Space Dogs (2010)

Spoilers Are Likely (Not If You Know The Space Race)So, Here I Am Again. Today, I'll Be Reviewing Space Dogs, Russia's First Full-Length CGI Effort. Even Though It's Based Off Stuff That Actually Happened In The Soviet Union, A Country I LOVE Learning About, There's Still Reasons For Me To Tear This Film To Shreds.In Real Life, These Dogs (Belka And Strelka) Were The First Dogs Safely Returned From Space, Which Capitalised Off The Faults Of The Groundbreaking, Albeit Infamous Sputnik 2 Mission And Cleared The Way For The Soviets To Send Up The First People. This Film Exaggerates The Dogs' Capture, Training And Mission By Portraying Them As Actual Characters And Presenting The Film From Their Perspective. But In Spite Of It's Historical Roots...The Film Still Sucks.The Problem Is I Found The Dogs To Have Been Portrayed Pretty Bad, Even For A First Try. They Try To Make Their Dreams And Motivations Clear, But The Only Slightly Positive Factor Came Out Of That Was The Relationship Between Belka And Strelka. The Films Animation Is Up To Modern Standards, But Still Choppy And Unprofessional. The Only Time Where The Animation Looks Decent Is (Ironically) The Nighttime Scenes. Not To Mention, The Film Is Boring, Incoherent And Uninvolving, With Two-Dimensional Acting And Messages That Don't Translate Because Of The Aforementioned Reasons.What Do I Have To Say About Space Dogs? Read The Title Again. I've Seen Better Films The Actual Soviets Made And-Wait, There's A SEQUEL?!

Russian animated film from 2010. The dog Belka thrown out on the streets of Moscow when the rocket on her circus stops working in the midst of a performance. She hits the street-smart Strelkas and rat Lyonya and the new trio soon forced to flee from the scary Bulldog. The film is based on the Soviet space dogs and honors the first animals who survived an orbital space trip. Space Dogs give children a insight of how the exploration of space began. The vast array of lovable characters and quality computer-animated. During the end credits, real-life archive footage from the Soviet Space Program and Space Dogs is shown. Highly recommend this movie for all ages especially for children.

I took the time to write a brief review because I feel that the other reviewers definitely missed the point. Space dogs doesn't have the best state of the art animation technology, but the characters are really nice and lovable and we must give a chance to other productions to develop, not only Disney/Pixar. After all, many people still enjoy the old Bety Boop cartoons from the 20's, so the technique is not really the most important in a story. That said, I wouldn't call the animation "crude". It's not Mamoru Oshii, but it's acceptable.I admit, the story has a bit of nostalgia for the old soviet times, which on the other side is a legitime feeling for many people in that side of the world. But I wouldn't call that "Propaganda", unless we agree to also call propaganda to 90% of the American animation. The most important thing about it: It's fun to watch, my 3 and 4 year old kids enjoyed a lot, and we have had a really good time together.

This movie seams exceedingly cheap. The animation is crude, the movements seem like something out of a stop motion movie, and the 3D effects are so crude, that it will give you a headache at times. But that isn't even the worst of it. This movie is, from start to finish, nothing more than a horrible and misguided glorification of the Russia that used to be. Everywhere you look you see happy faces alongside communist symbols. For this reason alone, this movie will never be recommended by me. This type of political propaganda has absolutely no place in a movie made for children. I was honestly left with a very bad taste in my mouth. I found the whole thins more than distasteful.