Jock the Hero Dog (2011) Jock (original title)

Director:

Duncan MacNeillie

Writers:

Jim Cox (additional writer)
Duncan MacNeillie (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

2011 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Plot:

3-D animated-family adventure that tells the heart-warming, coming-of-age story of a man and his best-friend, a lovable and fearless dog named, Jock. |

Cast

Bryan Adams	...	Jock (voice)
Donald Sutherland	...	Narrator / Sir Percy Fitzpatrick (voice)
Helen Hunt	...	Jess (voice)
Ted Danson	...	Pezulu (voice)
Desmond Tutu	...	Baba (voice) (as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu)
Mandy Patinkin	...	Basil (voice)
William Baldwin	...	Boatman (voice)
Bongani Nxumalo	...	Jim Makokel (voice)
Theo Landey	...	Fitz (voice)
Makenzie Hart	...	Young Jock (voice)
Jason Kennett	...	Snarly (voice)
Michael De Pinna	...	Claude (voice)
Anthony Bishop	...	George (voice)
Robert Hobbs	...	Seedling (voice)
Dianne Simpson	...	Lillian Morris (voice)
Sylvaine Strike	...	Polly (voice)
Michael Richard	...	Mr. Morris (voice)
Rose Emanuel	...	Julian (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Louisa Cerdan	...	(voice)
Philina Cerdan	...	(voice)
Ava Flutie	...	(voice)
Catherine Flutie	...	(voice)
Kim Hart	...	Little Puppy (voice)
Mallory Hart	...	(voice)
Kira Karantonis	...	(voice)
Kristy MacNeillie
Tammy MacNeillie	...	(voice)
Luna Malyon	...	(voice)
Jamie Samuels	...	(voice)
Fenias Timbe	...	(voice)

Directed by
Duncan MacNeillie

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jim Cox		additional writer
Percy Fitzpatrick		novel
Andrew Gibbs		script contributor
Robyn Klein		additional screenplay material
Martin Lamb		script contributor
Duncan MacNeillie		screenplay
Penélope Middleboe		script contributor

Produced by
Miles Japhet	....	executive producer
Robyn Klein	....	co-producer
Duncan MacNeillie	....	producer
Sandy Missakian	....	co-producer
Dennis Rice	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Klaus Badelt
Ian Honeyman		(with)

Production Management
Kerry Liss	....	production supervisor
Fred L. Smithson	....	post-production manager

Art Department
Christopher Behrens	....	caching
Ric Capecchi	....	storyboard artist
Simon Cuzen	....	caching
Martin Heigan	....	matte painter
Justin Lavery	....	set dressing
Michor Lu	....	matte painter
Michor Lu	....	set dressing
Deon Oosthuizen	....	caching
Antoine van Wetten	....	set dressing

Sound Department
Gregg Baxter	....	dialogue supervisor
Gregg Baxter	....	supervising sound editor
Gary C. Bourgeois	....	sound consultant
Roxanne Dalton	....	supervising sound designer
James Gallivan	....	adr assistant
James Gallivan	....	assistant sound editor
Michael Keller	....	sound consultant
Dana K. Leonard	....	adr assistant
Todd MacKenzie	....	additional sound editor
Todd MacKenzie	....	additional sound effects
Michael Miller	....	additional adr
Craig Nepp	....	additional sound editor
Craig Nepp	....	additional sound effects
Craig Nepp	....	adr recorder & mixer
Orlando Rashid	....	pro-tools technician
Adrian Sosa	....	background
Adrian Sosa	....	backgrounds editor
Andrew Spitz	....	sound effects recordist
Andrew Troy	....	re-recording mixer
Andrew Troy	....	sound effects supervisor
Andrew Troy	....	sound re-recording mixer
Andrew Troy	....	sound supervisor
Philip Biff Vincent	....	chief technical engineer
Philip Biff Vincent	....	sound technician

Visual Effects by
Ric Capecchi	....	character designer
Ric Capecchi	....	character development
Ric Capecchi	....	visual development artist
Simon Cuzen	....	rendering
Tiaan Franken	....	cloth simulation
Tiaan Franken	....	rendering
Tiaan Franken	....	software tools developer
Tiaan Franken	....	set modeler
Tony Frederikson	....	maquette
Martin Heigan	....	rendering
Martin Heigan	....	set modeler
Gavin Leggott	....	rapid 3D maquette
Michor Lu	....	character designer
Michor Lu	....	character development
Michor Lu	....	character shading lead
Michor Lu	....	rendering
Michor Lu	....	set modeler
Michor Lu	....	visual development artist
Duncan MacNeillie	....	camera & layout artist
Deon Oosthuizen	....	cloth simulation
Deon Oosthuizen	....	rendering
Trevor Schuil	....	skinning artist
Charl Smit	....	maquette
Antoine van Wetten	....	set modeler
Samantha Visser	....	character shading lead
Samantha Visser	....	hair simulation
Samantha Visser	....	rendering
Samantha Visser	....	set modeler

Camera and Electrical Department
Christopher Behrens	....	lighting lead
Martin Heigan	....	lighting lead
Martin Heigan	....	lighting supervisor
Michor Lu	....	lighting design
Michor Lu	....	lighting lead
Michor Lu	....	lighting supervisor
Katherine Otty	....	lighting lead
Samantha Visser	....	lighting lead

Animation Department
Christopher Behrens	....	animator
Ric Capecchi	....	character designer
Mark Clemens	....	additional animator
Samantha Cutler	....	additional animator
Simon Cuzen	....	animator
Roxanne Dalton	....	animator
Sacho de Freitas	....	animator
Glen Ewan	....	animation supervisor
Glen Ewan	....	lead supervising animator
Tiaan Franken	....	character technical director
Tiaan Franken	....	prop modeler
Tiaan Franken	....	rigging supervisor
Tiaan Franken	....	shading artist
Tiaan Franken	....	skinning supervisor
Tiaan Franken	....	technical director
Martin Heigan	....	animator
Martin Heigan	....	prop modeler
Martin Heigan	....	shading artist
Lloyd Hofmeyr	....	animator
Justin Lavery	....	animator
Justin Lavery	....	final layout scene compositor
Kerry Liss	....	animation supervisor
Michor Lu	....	animator
Michor Lu	....	final layout scene compositor
Michor Lu	....	prop modeler
Michor Lu	....	shading artist
Pappy Onwuagbu	....	animator
Deon Oosthuizen	....	animator
Katherine Otty	....	animator
Hugo Perdiz	....	animator
Clayton Peterson	....	additional animator
Dawie Potgieter	....	additional animator
Brian Rametse	....	animator
Trevor Schuil	....	animator
Trevor Schuil	....	rigging artist
Richard Tenant	....	additional animator
Jako Tromp	....	additional animator
Antoine van Wetten	....	animator
Antoine van Wetten	....	final layout scene compositor
Antoine van Wetten	....	shading artist
Samantha Visser	....	animator
Samantha Visser	....	prop modeler
Samantha Visser	....	shading artist
Quinten Vogel	....	additional animator
Willis Weng	....	animator

Casting Department
Duncan MacNeillie	....	casting by
Stacey Sacks	....	casting by

Editorial Department
Jason Decker	....	additional editor
Megan Gill	....	additional editor
Karen Knighton	....	additional editor
Duncan MacNeillie	....	original assembly editor

Music Department
Bryan Adams	....	additional songs
Klaus Badelt	....	score mixer
Klaus Badelt	....	score producer
Marius Brouwer	....	composer: additional music
Johnny Clegg	....	additional songs
Tommy Coster	....	co-music producer: ending theme
Tommy Coster	....	composer: contributing composer (ending theme)
Tommy Coster	....	music supervisor
Simone de Leuw	....	score production manager
Guang-Ying Feng	....	music preparation
Craig Hinds	....	additional songs
Ian Honeyman	....	executive music producer
Ian Honeyman	....	musician: slide guitar
Ian Honeyman	....	score co-producer
Ian Honeyman	....	solo performances by
Keith Hutchinson	....	composer: additional music
Robyn Klein	....	executive in charge of music
Yue-Song Li	....	orchestra recordist
Stephen Lukach	....	music intern
Neal Carmen Mei	....	score technical advisor
Alan Menken	....	songs
Nia Nel	....	additional songs
Tim Rice	....	lyrics by
Daniel Rojas	....	guitar
Daniel Rojas	....	music editor
Daniel Rojas	....	song performance
Andrew Troy	....	re-recording mixer
Brad Warnaar	....	score orchestrator
Mark Anthony Yaeger	....	additional songs
Mark Anthony Yaeger	....	featuring solo performances by
Mark Anthony Yaeger	....	guitar
Frank Gf Yang	....	music supervisor: China
Ge-Fang Yang	....	music preparation
Tom Nw Zhang	....	project administration china

Other crew
Ingrid Falck	....	marketing
Tiaan Franken	....	technical director
Andy Rice	....	head of marketing

Production Companies

• Jock Animation
• Motion Sound & Picture (post-production facility)

Distributors

• ARC Entertainment (II) (2012) (USA) (all media)
• Central Park Films (2013) (Turkey) (all media)
• Ster-Kinekor Distribution (2011) (South Africa) (all media)

Other Companies

• HI.C. Paris  score mixed at
• Theme Park Studios  score mixed at
• Theme Park Studios  score recorded at
• Xin Ying Film Studios  score recorded at

Also Known As:

"Jock" - USA (original title)
"Jock of the Bushveld" - South Africa (English title), USA (alternative title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some menace and peril

Runtime:

89 min (approx.)

Country:

USA | South Africa

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG

Company:

Jock Animation

Trivia:

The character of Jock, his antics, and the life lessons of the book are so famous and widely-known in South Africa, that statues are routinely erected in his honor and the first private lodge in Africa's wildlife reserve - Kruger National Park - bears his name.

Soundtrack:

Howling at the Moon (End Credits Version)

An animators perspective

After reading an extensive amount of reviews which largely reflects "Jock of the bushveld" in a negative light, I decided to finally make some time to watch it for myself to formulate my own opinion. To my surprise I had to dig deep within to try to endure watching more than 10 minutes of this "movie" at a time. I write this review with the intention of briefly discussing the failures of this movie, hence if all you seek is an answer to the question "Should I even bother watching this movie" then there is no need to read further, the simple answer is "NO".

With that being said, I cannot for the life of me begin to understand how such a movie was released "on the big screen". Everybody that paid to watch this movie should rightfully be given their money back. This movie was an absolute disgrace to our South African Animation Industry. In all honesty, I have seen far better animation in low budget daytime kiddies shows. It seems as if the creators of this movie were so hell bent on making money from people actually paying to watch it that they didn't even care about the quality of this film.

I find it extremely hard to believe that it took them 5 years to come up with THIS. The character designs were extremely and painfully weak and I found it impossible to create a connection with any of the characters, the emotions that the characters displayed lacked any sort of actual human qualities. I can only laugh at the poor character models in this movie. The facial expressions could be described as mediocre at best as they were highly unconvincing, poorly timed and extremely amateur.

To my absolute astonishment, there were scenes in the movie where the characters clashed with the props. For example there was a scene where Fitz's hand went right through the bar stool. This is probably the most unacceptable error which an animator can make. Why didn't anybody on the team spot these errors and take a few minutes to fix it. There was also a scene where the chicken's feet were floating. Once again, a few minutes are all it would have taken to fix these small but detrimental errors.

The animation was disappointing in every sense of the word. However the award for worst animated character ever goes to the movie's main human character, Fitz. His motions and reactions were so unnatural throughout the entire movie. Let's take one scene out of the movie. Let's use the scene where they are crossing the river and Fitz shoots the crocodile. It is almost as if his body parts are fighting with each other. His reaction and movement is completely unnatural, unrealistic and so poorly timed. I have never in my entire life seen a human move or react like this guy. There is absolutely no fluidity in the animation. I would love to know how much reference was actually used in this film. The way in which he handles his pistol and his recovery after he shoots the crocodile is completely unbelievable and appears to have been animated by a person or multiple people that have minimal(if any) knowledge on animation. There were a few scenes were the camera angles were chosen correctly to give the audience that dramatic effect. However majority of the film the camera seems to be telling a completely different story as it should have. Everything needs to blend together in a scene to give the audience the desired effect and to get that part of the story across. Unfortunately a good camera angle mixed with bad animation (for example) completely ruins everything.

5 years? Really? The supposedly "dramatic" fight scene between Jock, his mother and the leopard could have been so much better and so much more effective. Here's what you (the creators) should have done. You'll (the creators) should have taken 10 minutes out of your "busy" day and watched the scene from The Lion King where Simba fights Scar and reclaims what is rightfully his. And I can guarantee you that watching those 10 minutes would have highly increased the value of this scene. While I am on the topic of reference, you'll should have also taken some time to watch the part where Mufasa dies and Simba is all alone with nobody to hear his desperate cries for help. Had you'll examined this scene and question as to why this scene evoked so much empathy in the audience and used that knowledge to better the Jocks Mother Dies scene, perhaps it wouldn't have been so easy for the audience to brush off such a vital moment in Jock's life. These are just 2 examples from a single movie that could have highly increased the overall quality of Jock. Can you'll (the creators) imagine the possibility had you'll taken a little more time in those 5 years to focus on the audience and how reaction to the film. We have all come to know who Bryan Adams is, especially due to his brilliant music in animated films. However just because his music or voice is featured in a movie isn't enough to make the movie good. Sadly not even the voice of Bryan Adams could save this train from derailing. There is something that could have been changed in every scene of this movie, be it minor or major, that would have made this movie a part of South African history and not a part that we'd rather forget. This movie could be compared to Apartheid, it happened, it was extremely horrible, now let's all try to put it behind us and move on with our lives.