Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Luke Wilson | ... | Bodi (voice) | |
Eddie Izzard | ... | Angus Scattergood (voice) | |
J.K. Simmons | ... | Khampa (voice) | |
Lewis Black | ... | Linnux (voice) | |
Kenan Thompson | ... | Riff (voice) | |
Mae Whitman | ... | Darma (voice) | |
Jorge Garcia | ... | Germur (voice) | |
Matt Dillon | ... | Trey (voice) | |
Sam Elliott | ... | Fleetwood Yak (voice) | |
Will Finn | ... | Floyd / Carl (voice) | |
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Ash Brannon | ... | Ian (voice) |
Liza Richardson | ... | Radio DJ (voice) | |
Julie Craig | ... | Additional Voices (voice) | |
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Deng Feng | ... | Additional Voices (voice) |
Kellen Goff | ... | Additional Voices (voice) |
Teenage Tibetan Mastiff Bodi (Luke Wilson) is expected to be the next guard of the village of Snow Mountain, succeeding his father Khampa (J. K. Simmons), who years ago drove out a pack of gangster Grey wolves, led by the villainous Linnux (Lewis Black). Khampa has some local sheep disguised as Mastiffs to give the illusion the village has multiple guards to keep the wolves at bay, but Bodi has trouble perfecting his father's signature move the Iron Paw, which projects a powerful blast that can only happen if Bodi "finds the fire." Khampa has forbidden music in the village as it distracted Bodi from his duties when he was younger..
I saw the trailer for this, which played along with the trailer for Sing, which I think may have hurt the ratings for this partially. Both cliché movie ideas that BOTH turned out to be well done in the end.
I thought I wouldn't watch either, but did, but I do find I like this movie better than Sing- primarily because of Sing being another American Idol, Got Talent, etc reminiscent flick/show and piggybacking on that old hype. Rock Dog has clichés, but it's certainly more heartfelt and uplifting, you can't help but adore Bodi's cheerful attitude and blissful innocence.
(The last couple end songs were pretty good, too, which is also surprising.)
I give this movie a rating of 8 / 10 because I would have preferred perhaps a few different voice actors better suited and the animation models to have more variety within species- say, the crocodiles. Not that I expect it to be as diverse as the heavily funded Zootopia, which had each shown character/background character in the film with its own character sheet and specialized design/sculpt and even gait; I just wish there had been a bit more variation in some of the designs; it makes sense, I suppose, for the sheep to be over simplified to push the purposeful trope.
I digress. . .
It's a simple storyline that we've seen before with simple character models/sculpts, but it's heartfelt, sometimes comedic, with a bout of passion- it's a truly good feel movie that all ages can enjoy, I recommend it for a rainy day that needs a pep talk.