog NEVER talks or has narration that tells you what he’s thinking. He’s just a good boy in a bad situation, and behaves just like a loyal and loved dog actually would. This ain’t “Lady and the Tramp”, folks, but an only slighly toned-down look at one of the world’s nastiest wars, leavened by the sense that God grants us animal companions to helo see us through the worst of it.

    I highly recommed it.

    14

  3. Huh, only me? Okay, I can run with it.

    …Don’t discount ALL animated fare as “cartoons”, like they all have big eyes and vapid minds like Disney Princesses. Sometimes even fictional ones can be interesting without being preachy.

    There’s one, “Barefoot Gen”, which follows a Japanese family in Hiroshima in August of 1945. You expect this to be the liberal type of “America Bad” preaching, but instead it is accurate about dates, times, and even what the Enola Gay used for an aiming point (the T-shaped Aioi bridge in the middle of town), and surprisingly has the mother in the family railing against the JAPANESE for not surrendering sooner when Hirohito makes his famous broadcast throwing in the towel as the remains of her family picks through the remains of Hiroshima to survive. It’s interesting and thoughtful, and no social justice in sight, although being from 1976, it’s a bit old for that.

    Check it out, but don’t watch with the children if you don’t want them to see a pretty graphic representation of how indivudial people die when exposed to a nuclear explosion at varying distances and amounts of cover. It’s pretty intense, and even a dog gets melted after yelping and trying to run, ultimately biting a steel rail in pain and confusion that itself is melting before he dies.

    This is not conforting fare. But it is accruate fare. No princesses, just reality with an animated, fictional vehicle to give us some framework and a reason to care before the consequences of poor politics becomes grotesquely manifest. Again, no guilt to America, even Gen’s father rails in private against Japanese war policy BEFORE Armageddon arrives in his town.

    Check it out. You won’t be disappointed. And I even recommend the English dub, the voice actors are fantastic and you aren’t bothered with subtitles.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085218/

    7

  6. They Shall Not Grow Old needs to be released on more than a 2 day release back in Dec. It is a great documentary about World War 1 that needs to be seen by more people. And it’s a far better movie than Peter Jackson’s other recently released movie Mortal Engines which was a real stinkeroo. I only went because a friend of mine wanted to see it and I was disappointed, even Aquaman was far better.

    5

Comments are closed.

iOTWreport.com ©2024 ----- iOTWreport is not responsible for the content of comments. All opinions in comments are solely the commenter's.