Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale

...and A1+++++, I loved this kid's movie! It's entertaining down-on-the-farm happenings are brilliantly brought to life through the late great Murray Ball's creations. Get the 1986 movie now on DVD; it's a true keeper for kids of all ages!

I am quite happy with the way Murray Ball has put together such a great movie. I am a girl I know but I love football... The soundtrack to go with the movie just made the movie so much better. I do agree with the annoying helicopter noise and not enough of the song Slice of Heaven. But have bought it and is in a special collection. Congratulations to all cast and crew for a great job.... A movie that will never die for me... I watched the making of the movie and it was the best part of the DVD. Seeing the characters are really based on actual people. They have made the details so accurate it is unbelievable. Don't judge the movie until you watch the making of the Footrot Flats. Considering how old the movie is, it is still so popular. Wal was my best character as he reminds me so much of an average every day guy, but he is still so romantic. My other favorite character is dog. The biggest sook but still a mans best friend. I hope everyone enjoys the movie as much a I did.

A great piece of work by New Zealand cartoonist Murray Ball. This shows New Zealand culture at its best. Most people will think of xena when they think of New Zealand entertainment but this is really a piece of art.

This film was indeed a big hit when it came out in the mid-80s. I watched it again recently for the first time since seeing it on the big screen, and was suprised at how different my perception was of it as an adult rather than a kid. As a kid I don't remember the awful synth music being quite so awful, yet of course this can be put down to the decade which spawned it. The voice of the dog was also far too weak and naieve, and was the script, I didn't feel that it captured the dog's character as I imagined it having grown up reading the Footrot Flats cartoons. Aside from the script and soundtrack though, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie again. The backgrounds are great and really capture the dark gritty feel of rural New Zealand. The animation is good and the rugby scenes are funny and really capture the end of an era - farmers dreaming of being All Blacks, not for money but for glory. The days before the All Blacks donned Adidas shirts. I think that if the soundtrack was re-recorded and some of the script changed this A Dog's Tail could be re-released and make a comeback in the theatres. However as a slice of 80s it is a pristine example as it is.

Beautifully drawn but Clunky, economical animation and an abysmal home made soundtrack, Its most damming mistake was to almost completely ignore the subtle and endearing humor of the original comic strip. The story was at its best when it was more true to its origins. There was just way to much noise,action, fight and chase sequences. Not to mention the most annoying helicopter ever animated. Another sore note is the under use of Dave Dobins "Slice of heaven". A missed opportunity considering what a great song it is. In context and at the time it was released it was popular and its seemed New Zealand was saying to the rest of the world, "watch this space" 3/10

As a Kiwi who grew up with this comic strip, I looked hard to find this film which few stores in my part of Australia seem to stock. However, I was disappointed in the results. The film tries to fit far too much in, and lacks a coherent plot. Where's the resolution of the dog drowning in the sheep dip? What about the 'breakup' between Wal and Cheeky? My kids watched the film and frankly were bored. It just goes to show that a great comic strip doesn't necessarily work as a film. I also thought the soundtrack was lame, especially when Wal (voiced by the always excellent John Clarke) suddenly breaks into song with the high-pitched tones of Dave Dobbyn - a voice that would have been much more suited to the dog. Let's face it, if this wasn't a Kiwi animation with nostalgic value for many of us, it would be a complete bomb

Vale Murray Ball - and thank you TV3 for screening this homage to a bygone era. Yes it's dated, sexist, homophobic and probably racist to boot, but there's still something quintessentially endearingly cheerful about this snapshot in time of a bygone age. Our heroes face Homerically impossible odds against the evil forces of the Murphys, rats, wild pigs, the weather and anything else you can think of - but time after time they snatch victory from the jaws of defeat - this is the kind of spirit that led to the invention of Number 8 fencing wire, this is New Zealand...

An important New Zealand/Australian animation film (officially New Zealand, but the animation was done in Australia with a local crew) that was an enormous success in both countries in the 80s thanks to the popularity there of the comic strip that it adapts. The animation is very good and the film has some freshness to it, but the episodic narration and the songs make the experience kind of a struggle.