Loving, courageous and inspirational the animated family movie Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero comes to Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD. The heartwarming true story shows how friendships bond, personal barriers are surmounted and working together can win a war. Nicely animated in CGI, the movie has very good qualities and energy.
Robert Conroy has joined the army to help France win World War I and finds himself marching in a parade on the way to the train station where he will be shipped off to boot camp. Along the way he spots Stubby a rascal of a dog that has more energy than most canine. Seeing the dog peering through a crowd of people and looking lost and hungry he throws him a cracker. Well that’s all Stubby needed and he jumps in line and follows Conroy to the train station where he ends up at boot camp.
Sneaking through a fence he sees Conroy in a group of soldiers and lines up with them. When the drill Sergeant sees the mutt has spunk and knows how to salute, he lets Conroy keep him on the post. But, the battalion must ship out to France, so Conroy must leave Stubby at the military base, or so they think.
Director and co-writer Richard Lanni does a terrific job of developing his story and showing how the dog ends up going to battle. His voice cast fits nicely with each of the characters and Stubby does all the work of showing what the real dog did to help win some important WWI battles. Being that the real dog actually captured the hearts of America back in the early 1900’s it was a natural that they make a movie of the little fellow. Using the magic of CGI the animated movie develops into a seamless story that after a bit makes you think you are watching the real thing.
Children of all ages should take Sgt. Stubby to heart and the youngsters should feel the warmth of giving the dog a chance to help the Army win the war in France against the Germans. It wouldn’t surprise me if the pre-teen set watches the film more than once, it’s that good. While there is some perilous scenes like solders having to face the Germans with bullets flying and some of which do hit their targets, you don’t see any deadly incidents. There is also a scene where the Americans and French are put in jeopardy from a bomb that explodes a green gas, but there are no actual deaths in that scene as well. Stubby and Conroy do get sick from it, but both recover. There’s some nice comedy along the way to take away most of the danger the soldiers and Stubby have to face.
As far as adults go, the movie does depict real events of WWI and not only gives insight into that dangerous war, but shows the tough conditions and hazards the American forces had to face. It’s an inspirational film showing how loyal and smart fighter Stubby was and how he becomes a hero. I also liked the comradeship it shows between the French and Americans who were fighting to save the world from the ominous threat against Freedom.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A very good family film for mature children and tweens. (4 out of 5 Stars)
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Logan Lerman, Helena Bonham Carter, Gérard Depardieu, Jim Pharr, Jordan Beck, Jason Ezzell
Director and co-writer: Richard Lanni
MPAA Rating: PG for war action and some thematic elements
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Family
Running Time: 1 hr. 24 min.
Video Release Date: December 11, 2018
Original Theatrical Release Date: April 13, 2018
Language: English (changeable to Spanish)
Reviewed Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Wide Screen, enhanced to 16×9 TV
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Number of Discs: 1 Disc, plus digital code
Distributed by: Paramount
Released in: DVD, Blu-ray and Digital HD
