THE ADVENTURES OF MILO AND OTIS

'''The Adventures of Milo and Otis''' is a 1989 (Japanese release: 1986) live action film starring an orange tabby cat named Milo and a fawn pug named Otis.
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 Tsuyuguchi narrated the Japanese version).
Director Masanori Hata and associate director Kon Ichikawa edited the film together from 400,000 feet of footage, shot over a period of four years.
The American version of the film contains music by classical composers including: "Serenade" by Franz Schubert, "Appalachian Spring" by Aaron Copland, "Of Foreign Lands and People" from "Scenes from Childhood" by Robert Schumann, "King Cotton" by John Philip Sousa, "Auf Dem Wasser Zu Singen D 774" by Franz Schubert, "People With Long Ears" by Saint-Saëns, "Dialogue Between the Wind and the Waves" from "La Mer" by Debussy, "Perpetual Motion" by Johann Strauss II, "How Beautifully Blue the Sky" by Gilbert and Sullivan, "Waltz in A minor" by Frederick Chopin, "Impromptu in B flat" by Schubert, and "Piano Concerto in A Minor op.54" by Edvard Grieg. The song "Walk Outside" by Dan Crow is also featured.

Contents

Story

Possible Animal Cruelty

External links

Notes

Story

The movie starts out in a barn while a mother cat is giving birth to kittens. One of the kittens is named Milo, and has a habit of being too curious. He soon finds a pug puppy named Otis, and they become friends. 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 less 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 awhile with a sow pig and her piglets; catches a fish, only to have it stolen by a raccoon; is mobbed by gulls; 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, whereapon they separate and raise children. 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 with their families in a happy ending.

Possible Animal Cruelty

There are numerous scenes in the film that depict animals placed in positions of danger, most notably the instance in which Milo falls from a high cliff into the sea. These sequences do not appear to have been artificially created. The common disclaimer that "no animals were harmed in the making" of the film is conspicuously absent during credit sequences, and it is unclear whether animals were indeed injured or killed during its production.

External links

★

Notes

#"Japanese moviegoers' love affair with a real cute cat," The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul); originally printed in The Economist (London); Metro, Pg. 29A; 26 October 1986.
# Klinghoffer, David. "That 'Milo and Otis': A pair of likable wags," The Washington Times; Arts & Entertainment, Pg. E3; 18 June 1990.