The Plague Dogs

With all of the experiments that have been performed on animals over the years its amazing that there haven't been more accidents than are portrayed in the movies. In some ways its easy to see where this story is fantasy, and where its reality, the talking dogs are quite obviously the fantasy part. Yet this story has some basis in the real world and who better to bring this story to the public awareness than Richard Adams the successful author of Watership Down. Like with Watership we're introduced to characters that you want to cheer for and cry with from the beginning to end of the film.
Two dogs escape from a test laboratory in Scotland to get away from the White Coats, but when its realized that they may have come in contact with a plague virus the only option is to kill them. The voice talent that is gathered together for this film ranges from John Hurt to James Bolan to Patrick Stewart, and with some old school animation this story is a pleasure to watch unfold. Some of the images are, at times, a little disturbing to see but they are completely necessary to bring across the focus of the story, and without them the audience would never have the emotional connection with the main characters.
Even with some very adult situations, mainly the violence that occurs throughout the film, this is a story that should seen by the whole family. It shows flat out the value that some people put on the lives of our fellow creatures on this planet, and the inhumanity that it spreads when it's given the chance. So hopefully the biggest thing that younger viewers of this powerful, yet little known film, is that all life is precious no matter what shape it comes in.