Movie and TV’s Most Underrated Animals
By Thomas Chandler
From Winnie the Poo to Pluto, to Tom and Jerry, Squidward and Nemo, and of course the casts of Ice Age and Madagascar, animals on TV and in film have allowed the most exaggerated caricatures of modern storytelling to take their personas to the limit.
Suffice it to say that animal characters have been done to death in film and television. Only recently have they made their debut on Internet TV, and these new breeds are a far cry from their wide-eyed predecessors. Our new favorite is Mary’s murderous little lamb from KoldCast TV’s macabre cartoon comedy Grimm Endings, a show that proves our favorite childhood nursery rhymes can be rated G for grim.
Suffice it to say that animal characters have been done to death in film and television. Only recently have they made their debut on Internet TV, and these new breeds are a far cry from their wide-eyed predecessors. Our new favorite is Mary’s murderous little lamb from KoldCast TV’s macabre cartoon comedy Grimm Endings, a show that proves our favorite childhood nursery rhymes can be rated G for grim.
In this version, Mary’s white-as-snow lamb doesn’t just pout outside her schoolhouse after being shown the exit. He devises a plan – using apples and a good old-fashioned Louisville slugger – to punish the teacher who snubbed him. Stories like this remind us that the days of cutesy critters who exist namely to teach us moral lessons are over.
Click to watch Grimm Endings’ “Mary Had a Little Lamb”
Of course, along the way there have been some great TV and movie animals with something to say and attitude to boot. We’d like to reintroduce those who’ve had their heyday but have since been largely forgotten, and those who never quite got their due in the first place. As Gill from Finding Nemo would say, “Fish aren’t meant to be in a box, kid. It does things to them.”
Mister Ed (Mister Ed)
It’s generally agreed upon that most horses are graceful, if not downright majestic human companions. Mister Ed is the stubborn, wise cracking exception. Unlike most horses, ol’ palomino isn’t cool with normal horse stuff, like people riding him around, trampling circus folk, or acting alongside Dustin Hoffman on the set of Luck. He just wants to chill out in his stable and talk with his constantly frazzled owner, Wilbur, who is in fact the only person he chooses to speak with.
Who says an animal has to be benevolent? Napoleon, a “large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar”, is one hell of a hog. He’s the main antagonist of George Orwell’s masterpiece, Animal Farm.
Napoleon (Animal Farm)
Who says an animal has to be benevolent? Napoleon, a “large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar”, is one hell of a hog. He’s the main antagonist of George Orwell’s masterpiece, Animal Farm.
The one who, with Snowball, takes control of the farm from the humans under the pretense of freeing his comrades, only to martyr Snowball, subjugate his fellow animals, and become something resembling a pig-man hybrid by the end of the tale. He’s a decidedly nasty character, but delightfully so. Animal Farm wouldn’t be such a magnificent allegory if it didn’t have a villain we could all root against.ouldn’t be such a magnificent allegory if it didn’t have a villain we could all root against.
Kermit the Frog (The Muppet Show)
There’s no real-life frog equivalent of that face Kermit makes when he scrunches, and that’s ok because it’s the most wonderful thing ever, and it’s his. Kermit would be our favorite frog even if he didn’t have anything to say. He was just given a much-needed nod of recognition on the recent Jason Segal and Amy Adams starrer The Muppets, but we felt Kermie deserved even more love. After all, it isn’t easy being green.
Kermit’s not just a frog. He’s an excellent MC. He is also in love with a pig, which means he’s a career frog because propagating the world with Kermit Jr.’s clearly isn’t that high on the list. On the other hand, if Muppet Christmas Carol or Muppet Babies is to be believed, when a frog and a pig mate, the result is either a full pig or a full frog – which goes against everything we’ve ever learned in biology class… Oh wait, they’re Muppets. Moving on.
El-ahrairah (Watership Down)
El-ahrairah is a trickster rabbit folk hero that every rabbit aspires to be in the classic, not watched nearly enough British masterpiece Watership Down. Like his real-world counterpart, Br’er Rabbit, he’s always outsmarting his various antagonists with the kind of arrogant flair that leads to foot-thumping good stories. Also, he isn’t being cooked in a stew.
But unlike Br’er Rabbit, El-ahrairah doubles as a religious figure. The rabbits of the Warren routinely gather around to tell tale of their idol in times of great darkness and uncertainty. We like our religious figures fine and all, but there’s a sense of trickery missing to them – a lust for life and all that it offers that only a magical talking rabbit could have. Not that we’re planning on worshipping El-ahrairah or anything. Unless you think we’ll get a few extra days off work.
Click to watch Grimm Endings’ “The Three Bears”
Mr. Fox (Fantastic Mr. Fox)
Roald Dahl invented some mighty iconic animals in his time, but we think master thief Mr. Fox takes the cake. In the book and subsequent Wes Anderson hipster-bait movie, Mr. Fox is a sly cad who routinely steals from three bumbling farmers: Boggis, Bunce, and Bean.
The farmers grow weary of his thievery and drill deeper and deeper into the animals’ land, uprooting Mr. Fox’s neighbors. Instead of changing his morally ambiguous ways, Mr. Fox teaches everyone how to best steal from the farmers, and everyone lives happily ever after, forever pursuing a life of taking what isn’t theirs. In this day and age of Wall Street bankers stealing from the poor and giving to the rich, how can we not love a folk hero that teaches children the merits of taking what’s rightfully theirs from the haves?
Mustafa (The Lion King)
hat’s that? You haven’t seen The Lion King? For shame… Nevertheless, SPOILER ALERT: Way before Game of Thrones made us gasp with the most unexpected of plot twists, millions cried when Mustafa was trampled while trying to save Simba from the stampede. Oh. You saw the movie but didn’t cry? In that case, you may have lost your soul. Sounds like you need to go on a spirit journey. Thankfully…
The Space Coyote (The Simpsons)
Johnny Cash voiced the red space coyote in “Homer’s Spirit Guide,” an episode wherein Homer meets a talking coyote after ingesting one too many Guatemalan insanity peppers. The “Space Coyote” takes Homer on an odyssey of the mind in an attempt to discover who his soul mate is. Turns out, his soul mate was Marge all along! Phew. Also turns out the Space Coyote was just your everyday talking dog.
Thomas Chandler was born and raised in a small town outside Seattle. He’s currently writing a screenplay about two robots striving to reform the American educational system.
Movie and TV’s Most Underrated Animals
By Thomas Chandler
From Winnie the Poo to Pluto, to Tom and Jerry, Squidward and Nemo, and of course the casts of Ice Age and Madagascar, animals on TV and in film have allowed the most exaggerated caricatures of modern storytelling to take their personas to the limit.
Suffice it to say that animal characters have been done to death in film and television. Only recently have they made their debut on Internet TV, and these new breeds are a far cry from their wide-eyed predecessors. Our new favorite is Mary’s murderous little lamb from KoldCast TV’s macabre cartoon comedy Grimm Endings, a show that proves our favorite childhood nursery rhymes can be rated G for grim.
Suffice it to say that animal characters have been done to death in film and television. Only recently have they made their debut on Internet TV, and these new breeds are a far cry from their wide-eyed predecessors. Our new favorite is Mary’s murderous little lamb from KoldCast TV’s macabre cartoon comedy Grimm Endings, a show that proves our favorite childhood nursery rhymes can be rated G for grim.
In this version, Mary’s white-as-snow lamb doesn’t just pout outside her schoolhouse after being shown the exit. He devises a plan – using apples and a good old-fashioned Louisville slugger – to punish the teacher who snubbed him. Stories like this remind us that the days of cutesy critters who exist namely to teach us moral lessons are over.
Click to watch Grimm Endings’ “Mary Had a Little Lamb”
Of course, along the way there have been some great TV and movie animals with something to say and attitude to boot. We’d like to reintroduce those who’ve had their heyday but have since been largely forgotten, and those who never quite got their due in the first place. As Gill from Finding Nemo would say, “Fish aren’t meant to be in a box, kid. It does things to them.”
Mister Ed (Mister Ed)
It’s generally agreed upon that most horses are graceful, if not downright majestic human companions. Mister Ed is the stubborn, wise cracking exception. Unlike most horses, ol’ palomino isn’t cool with normal horse stuff, like people riding him around, trampling circus folk, or acting alongside Dustin Hoffman on the set of Luck. He just wants to chill out in his stable and talk with his constantly frazzled owner, Wilbur, who is in fact the only person he chooses to speak with.
Who says an animal has to be benevolent? Napoleon, a “large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar”, is one hell of a hog. He’s the main antagonist of George Orwell’s masterpiece, Animal Farm.
Napoleon (Animal Farm)
Who says an animal has to be benevolent? Napoleon, a “large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar”, is one hell of a hog. He’s the main antagonist of George Orwell’s masterpiece, Animal Farm.
The one who, with Snowball, takes control of the farm from the humans under the pretense of freeing his comrades, only to martyr Snowball, subjugate his fellow animals, and become something resembling a pig-man hybrid by the end of the tale. He’s a decidedly nasty character, but delightfully so. Animal Farm wouldn’t be such a magnificent allegory if it didn’t have a villain we could all root against.ouldn’t be such a magnificent allegory if it didn’t have a villain we could all root against.
Kermit the Frog (The Muppet Show)
There’s no real-life frog equivalent of that face Kermit makes when he scrunches, and that’s ok because it’s the most wonderful thing ever, and it’s his. Kermit would be our favorite frog even if he didn’t have anything to say. He was just given a much-needed nod of recognition on the recent Jason Segal and Amy Adams starrer The Muppets, but we felt Kermie deserved even more love. After all, it isn’t easy being green.
Kermit’s not just a frog. He’s an excellent MC. He is also in love with a pig, which means he’s a career frog because propagating the world with Kermit Jr.’s clearly isn’t that high on the list. On the other hand, if Muppet Christmas Carol or Muppet Babies is to be believed, when a frog and a pig mate, the result is either a full pig or a full frog – which goes against everything we’ve ever learned in biology class… Oh wait, they’re Muppets. Moving on.
El-ahrairah (Watership Down)
El-ahrairah is a trickster rabbit folk hero that every rabbit aspires to be in the classic, not watched nearly enough British masterpiece Watership Down. Like his real-world counterpart, Br’er Rabbit, he’s always outsmarting his various antagonists with the kind of arrogant flair that leads to foot-thumping good stories. Also, he isn’t being cooked in a stew.
But unlike Br’er Rabbit, El-ahrairah doubles as a religious figure. The rabbits of the Warren routinely gather around to tell tale of their idol in times of great darkness and uncertainty. We like our religious figures fine and all, but there’s a sense of trickery missing to them – a lust for life and all that it offers that only a magical talking rabbit could have. Not that we’re planning on worshipping El-ahrairah or anything. Unless you think we’ll get a few extra days off work.
Click to watch Grimm Endings’ “The Three Bears”
Mr. Fox (Fantastic Mr. Fox)
Roald Dahl invented some mighty iconic animals in his time, but we think master thief Mr. Fox takes the cake. In the book and subsequent Wes Anderson hipster-bait movie, Mr. Fox is a sly cad who routinely steals from three bumbling farmers: Boggis, Bunce, and Bean.
The farmers grow weary of his thievery and drill deeper and deeper into the animals’ land, uprooting Mr. Fox’s neighbors. Instead of changing his morally ambiguous ways, Mr. Fox teaches everyone how to best steal from the farmers, and everyone lives happily ever after, forever pursuing a life of taking what isn’t theirs. In this day and age of Wall Street bankers stealing from the poor and giving to the rich, how can we not love a folk hero that teaches children the merits of taking what’s rightfully theirs from the haves?
Mustafa (The Lion King)
hat’s that? You haven’t seen The Lion King? For shame… Nevertheless, SPOILER ALERT: Way before Game of Thrones made us gasp with the most unexpected of plot twists, millions cried when Mustafa was trampled while trying to save Simba from the stampede. Oh. You saw the movie but didn’t cry? In that case, you may have lost your soul. Sounds like you need to go on a spirit journey. Thankfully…
The Space Coyote (The Simpsons)
Johnny Cash voiced the red space coyote in “Homer’s Spirit Guide,” an episode wherein Homer meets a talking coyote after ingesting one too many Guatemalan insanity peppers. The “Space Coyote” takes Homer on an odyssey of the mind in an attempt to discover who his soul mate is. Turns out, his soul mate was Marge all along! Phew. Also turns out the Space Coyote was just your everyday talking dog.
Thomas Chandler was born and raised in a small town outside Seattle. He’s currently writing a screenplay about two robots striving to reform the American educational system.