The Plague Dogs (1 Viewer)

[Radioman970]

Plague Dogs felt forced. Meaning, the author seemed to be working overtime to depress the crap out of the viewer/reader. I was disappointed in it for that reason. I have nothing against a film or story designed to tell a depressing story, but this truly felt forced. More touches of humor would not have hurt. The story as a whole could've stayed intact, including the ending.

I have no desire to see a longer version of this. How much more depressing does it need to be?

 

[Craig99]

IMHO, Adams' original ending rang more true to me than the one in the movie. In a short dialog with the reader, Adams states how easy and predictable it would now be for him to end the story tragically. By choosing instead a "happy ending", he is deliberately trying to show that life can in fact be very unpredictable, and that happy, unexpected outcomes are just as real in this world as the bad, expected ones. Joy can indeed emerge from hopelessness, and this was an integral part of what the whole story was meant to convey.
I think it took much more effort on the author's part to write that kind of ending, instead of just opting for the "inevitable", and I really appreciated that. It's part of what made the book so special to me.

 

[Cees Alons]

Also, it gave him an opportunity to make the pompous minister (secretary of State in the US ) look much more stupid.


Cees

 

[Jay Pennington]

I think my question was misunderstood.

Someone suggested that in the past the film has been released to home video in edited form, with a "toned down" ending. Meaning the theatrical version had a more intense ending. (Never mind the novel)

Is this true, and is what I saw on VHS the theatrical version?

 

[Mike_Richardson]

Cees, steer clear of the movie altogether. It is unrelentingly sad and the ending adds insult to injury, not to mention alters the entire point as you say of Adams' book.

Frankly I can understand why the movie was a financial disaster. It misses the point of the book and has to rank as one of the most needlessly, unrelentingly grim films of its kind ever made.

 

[Cees Alons]

Mike,

It was only (early) in this thread that I learned about the changed ending.
This weekend I may read the book once again. You're right: I will not buy this movie.


Cees

 

[David*W]

Today the full uncut version of the Plague Dogs was passed by the BBFC. There is a new rights holder in the UK Optimum releasing, the studio that releases the Ghibli stuff here in the UK so they will probably do it justice.

THE PLAGUE DOGS Video Feature
Classified 19 June, 2007 . Run Time 99m 9s