The Queen’s Corgi (2019)

(In French, On TV, November 2021) As far as animated family movies featuring talking animal characters go, The Queen Corgi feels too dull-yet-unpleasant to be worth a look. The first fifteen minutes are both too weird for an all-age film and easily better than the rest of it, as the Queen of England inexplicably makes her newest Corgi the designated favourite, and then the President of the United States comes by for a visit. Obviously meant to be the previous guy in the job (although humanized through a love of dogs that runs contrary to all real-life evidence), the visiting presidential couple also bring their own female corgi, and much of the initial comedy has to do with her pursuing the protagonist despite his obvious lack of consent. This is beyond inexplicable for a kid’s film, so it’s almost a relief when the film goes on to something far more innocuous. That is, if you think a rival Corgi getting rid of the protagonist to usurp his place as the Queen’s favourite is any better. The adventure that follows takes us in the London dog underworld (complete with a canine fight club) before getting back to the palace in time for the climax. The Queen’s Corgi, by way of an explanation, is a production of Belgian animation studio nWave Pictures, whose animated output has been steadily substandard for nearly a decade before managing something of a half-success with The Son of Bigfoot. The Queen’s Corgi is clearly a step back, and I’m skipping over many of the film’s most dumbfounding moments (some of them thankfully softened by the French dubbing: “grab them by the puppy”? Oh dear.) on my way to an overall assessment: Skip it. Don’t show it to the kids. The Queen’s Corgi has nearly no entertainment value, and whatever interest it has is in wondering how anyone thought that the finished product -or its most inane moments—was a good idea.