The Adventures of Family Dog (1992)

The Adventures of Family Dog (also known as Tim Burton's The Adventures of Family Dog) is a 1992 American traditionally animated adventure comedy romantic family film produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation studio, directed by Phil Nibbelink, Simon Wells, animation directors: Ralph Eggleston, and Stephen J. Anderson, co-directed by Rob Stevenhagen and Peter Hewitt and inspired by Jim Davis' comic strip and creator of Garfield and released by Universal Pictures.
Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg were both film's executive producer and the screenplay was written by Brad Bird, Rachel Koretsky and Steven Whitestone and story by Bird, Paul Dini, Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver.
It was released on November 25, 1992. However, the film was only a box office grossing $31 million at the box office, largely due to competition with the much more successful Aladdin. This makes it the second film to be produced by Amblimation (after the first film, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)). Despite its largely mixed received by critics, its strong sales on home video spawned a television series spinoff titled Family Dog debuted on CBS Saturday Morning four years after the film debuted in theaters - though it was made Spielberg's involvement - and uses the same Tim Burton and Brad Bird's character designs and most of the same voice cast.
== Film Summary: ==
== Plot: ==
Family Dog or The Dog (by name) lives with his unapprecpirating family the Binsfords. One day the Binsfords prepare to move out, only they forget to bring The Dog in the car. Family Dog attempts to get in the moving truck only to land in the wrong one. Family Dog ends up in a city with the Jonesons family a wealthy aristocratic home. The owners discover him and decide to adopt him as a racing dog. Gunter the Butler a rude, obnoxious servent plans to steal the Jonesons family fortune (via their pets) who are the source of their finanical gain. Family Dog meets a female race dog Jewel. The Binsfords find that they forgot their pet and turn around to find him. Meanwhile Family Dog causes a series of accidents, eating their turkey dinner with guesses here, interfering with golf matches and creating mess chasing Gunter's cat Furball. Mr & Mrs Joneson decide to sell him, but are stopped when their daughter Julia wants to keep them together. The Binsfords discover Family Dog while watching a dog race gone wrong. Gunter finally snaps when Family Dog accidently strips Furball of his fur. He dognaps both animals and holds a ransom. The Binsfords and Jonesons discover Gunter is gold digging man who kills pets from wealthy families for money. In a slaughter house Gunter puts them on a slaughter machine. Fortunately The Dog escapes and Binsfords save Jewel. Gunter ends up crushed under a heap of cow meat, the police arrest him later on. Family Dog is given back to the Binsfords and the Joneson are close friends. In the end The Dog & Jewel are married and live happily ever after.
The End.
== Characters ==
* Family Dog/The Dog
* Skip Binsford (Father)
* Beverly Binsford (Mother)
* Billy Binsford (Son)
* Buffy Binsford (Daughter)
* Jewel
* Mrs Joneson
* Mr Joneson
* Julia Joneson
* Gunter
* Furball
== Production ==
Five years after the success of the original film at Amazing Stories episode, the animated full-length feature film based on the episode/short film was produced by Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton (who was involved in the story's production and character designs). The animation production was The Baer Animation Company, Amblimation and Warner Bros. Feature Animation and distributors Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment for a U.S.A. and Canada domestic release. The production begins in August 1990 - April 1991 before animation full-length feature film were finally finished from the Kroyer Films, The Baer Animation Company and Amblimation animation house in U.K.. The film was released in November 25, 1992. In March 28, 1991, The animation production was wrapped and completed on the full-length feature film.
== Music ==
The score for the film was composed and conducted by James Horner and Amazing Stories short film Family Dog themed by Danny Elfman, The music performed by The London Symphony Orchestra.
== Reception ==
The film received generally mixed reviews from critics. Critical response aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 43% of critics gave positive reviews based on 159 reviews with an average score of 5.5/10.
== Animated Series ==
In November 1992, the ten completed episodes of Family Dog is a animated series by Tim Burton & Steven Spielberg were finally made It’s unclear whether the network was displeased with the show, distraught over the failure of Fish Police, or merely annoyed at having to wait so long for the show after scheduling it (again and again), but CBS sat on the tapes for months. In early June, 1993, CBS finally scheduled the show to air. New shows that air on the networks between May and September are most generally being “burned off.” In other words, it was clear that CBS had given up on the show and had no intention of ordering more episodes at CBS Saturday Morning. It’s unclear whether the network was displeased with the show, distraught over the failure of Fish Police, or merely annoyed at having to wait so long for the show after scheduling it (again and again), but CBS sat on the tapes for months. In Early June 1993, CBS finally scheduled the show to air. New shows that air on the networks between May and September are most generally being “burned off.” In other words, it was clear that CBS had given up on the show and had no intention of ordering more episodes.