The Adventures of Milo & Otis (1989)

Milo Down the River

"Milo and Otis" must have taken a lot to put together. There is so much they have all the animals doing and interacting with. There's all of Milo's hiding places on the farm, Milo's adventures down waterfalls and off cliffs, Otis' struggle with a bear, Otis' ride on the back of a turtle during high tide. How did they manage it all? A friend who I was watching with suggested the turtle wasn't real when it was shown being ridden on. I don't know about that myself, I think it's hard to say...

The story is of Milo the cat and Otis the dog, who grow up as kitten and puppy on the farm, helping look after the chickens' eggs and playing hide and seek among other things. One of Milo's hiding places is a box on the river, but this ends up drifting downstream, with Milo helpless inside. Otis follows Milo, and during the adventures to come back together and get back to the farm, they both grow up a lot.

Dudley Moore does the narration, and I think he does a charming job, and helps make the funny moments funnier. The beginning of the film is a lot faster paced than I remember when I was a kid in the cinema, which was surprising. It's interesting to hear how Dudley keeps up with all the farm scenes coming one after the other. I love the scenery out in the wild too, with it's rivers and forests and greenery. I'd love to visit wherever it was they filmed. September 16, 2008

Picked it up for my 2 year-old, I'd forgotten most of it.

I bought this for my son, and when he saw the front cover he immediatly wanted to see it. He simply referred to it as just Otis he has a hard time saying Milo for some reason. I was very happy I bought it, and that he wanted to watch it with me since normally he only wants to watch cartoon DVD's. My long-term memory could only pick up a yellow kitten floating in a box down a river, so I must admit I was just as excited to watch it again for the first time in over a decade.

When I finished watching it I thought wow this is a really great movie. I read that it took 4 years to make, and I could see why every scene was absolutely perfect. The so-called "animal abuse" in this film should be overlooked, because animals on farms do have to deal with things like this, and the bear was obviously a trained animal, and he never hurt the dog or cat. I did feel kind of bad at first for the cat when he went down the waterfall, but I don't think he was really in there they had to have did some kind of trick, because I'm sure the cat would have fallen out and drowned if they hadn't.

I won't spoil the end but I just think it was so cute, and this is a great movie for kids of all ages, especially toddlers because they get to see all the farm animals. My son just laughed and laughed at the "doggie" and "kitty", especially when Otis fell in this little hole. Ignore the bad comments on this movie, and just buy it.

August 11, 2008

Milo and Otis

This is a funny and cute video for the whole
family. It's beautifully photographed and
narrated hilariously by Dudley Moore. August 4, 2008

Good Movie

"The Adventures of Milo and Otis" is a heart warming movie ... one of those films both the kids and parents can enjoy together.

It's the story of friendship between an orange cat (Milo) and a pug dog (Otis). They meet while still a pups ... or kitten ... on a farm and are inseparable after that. Well, almost inseparable.

The movie has some adorable moments of animals being with each other .... not just Milo and Otis, but ducks, deer, bear, pigs, a fox, and chickens. It takes your heart away to see this innocence.

The movie gets a little bogged down toward the end. Our two little heroes get separated and it's just not as much fun. The movie maker should have kept them together the whole time (I believe).

But this movie is well worth checking out.
July 1, 2008

Disturbing to watch

I loved this movie as a child, but now that I watch it as an adult, it is clear that the animals are in real distress no matter how you cut the film. Whether any of them died or not, it is not difficult to see when an animal, especially Milo in this movie, is scared and in pain. Watching Milo get pecked by seagulls and then thrown off a cliff made my stomach turn. If you like to see animals in cruel situations, then this movie is for you. June 30, 2008

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