Emilie's Media Diary

Underdog is a movie by the same director that made Leafie, Hen into the Wild. After hearing the same people were working on another movie, I couldn't wait to see it. I probably still like Leafie more, but this movie is also great! The story follows Moongchi, a pet dog that gets abandoned by his owner. Because his owner told him to "wait", Moongchi is at first in denial about the fact that his owner is not coming back. Soon he is however forced to face the truth after he meets and befriends other dogs that have been thrown away by their masters. The protagonist also runs into a small dog pack living in the nearby mountains, but very much to his shock, he doesn't get a warm reception. After one of the dogs gets captured by a dog hunter, their hideout gets destroyed and some of the dogs get thrown into a puppy mill, both the city strays and the mountain dogs decide to band together to search for a new home. A german shepherd, a former military dog,...

Just like a few other entries in this blog, Leafie, A Hen into the Wild is a movie about family and parenthood. The main character, Leafie was a chicken born and raised in a chicken farm where she was made to constantly lay eggs in horrid conditions. Her dream is to one day be a mother, but life in a battery cage is making achieving her goal impossible. Getting fed up with being treated badly, Leafie manages to escape. Eventually, she ends up moving to the wilds after being rejected by farmyard animals Leafie first thought she could live with. She meets and befriends a mallard duck male called Wanderer. Leafie witnesses a weasel, One-eye, kill Wanderer's mate and volunteers to care for his only egg, now that his wife is gone. Wanderer agrees and gives Leafie instructions on how to raise the egg. Soon after, Wanderer himself dies trying to avenge his wife by fighting the weasel. Leafie than has to take care of the newly hatched duckling, who she named Greenie, alone. ...

(how many heart puns can I fit in this post? lol) Omae Umasou Da Na is a really sweet story about family. The name of the movie roughly translates to "You are delicious". The title is very fitting as the story follows Heart, an orphaned T-Rex that is adopted by a Maiasaura, a herbivore mother. Later in life Heart himself ends up raising an abandoned herbivore child. The movie is most definitely made for children, as it is based on a children's picture book series. However, it doesn't hold back in the least when it comments on the discrimination against families that do not fit the picture-perfect model. Heart's mother is forced to make a choice to either abandon the baby T-Rex she found, knowing there would be no way for it to survive on its own, or leave the herd she was part of. She did at first think about abandoning Heart because of the harsh reaction and cruel attitude of her herd mates. But after hearing Heart's pitiful cries, the mothe...

I feel bad talking about this Chinese movie because it will probably never get a western release... But GOD! It is stunning! Probably my favorite movie this year! (this came out September 2019) Legend of Hei is a prequel story to a web series called The Legend of Luo Xiaohei. Luckily, the web series can be found in many sites, including youtube. The creator of the web series was the director of the movie. The movie tells the journey of XiaoHei, a magical black cat. Hei has a very negative impression of humans, after all, they did destroy the forest he was living in, forcing him to move to a city. His life changes after he gets stuck traveling with a human that previously attacked him and his newfound friends. Surprisingly the two grow close and Hei starts to think about how he feels about humans and humanity. There is a more or less war going on between humans and non-humans, and Hei has to decide which side he will take. The core idea of the movie is learning to un...