Does The Dog Die?

[Bolo Boffin]

21. Killing an animal (pet or otherwise) is so often a cheap exploitation of emotion

But sometimes that's necessary to the story - "Old Yeller" being the primary and best example. When it works right, I can live with it on screen or in a book. (Ever read Old Yeller? His death in the books is even more powerful, if you can imagine that.)

Far worse is the narrative tactic of letting the pet or animal get hurt and then recovering. I could probably count on my left hand the times I've seen this actually work in a movie or book. Every other time it has been the worst sort of emotional manipulation.

War Horse is an example of it working, after the horse gets tangled in the barbed wire of No Man's Land. That's one of the few times I thought the device was not misused. It led to a scene that struck at the heart of the movie's theme, and they didn't sugarcoat the damage to the horse.

My worst example is from Dante's Peak, though. It's a volcano disaster movie starring Pierce Bronson. The "magic returning pet" put me off of what had been a pretty good story. It follows a very powerful moment, one that had me putting the movie rather high in my estimation. Then the dog came back against all odds and just undercut the whole theme of sacrifice. Sickly saccharin sweet doesn't help the medicine go down, I'm sorry.