Rock Dog (2017) - Through the Eyes of Cat

By Cat

Number Rolled: N/A

Movie Name/Year: Rock Dog (2017)

Tagline: Chase your dreams. Watch your tail.

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

Length: 90 minutes

Rating: PG

Production Companies: Mandoo Pictures, Eracme Entertainment, Dream Factory Group, Huayi Tencent Entertainment Company, Huayi Brothers Media Corp.

Producers: Mike Bundlie, Tan Fei, Deng Feng, Rob Feng, Uri Fleming, Benjamin Gilberg, Bin Huang, Zheng Jun, Felix Liu, Joyce Lou, Roger J. Luo, David B. Miller, Xue Niu, Chuck Peil, Yang Ruiyi, Alonzo Ruvalcaba, Lauren Selig, Liu Shengyi, Amber Wang, Zhongjun Wang, Zhonglei Wang, Angela Wu, Xiaoping Xu, Andrew Yang, Jerry Ye, Richard Zhang

Director: Ash Brannon

Writers: Ash Brannon, Kurt Voelker, Denise Bradley, Vincente DiSanti, Will Finn, Carolyn Gair, Zheng Jun, Josh Zinman

Actors: Luke Wilson, Eddie Izzard, J.K. Simmons, Lewis Black, Kenan Thompson, Mae Whitman, Jorge Garcia, Matt Dillon, Sam Elliott, Will Finn, Ash Brannon, Liza Richardson, Julie Craig, Kellen Goff

Stunt Doubles: None

Viewing Options: Netflix DVD, Amazon Instant Video, HBO GO, iTunes, Vudu, Youtube Movies (purchase)

Blurb from IMDb: When a radio falls from the sky into the hands of a wide-eyed Tibetan Mastiff, he leaves home to fulfill his dream of becoming a musician, setting into motion a series of completely unexpected events.

Cat’s Point of View: 

Selina had a super busy weekend and wasn’t able to join in on the movie for today’s article. Considering we didn’t roll the movie up for this review, I opted to be random in another way for my movie selection. I left it up to my 14 year old. 

My daughter was dying to watch Rock Dog, and so we pulled it up via Xfinity On Demand. It’s currently in HBO’s rotation so it’s available on their subscription service as well. My flash of inspiration for this review came about when I remembered the movie had made it onto my Top 20 list for February 2017, hitting the countdown at a solid #13.

To summarize my reasoning for its list placement: I dig movies about musicians trying to make it, the interesting cast, it looked cute, and the voice of Sam Elliott’s (Digging for Fire, The Ranch, The Hero). 

All told, the movie wasn’t really all that original on a thematic level. It didn’t stand out as groundbreaking in style or substance. It was fairly predictable. 

That being said, it was still an endearing movie with some underlying positive messages. The film was clearly targeted to younger audiences. There were a few bits here and there targeted to older viewers, though. Even though the animation wasn’t jaw-dropping, it was still well done and flowed smoothly. 

Best of all, the movie delivered on the funny. My whole family was laughing, and that’s something. I think Eddie Izzard’s (Valkyrie, Monty Python Live (Mostly), Victoria and Abdul) cool-cat character, Angus, really stole the show. 

Even though the rock was a bit on the soft side, we really enjoyed ourselves for this family night movie selection. I wouldn’t mind watching it again, really.

Languages

Speech Available: English

Subtitles Available: Varies dependent on viewing platform.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 46%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 45%

Metascore – 48/100

Metacritic User Score – 6.4/10

IMDB Score – 5.8/10

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5

Movie Trailer: