Through the late seventies and early eighties it seems as though there was a concerted effort to push western animation out of purely children’s fare and into some more challenging directions. Judging from the current state of the animation world round these parts it’s not hard to see that Bakshi et all failed to make a lasting impact but the efforts of that time period yielded some fascinating work that is slowly re-emerging now on DVD. Such is the case with Martin Rosen’s Plague Dogs, his second animated adaptation of a Richard Adams novel following his previous work on Watership Down.
This is truly devastating and masterful stuff, even in the truncated US cut that's the only version I've seen. A must see for anyone remotely interested in serious animation - if you can handle it, that is. I'm not even a dog lover, and this just breaks my heart every time. Now then, where's WHEN THE WIND BLOWS, so I can hook up the ultimate feel-bad animated double feature?
Here's a trailer/music video, unfortunately in the wrong aspect ratio.
http://media.putfile.com/Plague-Dogs-Trailer-AMV-