A great movie, if not a bit cruel?

As a child, Milo and Otis was one of my favorite movies, and I still enjoy watching it today. It is only that I'm older, however, that I do realize that while this is still a cute, charming movie, there is a bit of animal cruelty in it that makes my heart twinge.

First being a small kitten being put into a crate and sent off down rapid water and over a few waterfalls (small waterfalls, but think of how hurt that kitten could have been). During this same scene, a bear (young by the looks of it) was put into the scene to harass the cat. While I'm sure this bear was trained, it, needless to say, startled me.

The second scene, the only other one that really struck a nerve with me (though there are a few other, smaller ones that I will not bother listing) is Milo being attacked by aggressive seagulls. It pains me to see that people would take an innocent animal and toss it amongst very aggressive, wild birds and film it being pecked and clawed.

This scene tied in with Milo being tossed over a cliff. I watched and rewatched this scene, and I've realized now that, despite how I tried to pretend it was fake, this was in fact a REAL cat they chucked over a cliff and into pounding waves.

If you watch closely, you can see the cat twist to try and make sure its paws land first, something all cats do on long falls to attempt to land on their feet. For a split second, you see Milo rise to the surface and shake his head. Milo swims to shore, more than once vanishing under a large wave before crawling out, cold, wet, and scared.

I'm amazed that most of the animals featured in this show, Milo especially, stayed anywhere near human beings after this movie was filmed.