Customer Reviews

The Adventures of Milo and Otis

5 star:		(141)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

ever since way back when, i was maybe 6 years old, i still remember when i first rented it from the video store. it took my little breathaway. whenever i went back to rent a movie, i begged my mom to let me rent it again, until she finally bought it for me.
this beautiful tale has so many layers, heart, and spirit, i can't begin to explain it. the first thing i should mention is, dont get fooled to thinking animals got hurt during the making of this, because they DIDNT. Masanori Hata takes VERY good care of his animals. he shot milo and otis on his own private island in Japan. the original movie was called the Adventures of Chatran, and it was longer. ( i've never seen it, i've been looking for years ) i hope someday i will see it. koneko monogatari ( milo and otis ) makes me cry at the beauty, sadness, and then joy finally. its a celebration of life. you can't dismiss it as a mere " kid's movie", it is for everyone. i detest the "adult" mindset, because it disables them from experiancing all forms of beauty. this is not a movie to me, it's a part of me, and it shares a special place in my heart.
i love milo and otis. - jeffro

I'm not sure where the reviews are coming from that state the animals are abused. As for the pug and the bear...I own a pug as well and I'm currently reading a book by an author that interviewed the director of Milo & Otis for a Pug magazine. The bear & the pug were raised together, so they were best buddies.

I didn't know what to think before seeing this movie. The opinions were so disparate. Now that I've seen it, I find I agree with both camps. It is a delightful AND troubling film.

This is a simple but timeless story of adventure and friendship. Milo the mischievous kitten and Otis the pug puppy are best friends. Otis even pursues his friend when he's carried down the river after jumping into a wooden box. Soon, both of them are lost as well as separated from each other. The adventures they have with other animals are amazing, numerous and varied. They interact with a bear cub, raccoon, fox, seagulls, a turtle, a fawn and many others. The interactions will amaze you -- I couldn't believe a pug was riding on a turtle's back!

The footage is incredible, and does make one worry about the animals. While the director has said that the animals were raised together and are friends, and this is believable, it cannot account for the cat being attacked by seagulls and later falling from a very high cliff into the ocean. This troubles me.

Dudley Moore's narration is flawless. He captures every voice perfectly. Background music is gentle orchestral pieces. You will be amazed (and maybe a little troubled). Your children will definitely enjoy it, and adults will, too.

....killed in this film is a retard, that thing about 20 cats being killed is a rumour that was bred by paranoia and ignorance. I can say that this film is amazing in what they accomplished with these animals and Dudley Moore is awesome as the narrator, but the editing was kind of awkward which is understandable when you are piecing fragments of non-cohesive shots. i watched this becuase it is a remarkable achievement as a film. but really, everything that you see in the film is a very basic, and usually very obvious, camera trick made to allude that it was more "dangerous" than it realy was. first off, the japanese man who made this owns a farm and is a devote animal lover so I strongly doubt he would have allowed an animal to be killed. Also, its a trivia fact that ONLY 4 cats were used this film and that was only to show an age progression. really, their was no assembly line of death in this movie. So lets break down the "stunts" in the film.

1. the scene where the pug and bear "fight". The bear in this film was obviously domesticated and was really only playing rough with the dog because by nature, bears play rough. the dog was only slapped on his hind by the bear and not even scratched because it was not an attack, it was play that was meant to look like one with the magic of editing. He did get dunked in the water a few times though which was kind of funny.

2. the box scene where the cat drops off a waterfall. the cat coudnt have been injured. the fall was made to look bigger than it really was with the use of the camera and really coudnt have been more than five feet, and cats are very limber and can sustain a much greater fall than that on solid ground.

3. Seagulls pecking the cat? I didnt see a single seagull even touch the cat. the cat was just running around all erratic to make the situation look really distressing. One gull lifted his wings up to stand his ground from the cat, that was pretty much it.

4. Now the big one, the cliff drop. If you look at the actual shot, you will notice the cat really only fell about a quarter of the way into the ocean but was filmed in a way to suggest that he had fallen from the top.

5. heres a funny one, one person actually believed that the fish really bit the cats tail which is really laughable. the fish that you saw being dragged by the cat was a dead fish prop attached to the cats tail, and then was replaced with a live fish flopping on the ground in the next shot. this film must have been exhausting to make.

6. oh yeah, the crab that pinched the cats cheek. well...ok, that was real. you got me that time. even though that crab was smaller than a baby kitten and could not have broken through his skin.

7. Were they psychologically harmed? doubtful. the average cat or dog owner does far more psychologically damaging things to their pet, you strap a leash on them. you confine them to your backyards. put them in cages to transport them like cargo. really, its a subjective viewpoint.

You know how I know that animals were really looked after intensely when this was made? because the editing is clumsy as hell. If they really were at a complete disregard for animal safety, then they could have gotten these shots to flow much easier and it wouldnt have taken them four years to make it.
If there are any more that i missed, you could probably figure them out for yourself if you stop watching it in such an emotional state and look at it like a film. I suppose the reason they did not include the message "no animals were harmed...." is becuase that was not the standard in 1980's Japan at the time, and instead the message "all animals were treated under the care of supervisors with regard to their safety...etc." was used instead. trust me, i watched the entire film with every allegation that people have made about it in mind and would be surprised if any animal was even injured in the making of this film.

Milo and Otis is an absolutely adorable movie! I own a pug and let me tell you that Otis's mannerisms and the way he behaves is very true to the breed. Otis is very ornery and gets into so many things, just like pugs really do. I felt so bad and wanted to cry when he got stuck out in the snow towards the end of the movie. I am very glad that he made a friend in Milo and their travels together will warm the coldest of hearts. The end is a perfect end to their travels and now there is not just two of them anymore!

I first saw this movie when I was seven and I loved it. The Japanese film-makers took four years to create this film, using the best conditions for each scene and the most believable animals actions. Anyone will love the amazing scenery and appreciate the pleasant instrumental music. Dudley Moore narrates and his voice is hilariously used for all the characters, male and female. The animals unknowingly act out a very cute adventure story that shows the lengths two friends will go for each other.

Obviously when I was seven I didn't stop to think about whether the animals were injured during all their stunts (i.e., Milo the cat going down a rather long waterfall in a wooden box), but when I recently bought the movie I had to check the credits. There is a note at the end of the film saying "The animals used in this film were under strict supervision with the utmost concern for their well-being" or something to that effect. I'm hoping this means none were injured or worse.

Well if you want an enjoyable movie to watch with your animal-loving kids, buy this movie. All my nieces and nephews loved it.

This is a movie portraying the special friendship of a cat, Milo, and a dog, Otis, which stays true from when they a puppy and kitten until the very end. Milo is a mischievious cat who is always getting into some sort of trouble, and Otis is the brave pug who is always there to look after Milo. The adventures of Milo eventually lead to separation between the two, and Otis is there to find and rescue him. Milo's everlasting confidence and Otis's continually worried expression contribute to the movie as well. And we can learn a lesson about friendship from Milo and Otis; true friends stick together and help each other out through thick and thin.

As a child, I enjoyed this movie and found it very entertaining. I was sad when the two friends were separated so long, but there were lots of hilarious episodes that balanced things out. As one reviewer pointed out, the fact that there are no humans in the movie makes it more attractive to kids, and probably adults too.

One concern of several viewers is the possibility of animal abuse which decreases the quality of the movie. It says somewhere though that the animals were well supervised, which is reassuring. As for the chance of casualties, perhaps the animals were slightly injured at one time or another, but I don't believe any died. That's a little extreme. How is it possible to find more than one identical cat like Milo or dog like Otis that is the same in looks and brains. My family has had four pugs over the last 25 or so years, and there are definite distinctions between them. The colouring, build, features, and especially the wrinkles are different in them all. So I think the abuse part of it is nothing to be so concerned about unless you're an extreme protester against animal abuse who blows up every chance of abuse to a monumental size. I certainly didn't feel like throwing my grandparent's cat off the roof or making my dog copy Otis after watching the movie. If anything, it creates a tighter bond between a child and their pet.

If you enjoy animals, adventure, and laughing, you'll probably like Milo and Otis.

I loved this movie as I kid, and I recently got it for my own children. They loved it as much as I did. I know a lot of users made comments about "20+ kittens died" in the making of this film, but I did a lot of research and couldn't find anything that supported these claims. In fact, the Humane Society approved this film, and so did several other Japanese animal protection organizations. The film wasn't shot like a similar US film would be shot. Instead, the photographers lived on an island with about 300 animals and watched them interact over 4 years, creating more than 400,000 feet of footage between all of the photographers. The film was pieced together from this footage. Some of it was staged, like Otis riding on the turtle, but virtually all the film was candid. Milo was played by 27 different kittens, but this is because cats age quickly (anyone who has had one knows they change completely in a matter of weeks), not because the kittens were killed in production. That being said, some of the scenes can be scary for younger children because of the animals' interactions with each other.

the rumors of cruelty have neither been confirmed nor disproven...

"When the film was first released, several Australian animal rights organizations raised allegations of animal cruelty during filming and called for a boycott. The Sunday Mail reported at the time that Animal Liberation Queensland founder Jacqui Kent alleged the killing of more than 20 kittens during production and added that she was disturbed by reports from Europe which alleged other animals had been injured, as in one case, where a producer allegedly had broken a cat's paw to make it appear unsteady on its feet. Kent said her organization had a number of complaints from people who had seen the film and were concerned that it could not have been made without cruelty.[1] The Tasmanian and Victorian branches of the RSPCA also alleged abuses.[2]

The film was reported to have the approval of the American Humane Society, despite not having their officers present during filming.[3]

The American Humane Association attempted to investigate cruelty rumors through "contacts in Europe who normally have information on movies throughout the world." While noting that the contacts had also heard the allegations, they were unable to verify it as being true. The organization also reported, "we have tried through humane people in Japan, and through another Japanese producers to determine if these rumors are true but everything has led to a dead end."[4]

Notes
[1] Gillespie, P. (April 15, 1990). "Cat Cruelty Claim Over Kids' Movie". The Sunday Mail (Brisbane).
[2] Teale, Brandt (September 18, 1990). "RSPCA raises Milo and Otis fears". Hobart Mercury.
[3] Gillespie, P. (April 15, 1990). "Cat Cruelty Claim Over Kids' Movie". The Sunday Mail (Brisbane).
[4] Milo and Otis, American Humane Association; archived version

The sheer amount of one star reviews gurgling about animal cruelty is just ridiculous!

First of all there is no such thing as the "AMERICAN HUMAN SOCIETY" so anyone saying such an organization claims that at least 29 Milos died is just allowing themselves to be misled! The American HumanE Society has never released any such statement, in fact, they have not even reviewed Milo and Otis at all! If you want to argue with me about this then find me the review!
here is a video review from Ebert and Roeper in which they further debunks these statements:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7129314231057023373&q=koneko+monogatari&total=4&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Anyone who keeps going on and on about how such technology did not exist in 1986 therefore logically concluding that cruelty must have occurred: unless you have studied film making and the history of film making or are a professional in the industry, you cannot make such claims, you really have no proof at all except your own opinions!

For everyone crying about the bear brutalizing Otis: Masanori Hata has interviewed with journalist Margo Kaufman of Pug World and stated that the bear cub and the Otis puppy used in that scene had been raised together and were friends. In that scene they were just playing and messing around.

About the cliff: I have so far seen people describe this cliff as 200ft, 100ft, 50ft, 20ft and 10ft! People are just sitting around making up numbers! No one has any actual proof about how tall the cliff was. No one has proof about whether the cat chose to jump or was tossed and whether the cat jumped off of that particular cliff or if the image of the cat jumping was edited or whatnot. no one has proof whether cats died. people are literally sitting around, making things up working themselves up into an outraged state and then screaming about it on the internet!

For the people who say that the 'no animals were harmed' tag is missing: I'm not a lawyer for this Milo and Otis movie and I don't know what the tagging standards are for animal movies. it is possible that they did not include this tag because two animals WERE indirectly harmed/killed. The fish Milo catches with his tail and the field mouse that the owl grabs. And possibly the scene where milo is messing with he crab and his cheek gets pinched. it is wrong to assume that 10/20/29 milos died and 9-20 otises drowned just because of a missing tag. You must do actual research, call Fuji Television Network, call Columbia Pictures, call Masanori Hata, call Mark Saltzman, call the American Humane Society! Don't just rely on some nitwits freaking out on the internet and for goodness sakes don't keep propagating unverified rumors!

If you have not done research and have actual proof you should not be running around writing things like this because it will ruin the movie for other people! When I first heard 20 Milos were killed I was devastated! Imagine how many other people are being hurt and hating this movie because of rumors like this?

The only reason why I am not giving this DVD 5 stars is because I wanted to see the original 90 minute Japanese version and it is not included in this disk, nor is there a Japanese track or subtitles.