Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero (2018)
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Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero Movie Review
Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero is a 2018 animated historical film directed by Richard Lanni and starring the voices of Logan Lerman and Helena Bonham Carter. It’s such a solid, sweet flick.
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“I guess it’s better to have every man
and every dog we can have in this fight“
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The film follows a famous World War I dog hero who saved lives during the war through a couple of great assists and missions. As a big dog lover myself, I obviously loved seeing such an inspirational, wonderful true story even though the movie is obviously overly familiar in its narrative and it heats all those beats you’d come to expect from the family dog picture. ‘Megan Leavey’ is too similar to this film in particular and that one is deeper overall.
But it’s so charmingly executed and so traditional that I still ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It’s sweetly natured, but never cloying or emotionally manipulative which I hugely appreciated. I also really liked the mix of childlike and sophisticated approach in its storytelling. On the one hand, the movie does have historically accurate settings, details in clothing and vehicles as well as those moving letters describing the battles. But on the other hand, the violence is kept out of the picture and the focus is on the dog and the approach is certainly adventurous in spirit.
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The voice acting is fine, if not particularly standing out. The same goes for the characters themselves. Yes, Stubby is absolutely adorable and I loved how he was animated and his somewhat realistic movements too. He’s cute and undeniably lovable. But the human characters are disappointing overall. Robert is a forgettable protagonist and his friends even more so. I liked them as a group though and I have to say that the death of one of his friends near the end of the film was certainly one of the movie’s emotional highlights.
Let’s talk about the animation. It’s a mixed bag. On the one hand, the picture definitely looks charming to accompany its approach and it features some particularly vivid forest and town backgrounds. I also really liked the character designs as the humans look surprisingly realistic and not as perfect in faces as is usual for the medium. But on the other hand, I could definitely see that the final product was unpolished in look and the detail work was seriously lacking. But it still looks commendable for its small budget.
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Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero is solidly paced and actually rather entertaining despite its derivative nature. I loved some of the emotional scenes and the letters are so well incorporated into its story. The dialogue is pretty solid, but the characterization was seriously lacking as was the relationship between Stubby and Robert. The score, though, is truly fantastic as it’s so wonderfully old-fashioned, moving and sometimes even grand that it perfectly accompanied its traditional narrative. It’s a solid little flick that deserved to do better at the box office, but the problem was twofold in that the studio is too small and the kids nowadays aren’t as interested in this type of movies anymore as they prefer more “cool” and action-oriented flicks.
Sgt. Stubby is an overly familiar dog picture which hits all those expected narrative beats and it’s seriously lacking in terms of characterization, but it’s quite emotional without being manipulative, it’s wonderfully traditional in its approach, it’s so well scored and the mix of elegance and sophistication with innocence and sweetness really worked in its favor.
