MovieChat Forums > Koneko monogatari (1989) Discussion > Clearly animals were harmed in this film...

Clearly animals were harmed in this film, several Otises died


This film was never rated by the Humane society of the US and several months after filming the rumors began to surface about the filmmakers going through several (reports were up to 30) cats and dogs to make the film. When one died, they simply replaced it with another. (the Economist-google for date of issue.) Also, the film's more "intense" scenes were edited for an american audience-the bear fight had apparently blood (!!) and more vicious fighting, and the scene where Milo goes over a cliff into the sea (obvious cruelty whether he lived or died) has milo trying desperately to crawl up the cliff and failing.

How anyone can enjoy this film is beyond me. The animals are obviously afraid. This is not computer imaging or animal training. This is throwing a dog into a fight with a bear. A cat over a cliff, or into the water. If you're comfortable doing that to your pets, then I guess it's okay to watch this film. But frankly, I saw it with my child and was deeply disturbed.

Another legit film site remarks that while the disclaimer at the end of the film states "animals were treated with utmost respect and concern for their safety" ...it does NOT say "no animals were harmed in the making of this film".

I am not an "animal rights" person but nor do I espouse throwing a defenseless animal over a cliff to entertain (?) small children. If you do, I seriously question your right to even have small children!

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[deleted]

Adversity builds character. The animals were all the better for it.

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Adversity builds character in surviving humans, not dead dogs & cats. Stop being flippant and just state that you like the film so much you don't care how many animals were killed, maimed or abused in its making.

More to the point, what confirmation is there about the abuse?

My daughter & I were watching it & I mentioned that there must have been Milo's sacrificed. She asserted that the scene with the seagulls definitely showed a live cat thrown from the cliff.

Anyone know for certain of any investigation or inside information?









Whatever they tell you, ask for citations

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[deleted]

Ok how many of you here realize that this is a movie for the family. Some post's i've read say that milo and otis died about 100 times.... ok... Prove it. I dont want quotes from people who worked on the film and heard about it through the mourning water cooler, i want a link or Pictures. Some type of visual conformation. Because I can say Brad Pitt died but no one would believe me without proof. But even beside all that, this movie was made when??? 1986 i believe. standards were a little different back then. Back before peta, and the major concern for animal rights. now i not saying that i dont believe in animal rights, but i know i got a cat and if i tell him to come to me that dont always happen. i've seen him jump 75 ft onto the ground from a tree and run off. i'm sure if he fell 200FT into water he'd be just as ok.
Apquest this isnt an attack on you, just hit reply instead of post and got about 10 lines in and decided not to go back. But i agree with you 100% that the story is what the film was made for, not for people 20+ years later to be arguing on a website about cats and dogs POSSABLY being hurt during the production.
thank you for your time if you read this.

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Apquest, you are a *beep* moron. What the hell does someone being liberal have to do with anything? And I see nothing wrong with someone bringing up cruel animal practices about a movie production.

It's nobody's business but ours.

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To me it's not someone being liberal(even thought i dislike liberals), but why bring this up now? this movie was originally made in 86... i personally was 1 year old, and did anyone say anything about it then? i mean some post's were made this year. Plus also remember this movie was made in JAPAN!!!! I Dont think that the Humane society of the US(<--- United States, if you didnt know) EXISTS IN JAPAN. Now i not saying i pro "hurt animals" but if there is no proof of animal abuse i not going to believe what i read on the internet. If there is proof then i will agree that better care should have been taken in the production of this movie. but thats not to say i wont still let my little boy watch his cat movie.

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well calm down folks, like Warhawk said, why bringing this up now? Ok, for future (prevention) but other than than wtf?! You should watch horses being killed in making some movies, westerns most notably... Also, do You flamers eat meat, drink milk, etc, etc... ? You do? Well than check out those farms and see what life of an animal is, and than complain about this movie. I do EAT meat, but I don't complain on this movie. It is up to You to decide where is border between torture and "human" approach. What? Like, You will let pets crap wherever they want to, to bite a postman, to act like they would in nature? Yeah riiiight... And what about those shopping malls with all flashlights pointing into sky, You think that doesn't disturb birds, insects? Oh, I forgot, that aren't cute puppies or cats or whatsoever pets, so not to be concerned there. I don't say hurt animals, on the contrary, but instead try to focus on something more relevant and important, like spend less energy, plant a tree, produce less garbage and make a real difference, not just plain talking about "horrible" Japan evildoers.

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thanks for backing me up alien, i agree, people today are only concerned with "cute" animals but i assure you they step on that spider in the bathroom.

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Is there anyway to tell that the dog and cat are different in every scene?

"Frick!"

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Have you people seen March of the Penguins?

There are two violent attacks in that film resulting in death as well as several young and old penguins freezing to death. These animals could have been protected from such cruelty but the filmmakers took a hands off approach, though at the same time Morgan Freeman's narration anthropomorphizes the penguins just as Dudley Moore did in Milo & Otis. These animals were in danger, put into plausible situations--cats will fight larger animals for food, cats do fall/jump off of high ledges (documentation has them walking away from an 80ft drop to the ground), and random tumbling and falling.

It should be noted that in Japan it wasn't until the year 2000 that there were animal cruelty law on the books, but this new law is strict, a year's imprisonment and fines of up to 1 million yen for cruelty to animals.

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But the filmmakers in March of the Penguins didn't throw the penguins into that situation. They just documented their lives. Yeah, they didn't stop them from dying, but they didn't put them into the life-threatening situation in the first place.

Totally different.

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You're a moron Warhhawk. Stepping on a spider that could cause harm to people in the area is different from having household pets.

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Ok but people here are complaining about animals being killed unjustfully, well that spider is more scared of you than you are of it, it is completely defencless to anything over abou3 inches tall so dont sit here and try to jusify killing it because, even if it did try to bite you, you were trying to kill it. It's called self preservation, everyone and everything does. If you give the spider about 10 minutes i bet it would leave the bathroom or where ever you saw it and go on it merry way, buy sense it not a cute cuddly little kittin you dont think twice about making it a smeer on the bottom of your shoe. I BEG YOU TO RESPOND

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Nearly a decade later and you're still spot on. they never get it

@yymbr

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Yes, because a bug or an arachnid is EXACTLY like a flesh and blood animal. Dope.

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[deleted]

No proof? Watching the movie any 5 year old could point out 10 cases of Animal abuse (as some have). Now, I am a Vegan and supporter of animal rights and this movie is the worst I have ever seen. From the Cat going off the cliff, being attacked by a crab and later seagulls to the dog being attacked by a bear and cleary drowning in one scene.

If you don't see the aniaml abuse in this movie, it's becuase you don't want too.

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Oh poor kitty...attacked by a crab...you call that animal abuse? I call that typical life for ANIMALS.

You should be more concerned with HUMANS than animals.
Humans are abused on films MUCH more than animals; especially nowadays.
U.S. films now say "no animals were hurt in the making of this film". But nowhere do they state anything about humans! I've worked as an extra on many films. They treat the animals way better than their own species!

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Poor kitty? I'm sorry you have no respect for other species. Maybe one day you'll have the opportunity to be mastered by something bigger and more intelligent and your only hope will be something of it's equal coming to help you. Then maybe you'll understand the helplessness of these DOMESTICATED animals being forced into these situations. There is nothing "typical" about what happened to these DOMESTICATED animals during filming.

Now, as far as me being more concerned with humans, this just happens to be a board about animals, it has nothing to do with humans.....only these paticular humans lack of professionalism during this shoot. Some HUMANS have enough room in their HEART for ALL species.

Last, to say Humans are more abused in film is just hilarious. Last time I checked HUMANS can speak, yes, SPEAK. Which means at anytime they can say NO, yes, they can say NO to whatever is being asked of them. NOBODY is being FORCED to do anything. So if you get injured on set, you have nobody to blame but yourself. Something you can't say for any of these animals.

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I love this film!... and also I really, really hate animal abuse!.

Is there any contradiction?

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If you watch the movie closely you will see that the cat goes from big, to liitle to big, so they must have used different cats.

"People that dont believe in anything will never understand those who do"

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i loved this movie when i saw it, i even cried when they reunited. i was 4 when i was it though. and just a reminder, cat's get hurt more when they fall off a window sill than they do off of taller things, because they have more time to react, and u don't know if there was someone down there catching the cat. and standards were different back then too, during production, and, unless u're like a total vegan, i don't think u should complain about the kitty being thrown. watch some peta videos online about where your splendid chicken dinner comes from, and what that chicken looks like, and where it lives, then complain, k? i love animals myself, i do not condone the mistreatment and abuse and cruelty to animals, i have pets myself. but this is a children's movie! get over it! it was made OVER 20 years ago!

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You are stupid if you think a cat jumping from a high place is the same as one being THROWN over an extreamly tall cliff which has ROCKS and RAPID WATER at the bottom. In the non cut japanise version you see the cat struggling to get out of the water several times while almost drowning and being taken down by large waves and slammed against the side of the cliff by the water.

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You don't have to call me stupid to get your point across, of course hiding behind a computer makes it easier for you to insult people. I would be more open to admitting the difference and a mistake i made if you hadn't insulted me. Clearly you don't know how to have an open discussion without being rude. No where did i call anyone names in my post. And again, this movie was made so long ago when rules were different. It's terrible that the cat was thrown, and since i was 4 when i watched it, and haven't seen it since, i did not know about the uncut japanese version. So what's the point of getting angry over the poor cat now? And insulting people is not the way to get people to see things your way.

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The movie took 4 years to make. From what I could tell it was the same cat and dog throughout, and they just filmed them at different ages. I really don't think they killed any animals in making this film.

I just watched this with my girlfriend, who is a bleeding-heart vegetarian, and she was upset by some of the content. I actually came here to see if there was some factual evidence of animal cruelty in this movie, but all I've seen so far is a bunch of opinions.

I don't think scaring a cat for a minute can be considered cruelty, but different people have different standards. As long as they didn't hurt or kill the animals I don't think it's a big deal.


"You wanna talk jive?! I'll talk some jive like you never heard!" -- Royal Tenenbaum

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Same here Deadcamus!

I do NOT condone animal abuse, cruelty, neglect, or anything else that can be added to that.

I suspect that many animals WERE used in various scenes, but I have no proof that animals were killed, or injured. Perhaps they had several of each because animals are very like people: they have different attention spans, lengths of patience, and limits for cooperative behavior, as well as unpredictability. What about movies and shows that use human twins in a single role? I don't think they kill one twin and then bring the other in to finish the production! (not comparing animals to people, just saying)

Animal cruelty is rife the world over. Has anyone ever been to a chicken farm where the hens were caged? It's horrific. Have you ever been to a abbatoir (slaughterhouse)? It's beyond your worse nightmare. Have you ever seen how animals are slaughtered in the Middle East? It's barbaric beyond all reason.
Do you still eat meat? Most likely, yes. I do too. And I don't consider myself a party to the practices that were undertaken prior to my purchase of said meat. But, perhaps, just maybe, I am. It's hard to say, as I have no idea where and how the meat I'm eating was slaughtered. It could have been done humanely and with no suffering, or it could have been hideous. That doesn't stop me from being an omnivore. I don't have the facilities to raise and butcher my own meat, so I have to rely on the supermarkets and butcher shops.

And, where is it said that the animals were not trained? Has that been documented? If so, my question is retracted. But it seems that at least some of the stunts were NOT just a stroke of dumb luck. A pug pulling a slew of strung fish with his curly tail? Not a chance! I am very good friends with people who raise and breed pugs, and provide a pug rescue service, and no way would those dogs do it without having some incentive, which makes me think there was at least some basic training of these animals. They aren't keen on you fooling with their tails anyway, much less having something strung through the curl and then pulling it across a field, not without some reward waiting on the other side, believe me!

I guess what I'm getting at is that it's hard to argue something without proof or evidence. You've got no proof that animals were killed and/or injured making this movie, and I have no proof that they weren't. So doesn't that make the argument (20-odd years old) moot?

Cheers!

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Give me proof, a source of your accusations.... if not then STFU!!

you are assuming something you quite possibly have no idea about

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But most films use different animals, don't they? The show Wishbone used five different dogs. The movie Babe used 48 different pigs to play the lead.

Is there anything that actually says that many animals died while filming this, and that that's why they were replaced?



I can't breathe! I got bit by the bucked-tooth snake!

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Quit being sissies.

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These *beep* rumors have been proven to be false. Sorry people, there's no proof to these claims, just rumors that have been made since the movie was made. There's no evidence, nothing at all.

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Those who eat Beef, Chicken, Pork and Fish hope to claim that animals aren't killed everyday for our lifestyle? Quitcha bitchin'

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Those who are vegetarian pretend that animals would be immortal if we didn't eat them.

QUALITY OF LIFE matters not the fact that they're used when they're dead.

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sometimes you have to take one for the team

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Then by all means do us all a favor and "take one for the team" yourself. The world is overflowing with enough dipsh*ts as it is, so decreasing the surplus population of the likes of you is a plus a hundred times over.

And Warhawk comparing a f*%king spider to a cat or dog is positively ridiculous. I would expect nothing less from some redneck, backwoods, cousin dating piece of dung like him anyway.

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WAAAAH...cry me a river

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[deleted]

Yeah, people should really give it 1/10 and *beep* this film.

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