Pizza Biological Party

As a treat at our pizza party, I offered the class the showing of a film that is touted by one of my dear, loving friends as the epitome of live action cute.  Wanting to get away from animation and show them something different, the cat-and-dog-together script seemed like a great idea, promoting animal awareness is right up front in the elementary pantheon.  The film was a five dollar deal at the local box store, and the promo photo was of an orange kitten and pug: Milo and Otis, narrated by Dudley Moore, stamped with approval by some capitalized entity.


I did some research, and found this from the Washington Post: "They don't come any cuter than "The Adventures of Milo and Otis," a heartwarming, tail-thumping story about a curious kitten and his pug-nosed puppy pal. It's totally awwwwww-some.  Enthusiastically narrated by Dudley Moore, this cuddlesome take on Old MacDonald's place follows the best buddies from their bucolic barnyard home to the scary forests adjoining the farm. Already a box office hit in Japan, the live-action film features an all-animal cast under the direction of Japanese author and zoologist Masanori Hata, who urged his stars to act instinctively."  Instinctively?


So after cheese and pepperoni were dispensed, children instructed to chew with their mouths closed, and napkins passed, the movie began.  La la la, cat gets in trouble, dog saves; cat falls in water, dog tosses in a branch for the cat to climb out on; cat visits chickens, cat visits baby pigs, cat sleeps with baby pigs, the piglets waken and begin to nurse from immense, technicolor mama sow.  EWWWWW.  The kitten appears and begins to nurse from mama; EEEEEWWWW WHAT'S HE DOING???  I skipped ahead a few frames and read the back of the dvd box; the filming was done in Japan, 1986.   What else could happen on a farm in a children's film?  Watch this, says the zoologist director.

Actually, other than the cat eating a dead muskrat that a fox had buried, not much until Milo the orange troublemaker is separated from Otis the dog and in their journey each find respectively, a girl cat and a girl dog.  Another pug.  Out in the wild.  Winter sets in, heavy with snow, but each pair of animals survives; the cats end up on a farm, and the dogs end up in a cave and boy dog hunts in snow up to his neck for mice.  Mid-winter, the girl cat, Joyce, whispers to Milo that she thinks it's time.  Time for what, the first grade teacher wondered.  This is a kid's video.  Can't be.  Not possible.  No. NO.

A quick close up of cat butt, and ploop!!  A small, wet, placental bag of kitten is born.  WHAT'S THAT, WHAT'S HAPPENING?   I stop the movie.

"I'm skipping ahead.  We don't have to see this part, it's kittens being born."

"WE WANT TO SEEEEEEE," Nope, nope, nope.  Skip ahead to the dog part, no more cats at the moment, fine, until the girl dog whispers to the boy dog that she thinks it's time. WHAM, I hit the pause button.

"NOOOO, WE WANT TO SEE THE BAAAAABIESSSSSS."

Who would like more pizzaaaaa?  Raise your hands.  Happy teacher.

I jumped to the last two frames of the story, with the two families getting back together after the hunting pug found frozen fish hanging on lines outside of Milo's adopted farm.  Warm and cozy, said the narrator, just as friends should be.  

We cleaned up, I gave away leftover pizza as foil-wrapped prizes and have four days left in the school year; marks have closed, I will get report cards completed this Monday.  It will all be review work from here on out.   Perhaps I will have my new car by then, perhaps I will have begun a new painting; I would like not to think of school for at least three days before starting to get ready for the next year, and have to assign goals to work towards over the few weeks of summer lay-off.  If there are any more movies within this four day period, I'm sticking with Pixar.

Have a busy productive day, plan ahead as to how it will end; endings are important.  The last of spring has hours before tumbling into summer solstice, beginning at 12:38 p.m. this June 21st, tomorrow.  Then the sun will leave us minute by minute quicker, shortening daylight and lengthening the dark, till we ache from the gray mid-life of winter and it returns again.  Go see the leaves, listen to birds, walk near water sloshing on the sand.  Watch the summer sky at night, stand out in the yard and count stars, lucky you.