My Top 20 Animal Story Movies
Animal stories have always been popular with film audiences. Dogs and horses in particular can be heroes to us. Here's a few animal movies that I would like to recommend.
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- DirectorKriv StendersStarsJosh LucasRachael TaylorRohan NicholBased on the legendary true story of the Red Dog who united a disparate local community while roaming the Australian outback in search of his long lost master.Based on the true story of a Kelpie dog who roamed a large area of Australia in the 1970s, this is a lovely funny tale. This type of dog looks strange and almost mythical, energetically played by Koko.
- DirectorDon ChaffeyStarsDonald CrispLaurence NaismithAlex MackenzieThe remarkable veritable story of a terrier named Bobby and the enduring friendship he forges with a tenderhearted shepherd known simply as Old Jock---unbroken even by the kindly old man's death.This is Disney's take on the legendary Edinburgh dog who kept faithful watch over his master's grave for years. It's beautifully set and they don't come much more poignant than this story.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsDorothy McGuireFess ParkerTommy KirkA teenage boy grows to love a stray yellow dog while helping his mother and younger brother run their Texas homestead while their father is away on a cattle drive. First thought to be good-for-nothing mutt, Old Yeller is soon beloved by all.You're going to love Spike as Old Yeller. He puts everything into his performance. The setting looks so authentically settlers west. This another poignant story.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsGregory PeckJane WymanClaude Jarman Jr.A boy persuades his parents to allow him to adopt a young deer, but what will happen if the deer misbehaves?This is a story of a boy's love for a tame fawn and his gradual painful release of this bond, so that the animal can return to it's natural environment. Nice little episodic adventures weave the story together.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsWalter BrennanPhil HarrisBrandon De WildeAn old man and a young boy who live in the southeastern Mississippi swamps are brought together by the love of a dog.A boy learns to mature when he befriends a lost basenji dog who yodels. The boy is torn between his love for the dog and the right thing to do by returning it to it's rightful owner.
- DirectorRandall WallaceStarsDiane LaneJohn MalkovichMargo MartindalePenny Chenery Tweedy and colleagues guide her long-shot but precocious stallion to set, in 1973, the unbeaten record for winning the Triple Crown.Despite it's controversy, this is a lovely stirring story of a horse, the winner of the Triple Crown in 1973.
- DirectorHenri SafranIan GoddardStarsGreg RowePeter CumminsDavid GulpililMike is a lonely Australian boy living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father. In search of friendship he encounters an Aboriginal native loner and the two form a bond in the care of orphaned pelicans.A pelican is my only bird hero on this list. This is the most picturesque and the most nature-loving film here. A very moving story.
- DirectorCameron CroweStarsMatt DamonScarlett JohanssonThomas Haden ChurchSet in Southern California, a father moves his young family to the countryside to renovate and re-open a struggling zoo.This is a nice funny story in which a city family takes over a rundown zoo in the country. A monkey and a grizzly bear are among the animals here. I like this quote from the movie - "We're all in cages, man."
- DirectorJohn Kent HarrisonStarsMichael FassbenderGil BellowsDavid SuchetThe extraordinary veritable story of the black bear who would become the inspiration for the stories of A.A. Milne, and the heroic man who saved her life.This is the story of a black bear who became the inspiration for the Winnie-the-Pooh character. There is a bittersweet mix of emotions to see a bear bonding with humans, but destined for a zoo.
- DirectorEleanore LindoStarsMark RendallJane SeymourCharles Martin SmithAfter a car accident that claimed his father and sister's lives and left his mother in a coma, a boy is sent to live with his reclusive aunt on Sable Island, a world-renowned wild horse preserve.An unusual horse movie story and a good mystery, beautifully set.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsCelia JohnsonDiana DorsDavid KossoffKandinsky informs Joe that a unicorn can grant wishes, the hopeful lad ends up buying a baby goat with one tiny horn, believing it to be a real unicorn. Undaunted by his rough surroundings, Joe sets about to prove that wishes come true.A nice animal myth story told in a realistic setting. A cute little goat get's taken for a unicorn.
- DirectorFred M. WilcoxStarsEdmund GwennDonald CrispTom DrakeWilliam McClure is the villlage doctor in a remote Scottish glen. Tricked into buying Lassie, a collie afraid of water, he sets about teaching her to swim. At the same time he has the bigger problem that he is getting older and must ensure the glen will have a new local doctor ready.This is an unusual entry in the Lassie series. Here Lassie is hampered by her fear of water. There's some lovely stirring scenes, beautifully photographed with a framed look to them.
- DirectorCaroline ThompsonStarsSean BeanDavid ThewlisDocs Keepin TimeThe fates of horses, and the people who own and command them, are revealed as Black Beauty narrates the circle of his life.Docs Keeping Time plays the hero as a horse who narrates his own story. It's poignant and stirring in turns, as his destiny takes upturns and downturns. Danny Elfman's stirring music suits the story well.
- DirectorPeter SvatekStarsRichard DreyfussRaymond DucasseEric HozielJack London's classic story from 1903 about Buck, a dog kidnapped from his home in California and taken to the Yukon where he is mistreated until a prospector discovers him and relates to his situation. Although the two are bonded, Buck yearns to run free with the wild dogs in the wilderness.My favourite version of Jack London's story of a kidnapped dog. It has a beautiful and authentic-looking setting.
- DirectorNorman TokarStarsWalter PidgeonGilles PayantÉmile GenestA wealthy sportsman's decision to hire a backwoods orphan to exercise a champion Irish Setter has unexpected consequences.This is the story of a lovely Irish Setter who has a hankering for the wild. A boy helps Red to evade it's master's strictness.
- DirectorRichard C. SarafianStarsJohn MillsGordon JacksonSylvia SymsPhilip Ransome, a boy from the west of England about ten-years-old, has been mute since age three and spends his days roaming the moors alone. His parents despair of a cure. One day, he sees a singular wild albino pony with blue eyes and befriends it avidly. A kindly retired Colonel, who accepts Philip as he is, a girl his age, and a pet falcon she gives him provide him with more things to love and care about. Gradually, Philip emerges from his shell. But the way out is full of heartbreak and setbacks.This is a lovely scenic story of a wild Dartmoor pony who attaches himself to a mute boy. There is a gripping foggy finale when man and beast struggle together in a boggy mire.
- DirectorRoger SpottiswoodeStarsTom HanksMare WinninghamCraig T. NelsonA detective must adopt a rambunctious dog in order to help him find a killer.Hooch is an antidote to watching cute dogs in movies. He's gross and chaotically funny. He is also the best screen partner that Tom Hanks has ever had.
- 1997–20231h 28mTV-PG6.2 (402)TV EpisodeDirectorSimon WincerStarsRicki LakeLinden AshbyBruce McGillA small-town cat-and-dog detective duo investigate a new neighbor who they believe may have committed a murder - but the snag is, locals are attempting to pair him off with their owner.It's a fairly unique movie that mixes crime mystery and animal movie. The cat and the Pembroke Corgi make an unusual fun pair.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsDean JonesSuzanne PleshetteTim ConwayWilby Daniels, now all grown up and running for district attorney, finds himself once again turning into a shaggy dog at inopportune moments.This is a mythological jinx movie in which a man keeps turning into a dog, and always at the wrong time. Disney seems to play a homage to their own animated classic 'Lady And The Tramp' at one point.
- DirectorRicky SchroderStarsCambrie SchroderRicky SchroderCliff PottsA wealthy teenage girl from Malibu falls in love with a beautiful wild mustang, adventure, and the father she has never known in the wild Sierra Nevada Mountains.This popular Hallmark TV Movie is about the taming of a wild mustang. It's a lovely sensitive story for horse story lovers.