Detailed Animal Action Report

Animal action is simple in this film consisting of a variety of dogs, a parakeet and pigeons. In the opening scenes where we are introduced to Harry and his “Mutt Cutts” business, we see a variety of dogs in his van. Harry is transporting the canines to a dog show and gets hungry. He stops at a fast food restaurant and buys some lunch for himself and the dogs. Back in the driver’s seat, he calls them up to the front of the van, one by one, to give them their take-out orders. For this scene, the trainers were behind the curtain that separated the front and back of the van and placed the dogs between the van seats when the sandwich or dog’s name was called. A carry-kennel was put between the seats so the smaller dogs could be seen by the camera. A platform was placed behind the carrier so that the dogs could get up and down with a minimum of assistance. The scene was shot in cuts. The van was set on a trailer that simulated movement making it appear as if Harry was driving and serving at the same time. The van was not actually moving for some of these interior shots. Other camera angles were shot as the trailer and van were pulled around the city at a slow pace accompanied by a police escort. Harry appears to be driving at a reckless pace and the dogs are presumably sliding around in the back of the van. Harry has also thrown the condiments into the back of the van so that the dogs can help themselves. By the time he arrives at the dog show, the animals are a complete mess, covered in mustard, catsup and relish, to the complete horror of their owners. For this scene, the dogs were covered in a water soluble gelatin, colored with yellow, green and red to simulate the different condiments. The animals were placed into the van by their trainers, given voice commands and rewarded with food and praise for their actions. When we see Harry and Lloyd at home, we also see Lloyd’s worm farm and Harry’s pet parakeet, Petey. The worm farm appeared to contain no live worms and was built by the prop department out of an aquarium filled with dirt and spaghetti. For scenes in which Petey is alive, a real parakeet was placed in the cage by his trainer. In the scenes where we see the thug reach into the cage to kill Petey and later Petey with his head taped back on, a fake parakeet was used. In a dream sequence when Lloyd is fantasizing about meeting Mary again, he goes to her door and as she opens it, birds flutter up behind her. For this scene, pigeons were released by their owner. The birds’ coop was only fifty feet from the doorway where they were released and they simply flew back to the coop. Once the boys reach Aspen, they find that Mary is the daughter of a prominent and wealthy man who is sponsoring a fund raising event to save the Snowy Owl. They get dressed up in gaudy tuxedos and crash the Preservationist Benefit, where we see two Snowy Owls in a large cage on display. Being the klutz that he is, Lloyd pops a bottle of champagne only to have the cork hit one of the owls, killing off yet another of the precious endangered species. For this scene, fake mechanical owls were used. Other animals used as background atmosphere in Aspen were ducks swimming on a pond and a horse and carriage.