For National Dog Day: Our 20 favorite films about dogs

Sorry, you won’t find the fan-favorite but critically panned 2017 drama “A Dog’s Purpose” on this list. It does, however, include “A Dog’s Life,” which was made almost 100 years earlier. After all, we adore almost anything starring Charlie Chaplin, and it definitely helps that the Tramp’s co-star is an adorable pooch named Scraps. Written, directed and produced by Chaplin, “A Dog’s Life” has a run time of just 33 minutes, so give it a watch when you’re limited on time and looking for a silent film that will make you laugh out loud.

Lassie has saved more people from fires, fast-moving rivers and other dangerous predicaments than we can count over the last seven or eight decades, but it all started with 1943’s wildly successful “Lassie Come Home.” The MGM film starred Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, Elsa Lanchester, Elizabeth Taylor and a dog named Pal as Lassie. Pal was actually a male collie, but he was nevertheless cast as Lassie because sexism was alive and well back in the ‘40s. (Just kidding; the decision reportedly came about because female collies tend to shed more in the summer months, when outdoor filming usually took place.)

Is it possible for two people to share a plate of spaghetti without someone referencing the 1955 Disney animated film “Lady and the Tramp”? We submit that no, it is not possible, and we are just fine with that. After all, “Lady and the Tramp” is a classic film, and that scene has since become iconic. “Lady and the Tramp” also has a timeless quality, making most fans forget the film is more than 60 years old.

Based on the 1956 children's novel of the same name by Fred Gipson, “Old Yeller” is a sweet story of a boy and the dog he loves, and how fiercely loyal canines can truly be. Until they get rabies, that is. The finale of the 1957 film is a tough pill to swallow, but like young Travis in the film, it’s a lesson that needs to be learned as part of becoming an adult. 

As a side note, growing up we had a yellow-haired guinea pig the previous owners named Yeller, which, in retrospect, was probably a short-sighted decision, because he too had to be put down. RIP, both Yellers.

“The Shaggy Dog” (1959) yielded numerous sequels and remakes between 1979 and 2006, but the best installment is still the first. Speaking of firsts, “The Shaggy Dog” was actually Walt Disney’s first foray into live-action films, and it paid off in the amount of $12.3 million — which is pretty impressive for a movie that only took $1 million to make. In “The Shaggy Dog,” Fred MacMurray and Jean Hagen play Mr. and Mrs. Daniels, whose son, Wilby (Tommy Kirk), is transformed into an English Sheepdog thanks to a cursed piece of jewelry.

It may seem like fun and games in the film, but having 101 dogs would actually be a nightmare, so kudos and best of luck to Roger and Anita Radcliffe, who take in the mutts after they (the dogs, not the humans) defeat Cruella De Vil at the end of “One Hundred and One Dalmatians.” A plethora of well-known actors were brought in to provide the voices in this 1961 animated Disney film, but the most famous was probably Rod Taylor, who voiced the dog Pongo.

People loved dog movies in the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s, and Joe Camp banked on the fact that they still did in 1974 when he wrote, produced and directed “Benji.” Given the fact that Camp couldn't secure a studio to distribute the film and had to result to opening his own, the payoff was likely even bigger than he could imagine, as the story of a stray dog who finally finds a loving home earned an Academy Award nomination (for Best Original Song), critical acclaim and turned a $500,000 budget into a $44.5 million profit at the box office. For the love of Benji, that’s a lot of doggie dough!

1981’s “The Fox and the Hound” is about an unlikely friendship between two very different personalities. It’s also about a fox and a hound, voiced by Mickey Rooney and Kurt Russell, respectively. This thoughtful animated Disney film might not be atop most Disney fans’ lists of their favorite movies from the studio, but the classic cartoon still earns a spot on this list.

Not all the dogs in this list need to be well-behaved, and Cujo is, without a doubt, our favorite bad dog. Based on the 1981 Stephen King horror novel of the same name, “Cujo” has been cited as one of the author’s favorite adaptations of his work, along with "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me." 

When it came time to pitch “Turner & Hooch,” the creators said, “So it’s a buddy-cop comedy, except one of the partners is a dog.” The studio said no, but then the creators asked, “What if the human cop is Tom Hanks?” And the studio instantly agreed to a deal. OK, that’s probably not what actually happened, but it seems like the only way the 1989 comedy could have come about. Predictably, critics weren’t especially kind to “Turner & Hooch,” but fans (us included) lapped it up to the tune of $71 million.

One of numerous film adaptations of the 1906 Jack London adventure novel of the same name, “White Fang” (1991) stars a young Ethan Hawke as Jack Conroy and Jed as the eponymous wolfdog. Jed isn’t a one-trick movie mutt, as he actually made his debut in John Carpenter’s famous fright fest “The Thing” in 1981 and also appeared in 1985's "The Journey of Natty Gann." “White Fang” received generally positive reviews upon its release, earned a respectable $34 million in theaters and inspired a 1994 sequel, “White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf.” We’d say the sequel was forgettable, but sadly, we still remember seeing it as kids some 24 years ago.

If you grew up in the ‘90s and today see a St. Bernard out and about, there’s gotta be a little part of you that thinks, “It’s Beethoven!” No? Maybe it’s just us. After all, 1992’s “Beethoven” was a beloved film among kids in its time, and adults were drawn in by the inclusion of Charles Grodin, Bonnie Hunt, Stanley Tucci and Oliver Platt (among others). Also, for the record, the often-cynical Roger Ebert actually defied most of his fellow critics and awarded the family comedy two-and-a-half out of four stars.

Many adults have fond memories of watching “Homeward Bound” as kids (or at least watching “Homeward Bound” with their kids) but few remember how sad some of the scenes were. When we thought Sassy the cat (voice of Sally Field) had gone over a waterfall to her watery death, it was difficult to continue watching. And near the end, when we were led to believe that Shadow the golden retriever (Don Ameche) wouldn’t make it home either? We don’t know how we ever made it to the storybook ending, which even saw the dog narrator, Chance (voice of Michael J. Fox), happy and content with his human and furry family.

Based on the 1983 film “Antarctica” (which is based on a true story), the Disney film “Eight Below” might seem like it will be a lighthearted story of friendship between a human and his sled dogs, but it’s actually a harrowing tale of survival in the coldest part of the planet. Paul Walker, Bruce Greenwood, Moon Bloodgood and Jason Biggs anchor the cast, but they’re not the only famous faces in the film. Four of the canine actors (who were praised for their performances) previously starred in another Disney movie: 2002’s “Snow Dogs.”

Disney’s “Bolt” is an animated movie about a dog named Bolt (John Travolta), a cat named Mittens (Susie Essman) and a hamster named Rhino (Mark Walton), all of whom embark on a cross-country trip to reunite Bolt with his owner, Penny (Miley Cyrus). “Bolt” raked in $310 million and earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Animated Feature, but lost both to “WALL-E.” 

The humans — specifically Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Michael McKean, John Michael Higgins, Parker Posey, Christopher Guest and a few other notable names — are the real focus of “Best in Show,” but the entire 90-minute mockumentary is about dog show competitions, so we felt it was OK to include it. Not only do we personally find “Best in Show” endlessly entertaining, but the Christopher Guest comedy also holds a powerful 94 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes and won numerous awards.

To be honest, seeing a computer-generated Scooby-Doo in a live-action film kind of weirded us out at first, but once we settled in, 2002’s “Scooby-Doo” ended up being a well-executed movie. Sure, it was childish, absurd and critics tore it apart, but audiences shouldn’t expect anything less (or more) considering the source material. On the plus side, in addition to sneaking some subtle stoner humor into this kid-centric comedy, “Scooby-Doo” was perfectly cast, with Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, Linda Cardellini as Velma and Matthew Lillard as Shaggy. 

Most people deem “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” (1985) as Tim Burton’s directorial debut, but the year prior he actually helmed a 30-minute short film called “Frankenweenie.” Despite big names like Shelley Duvall, Daniel Stern and Sofia Coppola, Disney almost immediately disowned the film as being too dark to qualify as kid-friendly , which is an odd opinion considering how prevalent the theme of death is in most of the studio's films. Once Burton became an iconic director, he remade the live-action horror comedy as a stop-motion-animated film and had much more success. Presented in black and white and featuring the voices of Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau and Winona Ryder, 2012’s “Frankenweenie” earned near-universal praise and owns an 87 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

While each of these films is unique in their own way, “White Dog” is truly unlike any other. The 2014 Hungarian drama at first seems to be about a girl, her dad and the dog he doesn’t want. Sound like a touching family film? Think again. When the dad abandons the dog (named Hagen), the story takes a dark turn, as Hagen soon becomes a killer upon being trained to compete in a dog-fighting ring. More than 200 dogs were used in “White Dog,” most of whom were homeless at the time. This powerful, highly acclaimed film earned numerous accolades, including the Prize Un Certain Regard at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, and it also earned homes for 98-percent of the four-legged actors, according to writer, director and animal trainer Kornél Mundruczó.

Wes Anderson has yet to direct a poorly received feature film, and the 2018 stop-motion-animated “Isle of Dogs” is no exception. Featuring the voices of all-stars Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel, Liev Schreiber, Scarlett Johansson and Tilda Swinton, “Isle of Dogs” is about a young boy who journeys to a far-away island to find his dog after the species is quarantined because of an outbreak of canine influenza. Praised for both its cast and beautiful animation, “Isle of Dogs” was given positive reviews overall by critics and won several awards at various film festivals.