My Dog Tulip

(USA, 2009, 79 mins)

PRODS: Norman Twain, Howard Kaminsky, Frank Pellegrino
SCR: Paul Fierlinger, Sandra Fierlinger, Peter Parker
ANIM: Paul Fierlinger, Sandra Fierlinger
MUS: John Avarese
Cast: Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave, Isabella Rossellini

In 1947, J.R. Ackerley rescued an 18-month-old Alsatian bitch named Tulip from a life of poverty and squalour, and in so doing changed his life forever.

To his surprise, she turned out to be the great love of his life. Beautifully rendered by animators Paul and Sandra Fierlinger, My Dog Tulip is as much a portrait of the human animal as the canine variety. Its characters are an eccentric cross-section of British dog-owning society-and their bow wows--dryly and earthily observed.

Ackerley's beloved book, upon which the film is based, is peopled by curious species such as Captain Pugh, a retired Army officer so splendidly indolent he can never be more than a few feet away from a couch at all times. With typical acidic affection Ackerley writes of Pugh: "Those rare moments when he was not horizontal he would stalk about the farm buildings with great vigour, making pertinent remarks in his military voice and spreading consternation among the cows." Determined to provide Tulip with every possible type of doggy happiness including the pleasures of sexual love and motherhood, Ackerley sets out to discover a suitable king for his queen. In the words of a wise vet (voiced with calm precision by Isabella Rossellini), "She's in love with you, that's obvious." Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave and Brian Murray grace the film with idiosyncratic charm and wit.

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