Review of Doggy Poo (2003) by Sabrina Augustine S — 23 Jun 2009

Is it alright to describe a pile of dog crap as being adorable? I wouldn't imagine that there would ever be a day that I would call any sort of fecal matter adorable, but that was the word that came to mind when I watched Oh-Sung Kwon's bizarre animated short Doggy Poo, which chronicles the lifespan of a dog turd that questions whether or not it has a purpose in life.

I was expecting this film to be traditionally animated, but was surprised to see that it was done in stop motion instead. I'm a big fan of stop motion animation, and am disappointed that not too many animators use the style anymore, especially with the advent in computer animation. The animation in Doggy Poo isn't amazing, but it is well enough to get the film's point across.

It was a little weird that this pile of poop managed to live for so long. I know that the idea of poop being alive should tell me that this isn't a story that I should bring logic into, but I still found it hard to believe that Doggy Poo could live through the four seasons like it does. At least the various encounters Doggy Poo had with things ranging from a leaf blowing in the wind to a hen and her chicks walking by were adorable... there's the word again... and made me forget the logic problems I had.

With each encounter Doggy Poo has with other talking objects or creatures the movie begins to lay on its overall theme that everything in life has a purpose. This idea is such a simple and cliche one these days, but it wasn't as irritating as it could have been. But then again, that might just be due to the fact that the film's central character is a pile of crap.

Doggy Poo isn't fantastic movie making, but it is a bizarre enough idea that I find it impossible to hate this film. I highly doubt that anyone will take anything deep and meaningful from the experience, since there are probably a bunch of better movies out there dealing with the "everything has a purpose" motif. But how many other movies out there can have you saying, "That poop is alright!"?