And this week's Friday night movie has been... Footrot Flats: A Dog's Tail Tale!
Happy New Year! And what better way to set off another year of movie watching, lets take a look at a movie that I have wanting to see for a long time.
I remember Footrot Flats when I was a kid. Certainly I knew of the comic strip but a lot of the humour went over my head - I guess one has to be sheep farmer to get the most out of it. But I do remember knowing the characters and, in particular, Dog. And I knew of this movie and the accompanying theme song - Dave Dobbyn's Slice of Heaven - so I may as well get off my slack arse and watch this.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this movie is that it is a New Zealand production and a major stab at getting an animated New Zealand movie made (has any more been made since?). And the animated is indeed delightful - ironically being outsourced from a Sydney animation studio - with special mention going to some rather stunning backgrounds.
Problem is, there is no plot to speak of: just a series of misadventures involving bad jokes, pointless scenes, archaic situations, the afore-mentioned farmer-centric humour and New Zealand pride that would look alien to outsiders.
Needless to say it was disappointing that a movie I have been wanting to see turned out to be downright dull.
But at least we still have Slice of Heaven.
And so 2025 is off to a flying start....
