Japanese film, "The Adventures of Milo and Otis," centers around an oh-so-sweet friendship between an orange tabby kitten named Milo and a pug puppy named Otis. In this favorite family movie, we see the unlikely duo meet on their farm and become fast friends. After becoming separated, the pair go on all sorts of misguided adventures, with perilous animal encounters and treacherous terrain. (Two of which involve a baby deer and a super adorable little piglet!) The kitten and dog fight to get back to one another.
Although the film was originally only released as a Japanese film, Columbia Pictures released a (slightly edited) English-American version of the widely popular movie in 1989. It ranked as the number-one film in Japan the year it came out and was narrated by a hilarious voice-over from English actor Dudley Moore. Directed by Japanese director Masanori Hata, the film's original Japanese title, Koneko Monogatari, translates to 'A Kitten's Story' — and other than featuring countless cute animals, it also featured the beautiful backdrop of Japan's countryside with 74 hours of footage shot over four years. Despite being a favorite pet movie of many 90s kids, this seemingly heartwarming movie seems to have a bit of a dark side, hiding a gruesome secret.
What Happened Behind the Scenes of "The Adventures of Milo and Otis"?
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After the film first came out in 1986, there were many allegations from Australian animal rights groups, reporting several cases of animal cruelty when filming this sweet movie about friendship and love, and called for a boycott of the film.
While there were many reports of alleged animal abuse during filming, there were a couple of significant rumors:
- Over 20 kittens were killed during production, some of which were when the kittens had "lost their charm."
- A cat's paw was broken intentionally to make it look like it was walking unsteadily.
There were other controversial scenes of animal abuse, i.e., when animals were put into dangerous situations in the movie. Such scenes as when the kitten is seen falling off a cliff of over 100 feet into an ocean (the film crew had to have thrown him off!), when the pug was fighting a very real live bear, or when a crab attacked the kitten.
Now, it's worth making clear that these are all reports of alleged mistreatment of animals, and none of them are actually substantiated. While the American Humane Association tried to investigate these allegations, nothing was proven. They said, "We have tried through humane people in Japan, through other Japanese producers to determine if these rumors are true, but everything has led to a dead end." They also noted the multiple Japanese Humane Societies connected to the film "shows no animals being injured or harmed."
