The Adventures of Milo and Otis
Encyclopedia
The Adventures of Milo and Otis is a live action Japan
ese film about an orange tabby cat
named Milo and a fawn pug
named Otis.
The original Japanese
version was released on June 27, 1986, and the reworked English language
version was released on August 25, 1989.
Initially filmed as Koneko Monogatari (子猫物語 A Kitten's Story; alternate English title: The Adventures of Chatran) in Kitakyushu
, Japan, the film was completely revamped, trimmed and westernized
with added narration by Dudley Moore
(Shigeru Tsuyuki narrated the Japanese version). Director Masanori Hata
and associate director Kon Ichikawa
edited the film together from 400,000 feet of footage (which is roughly 40.3 hours), shot over a period of four years.
s. One of the kittens is named Milo, and has a habit of being too curious and getting himself into trouble. He finds a pug
puppy
named Otis, and they soon become friends. They then look after Gloria's chick, who thinks Otis is his mother. Otis convinces the chick that Otis is not his mother by acting tough on Milo and scaring the Chick. When Milo is playing inside a box floating in the river, he accidentally drifts downstream. Otis runs after Milo. Milo goes on many adventures, escaping one incident after another.
He encounters no fewer than three bears; escapes from the desolate, raven
-infested Deadwood Swamp; steals a muskrat from a vulpine cache; follows a train-track to the home of a female deer, who shelters him; sleeps in an Owl's "dreaming nest"; stays for a while with a sow pig and her piglets; catches a fish, only to have it stolen by a raccoon; is mobbed by seagulls; and evades first the third bear, then a snake, only to fall into a hole.
Otis, for his part, follows Milo throughout, usually only an hour behind and less than a mile out of range. Finally, the two catch up with one another while Milo is in the hole. Otis pulls him out by means of a rope. Milo and Otis are reunited, and soon find mates of their own: Joyce, a cat, for Milo; and Sondra, a pug
, for Otis. After this, they separate and raise puppies and kittens. They help each other's families to survive the harsh winter
and find their way back together through the forest
to their barn, living together.
and included a theme song of the same name performed by Noriko Yoshinaga. The soundtrack was released as The Adventures of Chatran: Original Soundtrack.
The English-language version of the film contains music by classical composers including:
The song "Walk Outside", written by Dick Tarrier, is performed by Dan Crow
in the opening shots and end credits.
n animal rights
organizations raised allegations of animal cruelty during filming and called for a boycott
. The Sunday Mail
reported at the time that Animal Liberation Queensland founder Jacqui Kent alleged the killing of more than 20 kittens during production and added that she was disturbed by reports from Europe which alleged other animals had been injured, as in one case where a producer allegedly had broken a cat's paw to make it appear unsteady on its feet. Kent said her organization had a number of complaints from people who had seen the film and were concerned that it could not have been made without cruelty. The Tasmanian and Victorian branches of the RSPCA also alleged abuses.
The film was reported to have the approval of the American Humane Society
, despite not having their officers present during filming.
The American Humane Association attempted to investigate cruelty rumors through "contacts in Europe who normally have information on movies throughout the world." While noting that the contacts had also heard the allegations, they were unable to verify them. The organization also reported, "we have tried through humane people in Japan, and through another Japanese producer to determine if these rumors are true, but everything has led to a dead end." However, the same report noted that several Japanese Humane Societies allowed their names to be used in connection with the film and that the film "shows no animals being injured or harmed."
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese film about an orange tabby cat
Tabby cat
A tabby is any cat that has a distinctive coat that features stripes, dots, lines or swirling patterns, usually together with an "M" mark on its forehead. Tabbies are sometimes erroneously assumed to be a cat breed. In fact, the tabby pattern is found in many breeds of cat, as well as among the...
named Milo and a fawn pug
Pug
The pug is a "toy" breed of dog with a wrinkly, short-muzzled face, and curled tail. The breed has a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, and a compact square body with well-developed muscle. They have been described as multum in parvo , referring to the pug's personality and...
named Otis.
The original Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
version was released on June 27, 1986, and the reworked English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version was released on August 25, 1989.
Initially filmed as Koneko Monogatari (子猫物語 A Kitten's Story; alternate English title: The Adventures of Chatran) in Kitakyushu
Kitakyushu, Fukuoka
is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyūshū, Japan. It is midway between Tokyo and Shanghai.- Demographics :Kitakyūshū has a population of just under one million...
, Japan, the film was completely revamped, trimmed and westernized
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
with added narration by Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
(Shigeru Tsuyuki narrated the Japanese version). Director Masanori Hata
Masanori Hata
is a Japanese zoologist, essayist, and filmmaker. A popular essayist under the pen name Mutsugorō, he was awarded the Kikuchi Kan Prize for his writing in 1977. He is perhaps best known in the West as the director and screenwriter of the 1989 film The Adventures of Milo and Otis.Hata was born in...
and associate director Kon Ichikawa
Kon Ichikawa
was a Japanese film director.-Early life and career:Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture. In the 1930s Ichikawa attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O. Studio, in their animation department...
edited the film together from 400,000 feet of footage (which is roughly 40.3 hours), shot over a period of four years.
Plot
The film opens in a barn with a mother cat who has given birth to kittenKitten
A kitten is a juvenile domesticated cat.The young of big cats are called cubs rather than kittens. Either term may be used for the young of smaller wild felids such as ocelots, caracals, and lynx, but "kitten" is usually more common for these species....
s. One of the kittens is named Milo, and has a habit of being too curious and getting himself into trouble. He finds a pug
Pug
The pug is a "toy" breed of dog with a wrinkly, short-muzzled face, and curled tail. The breed has a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, and a compact square body with well-developed muscle. They have been described as multum in parvo , referring to the pug's personality and...
puppy
Puppy
A puppy is a juvenile dog. Some puppies may weigh , while larger ones can weigh up to . All healthy puppies grow quickly after birth. A puppy's coat color may change as the puppy grows older, as is commonly seen in breeds such as the Yorkshire Terrier...
named Otis, and they soon become friends. They then look after Gloria's chick, who thinks Otis is his mother. Otis convinces the chick that Otis is not his mother by acting tough on Milo and scaring the Chick. When Milo is playing inside a box floating in the river, he accidentally drifts downstream. Otis runs after Milo. Milo goes on many adventures, escaping one incident after another.
He encounters no fewer than three bears; escapes from the desolate, raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
-infested Deadwood Swamp; steals a muskrat from a vulpine cache; follows a train-track to the home of a female deer, who shelters him; sleeps in an Owl's "dreaming nest"; stays for a while with a sow pig and her piglets; catches a fish, only to have it stolen by a raccoon; is mobbed by seagulls; and evades first the third bear, then a snake, only to fall into a hole.
Otis, for his part, follows Milo throughout, usually only an hour behind and less than a mile out of range. Finally, the two catch up with one another while Milo is in the hole. Otis pulls him out by means of a rope. Milo and Otis are reunited, and soon find mates of their own: Joyce, a cat, for Milo; and Sondra, a pug
Pug
The pug is a "toy" breed of dog with a wrinkly, short-muzzled face, and curled tail. The breed has a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, and a compact square body with well-developed muscle. They have been described as multum in parvo , referring to the pug's personality and...
, for Otis. After this, they separate and raise puppies and kittens. They help each other's families to survive the harsh winter
Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...
and find their way back together through the forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
to their barn, living together.
Soundtrack
The original Japanese soundtrack was composed by Ryuichi SakamotoRyuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
and included a theme song of the same name performed by Noriko Yoshinaga. The soundtrack was released as The Adventures of Chatran: Original Soundtrack.
The English-language version of the film contains music by classical composers including:
- "SerenadeSerenadeIn music, a serenade is a musical composition, and/or performance, in someone's honor. Serenades are typically calm, light music.The word Serenade is derived from the Italian word sereno, which means calm....
" by Franz SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, - "Appalachian SpringAppalachian SpringAppalachian Spring is a modern score composed by Aaron Copland that premiered in 1944 and has achieved widespread and enduring popularity as an orchestral suite...
" by Aaron CoplandAaron CoplandAaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
, - "Of Foreign Lands and People" from "Scenes from Childhood" by Robert SchumannRobert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, - "King CottonKing CottonKing Cotton was a slogan used by southerners to support secession from the United States by arguing cotton exports would make an independent Confederacy economically prosperous, and—more important—would force Great Britain and France to support the Confederacy because their industrial economy...
" by John Philip SousaJohn Philip SousaJohn Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....
, - "Auf Dem Wasser Zu Singen D 774" by Franz SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, - "People With Long EarsThe Carnival of the AnimalsLe carnaval des animaux is a musical suite of fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The orchestral work has a duration between 22 and 30 minutes.-History:...
" by Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-SaënsCharles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
, - "Dialogue Between the Wind and the Waves" from "La Mer" by Debussy,
- "Perpetual Motion" by Johann Strauss IIJohann Strauss IIJohann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
, - "How Beautifully Blue the Sky" by Gilbert and SullivanGilbert and SullivanGilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
, - "Waltz in A minor" by Frédéric ChopinFrédéric ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, - "Impromptu in B flat" by Schubert, a "Bourree" from Terpsichore by PraetoriusPraetoriusPraetorius, Prätorius, Prætorius was the name of several musicians and scholars in Germany.In Germany of the 16th and 17th centuries it became a fashion that educated people named "Schulze" or "Schultheiß" or "Richter", which means "judge", put their name into the Latin language as "Praetorius",...
, and - "Piano Concerto in A Minor op.54" by Edvard Grieg.
The song "Walk Outside", written by Dick Tarrier, is performed by Dan Crow
Dan Crow (musician)
Dan Crow is an Emmy award-winning performer of children's songs. He is best known for performing the theme song of the movie The Adventures of Milo and Otis, but also composed many Disney songs, most significantly for Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo...
in the opening shots and end credits.
Reception
The Adventures of Milo and Otis was the number one Japanese film on the domestic market in 1986, earning ¥5.4 billion in distribution income.Animal cruelty allegations
When the film was first released, several AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
organizations raised allegations of animal cruelty during filming and called for a boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
. The Sunday Mail
The Sunday Mail (Brisbane)
The Sunday Mail is Brisbane's only Sunday newspaper. The Sunday Mail is published in tabloid format, comprising several sections that can be extracted and read separately.-Publishing:...
reported at the time that Animal Liberation Queensland founder Jacqui Kent alleged the killing of more than 20 kittens during production and added that she was disturbed by reports from Europe which alleged other animals had been injured, as in one case where a producer allegedly had broken a cat's paw to make it appear unsteady on its feet. Kent said her organization had a number of complaints from people who had seen the film and were concerned that it could not have been made without cruelty. The Tasmanian and Victorian branches of the RSPCA also alleged abuses.
The film was reported to have the approval of the American Humane Society
Humane Society
A humane society may be a group that aims to stop human or animal suffering due to cruelty or other reasons, although in many countries, it is now used mostly for societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals...
, despite not having their officers present during filming.
The American Humane Association attempted to investigate cruelty rumors through "contacts in Europe who normally have information on movies throughout the world." While noting that the contacts had also heard the allegations, they were unable to verify them. The organization also reported, "we have tried through humane people in Japan, and through another Japanese producer to determine if these rumors are true, but everything has led to a dead end." However, the same report noted that several Japanese Humane Societies allowed their names to be used in connection with the film and that the film "shows no animals being injured or harmed."
Awards
- The Japanese Academy (1987)
- Won: Popularity Award Most Popular Film
- Nominated: Award of the Japanese Academy Best Music Score (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
- Young Artist Awards (1990)
- Nominated: Young Artist Award Best Family Motion Picture - Adventure or Cartoon
- Joe Klingelhoffer: Best Non-Animated Animal Film with Voiceovers
- Nominated: Young Artist Award Best Family Motion Picture - Adventure or Cartoon
External links
- Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)