Dug's Special Mission (Video 2009)

Alpha, Beta, and Gamma try to keep Dug out of their way while they hunt for Kevin the Snipe. However, their instructions for his "very special mission" keep backfiring on them.

Director:

Ronaldo Del Carmen

Stars:

Bob Peterson, Delroy Lindo, Jerome Ranft

Cast

Cast overview:
Bob Peterson	...	Dug / Alpha (voice)
Delroy Lindo	...	Beta (voice)
Jerome Ranft	...	Gamma (voice)

Storyline

Dug is a cheerful, dim, short-legged dog, a walking sausage. On his birthday, he stumbles between a running bird and three dogs in chase; the bird gets away, and, in exasperation, the pack gives him mindless task after mindless task. Dug is enthusiastic, and every assignment backfires on the three. Finally, they threaten him with punishment from their master. Can anything turn Dug's birthday into a happy day?

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Plot Keywords:

mission | pet owner relationship | cartoon dog | bird | rockslide | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Family | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 November 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dogges specialuppdrag

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pixar Animation Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

5 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Alpha: [speaking in a high-pitched broken collar voice to Dug, who is in a hole in the ground] This is the bird's favorite hole. Under no circumstances are you permitted to SQUIRREL!
[Alpha, Beta, and Gamma quickly snap their heads to look to screen left. Dug glances in that direction. Alpha regains his composure]
Alpha:

• ever leave this hole. Do you understand the words that I am saying to you now?

[growls]
Dug: Oh yes. I will stay in the hole and I will capture the bird.
Alpha: [all three start to walk away] Yes... ...
[...]

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Connections

Edited from Up (2009)

User Reviews

Funny short that folds nicely into the main narrative of Up

As we all know, Dug is the dog that meets Carl and Russell on top of a mountain top while he is on a mission hunting for an elusive tropical bird on the orders of his master Charles Muntz. Well, "hunting" is a bit strong since Dug has been sent on a wild goose chase to keep him out of the way of the main, err, "wild bird chase". This short film are the events that led Dug to be on that mountain top as Alpha tries to keep Dug occupied with a series of seemingly harmless "missions".

In addition to the short film that accompanies the cinematic release of their feature films, Pixar will mostly use one of the characters from the main film to generate another short film that will go on the DVD release of same. In this case I was very happy to find that this was to be the loyal but rather dopey dog Dug since he was one of my favourite characters from the film with both physical comedy and his funny dialogue (essentially the thoughts of a dog "SQUIRREL!"). This short film is well placed within the context of the main events and sees Alpha essentially ditching Dug with pointless missions such as "this is the bird's favourite hole in the ground, stay in this hole until you see the bird". Needless to say Alpha's plans manage to backfire as Dug manages to somehow get in Alpha's way with a mix of innocent cheerfulness and exuberance.

The ways that this happens are funny but they are made funnier by Dug as a character, the dialogue being a match for the film in terms of style and him being funny simply by virtue of being in the scene. Even the jokes that are repeated from the film (SQUIRREL!) are funny here. The ending of the short isn't particularly strong but this is forgivable since it is not really the "end" but rather nicely dovetails into a scene in the main film that we had previously come into from the perspective of Carl and Russell.

Overall Dug's Special Mission is a typically enjoyable DVD short film from Pixar that makes funny use of one the funnier characters from Up to produce a funny DVD extra that sits well alongside the main film.