The Plague Dogs: This is England?

Richard Adams' niche is simple: political commentary veiled in seemingly child-friendly fantasy worlds where animals can talk, create cultures, and essentially mirror humans. His literary triumph Watership Down was adapted into an animated film, and several years later, so was Plague Dogs. Martin Rosen directed both films and certainly seemed more seasoned his second time out, able to encompass much more of Adams' vision. In light of the medium, like their plots the films are veiled in the seemingly child-friendly genre of feature length animation.

Plague Dogs sits as a dark classic among the 1980s animated likes of Disney's for-kids block busters (The Great Mouse Detective, Little Mermaid, and The Fox and the Hound) and Japanese anime growing in popularity in the US. The film depicts the story of two dogs who escape from an animal testing facility. Rowf, an old, black dog is subject to water tests that always end in him drowning and being shocked back to life. His companion in the next kennel, Snitter, is smaller and more energetic. He is an optimist but blames himself for killing his former master.

Weaved into this escape film are naturalism and naivete found in the most pastoral of English countrysides. The pair's most obvious enemies to which Adams points are the media and the government, but there is a deeper current of evil working against the dogs. Each escape leads to new found hardship. Hopeful, new masters, a fox and even fellow dogs all seem to be working against Rowf and Snitter. The very environment they strive for drives them to savagery. When they begin hunting for freedom, they have to kill sheep.

Plague Dogs daringly expands on animated movie conventions inviting aspects of art films and cloaking a dark storyline in a wholesome, family-oriented outer coat.