User Reviews

One of the most emotionally involving, deep, thoughtful films I have ever seen. And it's about poo! Using claymation this minor animation masterpiece tells the tale of a lil' poo all alone in the world questioning it's existence, 'Doggy Poo' creates a realistic character in poo making one genuinely care. The voice talent also is to be applauded; Poo is voiced by a child that you won't hate after mere minutes! After being dropped by a Jack Russell the lil' fella meets various characters passing him along the way; all who have found their place in life. Poo then struggles to see why he's here. If you've any interest in animation you really should check out this minor gem! However, maybe not one for the kids. Whilst not Von Trier, the first two thirds are very dark, but then again it might be a sensible, workable approach to explain death to children. Choose life.....choose Poo!

The extrusion of Doggy Poo from the dog's anus tied my stomach into knots, I was so awe stricken as Doggy Poo realized that it had a conscious. The knots in my stomach started to intensify and pang as the ox drawn cart threatened to flatten our hero and it's friend as they discussed their purposes in life. There are many similar incidents in this film that will make you wriggle in your seat, as Doggy Poo interacts with other characters to discuss the meaning of life.

Digesting this film might be difficult for children as the subject matter is indeed existential, and you may think it's too radical as the dialectical tendencies reduce the subject matter to it's most basic components. Luckily the film only clocks in at thirty-minuets, which is short enough to prevent the child audience from becoming too agitated.

I don't want to spoil the end of the film for you, but you will feel that a great weight has been expelled from you as our main character discovers their purpose in life. You may even feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the film.

Before even reading the other reviews, I realised that this is one of those love-it-or-hate-it films. In fact, I found it slightly strange and weird at the start, but, as you keep watching, it becomes very absorbing. Deeper meanings aside, this film is fantastic, it is a mixture of very good animation with an intriguing plot line. I found the music especially good as it had a similar tune throughout but a different mood for every different scene/season. Some people say this film is advocating god, but in my opinion, the only thing the film is stressing about is about the beauty and preciousness of life and nature, no matter how seemingly unimportant it is (hence using the doggy poo as the main character and not a tree, for example). All in all, it is a magnificent film which once seen, will inspire you to go outside and stare at trees for a while. Well worth watching.

"Doggy Poo" is a South Korean animated short film that runs for a bit over half an hour including credits. The director and co-writer here is Oh-Sung Kwon and he made this back in 2004, so next year it will have its 15th anniversary. For him as well as most other people who worked on this one, it is their only career effort. Maybe the subject of talking dog poo really hurts your career if it' the only credit you got. But it's not a failure all in all, but still there are major weaknesses. It is truly a bit gross there is no denying. Maybe Pixar or Disney could have made us forget about that, but Itasca cannot. Completely aside from that, the film dragged a bit and that's not good at all if it happens at this runtime already. The voice actors are tolerable, nothing more. As you can see from the cast list here on imdb, there is of course an English dub out. This is not anime, but judging from the animation you'd definitely not locate this one in Asia. It looks very western (not the genre obviously), very American. Another problem is that the film never really makes up its mind if it wants to be for kids only or for grown-ups mostly. Sometimes it is so childish and simple, while at other moments it tries to go for emotion and depth that is definitely above the little ones. All in all, I must say that I cannot be too sad that Kwon has not returned to filmmaking afterwards judging from the quality here. With all the time passed, chances are he probably never will. This film is not a piece of s*it/crap (pun indeed intended!) oh yes I went there, but also not close to being good enough for me to recommend the watch here. My suggestion is you skip these 30 minutes and watch something else instead.