Is animal cruelty in movies ok?

Question

Well, I was watching "Homeward Bound" the other night, and "Homeward Bound 2", and I noticed that they had really good editting, or there was quite a bit of animal cruelty in a movie. For example, in the first movie, Shadow the golden retriever falls in a pit and is limping at the end of the movie, Sassy the cat almost drowns in turbulent water and goes down a waterfall, and Chance gets hit in the nose by a porcupine. In the second movie I don't remember this one as well, but the "bully" dogs get flowerpots dropped on their heads and Shadow and the bully dogs really get into mean looking fights like they could kill each other. I don't know if this is editted, or if the dogs are trained really well, or what, but I would just like to know your opinion on if this is animal cruelty in movies.

I believe what you guys are saying about them being trained and if it happens in nature then it's ok, but how can you explain them letting and filming an innocent dog getting porcupine quills whacked into his nose!?!?

Wow, to alex51324 or whatever it was... that website told of everything they did. Thanks a lot. A lot of you guys were right on but this post gave me exactly what I was looking for. Thanks, and the really long answer above was also REALLY good. Thanks.

Answer 1

The animals acting in the movie are not actually hurt, any more than human actors are really injured when you see them fight, get shot, get blown up, etc. in a movie. In fact, adult human actors are more likely to be injured while making a movie or TV show than animals (or child actors), since they can opt to do without safety equipment (like padding, a firepoof suit, an so forth) if they feel it's worth the risk to get a more authentic shot. In the case of animal actors, both the American Humane Association and the animal's trainer are on hand to make sure that the animal is not put in any danger. A well-trained cat or dog actor is very valuable, so the trainer would not allow the animal to be injured. And even if the trainer decided they didn't care, the Humane Association representative on the set would make sure that the animal was safe. It is against the law to injure an animal to make a movie. You can go to Americanhumane.org/film to read more about protection for animals in movies and TV.

Go here to read about the making of "Homeward Bound" from the American Humane Association. http://www.ahafilm.info/movies/moviereviews.phtml?fid=6178

And here to search for the AHA review of any movie: http://www.ahafilm.info/movies/search.phtml

Answer 2

porcupine quills in the nose.. arent make up effects great?

Im sure the flower pots broken over the dog's heads were not "real" flowerpots.. movie props would have been used.

Anamatronic/ "dummy" animals are used in some scenes, such as the cat falling over the waterfall.

Some of the things are trained, like the dog limping.

Im sure there are some computer animated effects too.

If you read the credits it should say somewhere that no animals were harmed in the making of the film.

There is alot of time and money put into training these animals, they will not let them get hurt.

Answer 3

I don't believe in any form of animals cruelty, no matter what the reasons or excuses are. I seen both these movies &I really liked them. I do hope that they edited some how & the animals were never really hurt!!! Good question!!!

Answer 4

YES!!!!!!!!!! animal cruelty is not very enetaining in any way. These are disney movies and that is not really animal cruelty. yes shadow may have gotten hurt in some of the stunts but these dogs are probley protected from any cruel things happening to them. there is probly someone from the animal rights there protecting the dogs from being treated wrong.

Answer 5

It is against the law to harm or injure animals on the sets of movies unless you are in Romania. On the set of every movie (except Romania) where animals are present is a host of people just to protect the animal's interest.

Here is the really weird thing about Romania.. it is against the law to put a dog down unless it is in pain or illness so they have all these dogs running around.. but I was on the set of Blood Rayne and when they cut that chickens head off in the beginning of the movie they really did it. It completely freaked me out and I did not go back.

Answer 6

Animal cruelty is animals being abused or hurt without good reason (such as food) What was featured in the movie was animals being hurt by natural forces. As long as the animals weren't having their legs broken between shots to simulate other injuries (and they weren't) there is nothing wrong with it.

Answer 7

I don't think animal cruelty is ok at anytime...movies or otherwise. But you have to remember that this is a movie and these animals are trained to do what they do.

Answer 8

a matter of opinion, but in mine no it is not. Even if the animals are not badly treated, and are just acting, I think it encourages the idea that animal cruelty in real life is ok. Which it is not

Answer 9

If animals were hurt in films, people would be rioting in the streets.
I never saw the second movie, but in the first movie I can explain a few camera tricks.
It shows Shadow fall into the pit, but it doesn't show how far until the next shot when you're looking down in there. In that first shot, the fall was just far enough that he would be out of sight, a few feet. He was trained to limp. (I once trained a dog to crawl on her belly, and on top of that when I told her she would stick one leg out and keep it stiff as if it had been injured. I also trained her to fall over and do "dead dog" if I pointed my finger at her and said POW really load.)
When the cat was in the water, all the shots that were close up to where you could see her, the water was calm. They had her in a small body of water with a light controlled current. Probably one of those pools where you can generate a current like a river. For the farther away shots, it was a stuffed cat. They would throw in a close up every now and then to make it look real.
When the dogs were being "chased" by the mountain lion, you never actually saw the dogs and the lion in the same frame....They weren't together. They took shots of the dogs running through the woods, and then the mountain lion running through the same sections of woods and switched back and forth.
Chance getting slapped by the porcupines tail was also a set up. First of all, it probably wasn't even a real porcupine. As slow as it moved and as little of actual flesh you could see, they could very easily have had an animatronic one, and a couple close ups of a porcupine's faces added in like with the mountain lion. As soon as the tail slapped Chance, the shot was cut as he jumped away. For the next scenes, fake porcupine quills were glued on, and then he had some fake blood added.

In dog fight scenes, the dogs are actually playing, and then ferocious sounds are added in. If you saw my pair of Great Danes playing, you'd think they were trying to kill each other.

Most movies have statements in the credits that no animals were harmded in the making of the film. Animal welfare advocates are present during the filming of movies where animals are used and might be hurt. It's very closely regulated.

Directors and producers are very good at using camera angles and fake things to make their movies. Did you know that in the battle scene in Braveheart where the horses all got speared by the guys on the groud, that for the last 20 feet they were using sacks of grain with stuffed horse heads and decorated up to look real on tracks being slung toward the guys on the ground. If you'll notice in all the shots in that section, you don't see the horses' feet as they hit the opposing army. In the next few shots where you see horses standing back up, they used horses that were trained to lay down first, and started that piece of flim as the horses were getting back to their feet.

When watching movies that show situations you KNOW they didn't do for real, watch how many times the camera cuts to a different angle. Our minds readily accept what was implied without having to see all the details.

Wow, sorry that was so long winded, but I hope it makes you feel a little better!

Answer 10

hey man this is definitely animal cruelty but they just cared about the money the only reason they wanted to put animal cruelty in the movie so it would look cool because you have to admit was funny with porcupine and everything and like at the end when you see the dog limping out it looks more better than him just running out