Review The Dog of Flanders

In nineteenth century Belgium lives a poor young boy named Nello. He lives meagerly with his grandfather and his dog Patrash by delivering milk. He his slowly but surely being separated from his best friend Aloise because her parents are of a higher social class. Nello sees an opportunity to solve his problems by entering an art contest. Fate has other plans for him though, as it deals out hardship after hardship. In the end the only one Nello can count on is his faithful dog Patrash.

The Dog of Flanders is a children’s film but is fit for the whole family. I have heard comparisons of this movie to Ghibli films and I believe it is somewhat accurate. This is a very emotionally powerful movie and especially towards the end becomes a very tragic one. What I mean by emotionally powerful I mean that I, an adult male fully secure in his manhood actually cried during this movie.

The artwork for the Dog of Flanders is an interesting juxtaposition. Although it was made in the later half of the nineties it’s character designs hearken back to the television show of the same name made in the seventies. The backgrounds are animated very well, like the better animated movies of yesteryear.

Out of all the anime films I have seen especially ones that are accessible to children I would certainly rank The Dog of Flanders as one of the best. I give The Dog of Flanders a rating of excellent.

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