Zotti, the original creature
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Zotti, the original creature |
| Original title | The Shaggy DA |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1976 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Robert Stevenson |
| script | Don Tait |
| production | Bill Anderson |
| music | Buddy Baker |
| camera | Frank V. Phillips |
| cut |
Bob Bring Norman Palmer |
| occupation | |
| |
Zotti, das Urviech is a 1976 American comedy film with Dean Jones in the lead role. It is the sequel to the Disney film The Uncanny Zotti from 1959, in which little Wilby Daniels turned into a dog again and again through a magic ring.
action
Wilby Daniels now works successfully as a prosecutor . When he returns from vacation with his wife Betty and their son Brian, they find their house cleared by burglars. Furious, Wilby decides to run for the office of district attorney in order to be able to ensure safety in his hometown again.
Meanwhile, a mysterious ring is stolen from the museum, which ultimately ends up with the ice cream seller Tim. Tim wants to give the ring to his girlfriend Katrinka. When Wilby hears about the theft, he confides in his wife, because he knows only too well what this ring is all about. Whenever someone reads the Latin saying “In canis corpore transmuto” (= “I transform into the body of a dog”) engraved in the ring aloud, they transform into the Bobtail Zotti.
Before an important television interview with Wilby, it happens again: He transforms into Zotti. After changing his appearance several times, Wilby finally, with the help of Tim and Brian, proves that his competitor John Slade is involved in organized crime. In the end, Wilby is elected district attorney and Slade goes to jail.
background
The magic of the Borgia ring was changed after the first film where young Wilby read the inscription on the ring once and then fell victim to random transformations that could only be stopped if he performed some heroic deed. In this sequel, he simply turned into a dog when the inscription on the ring was read, and the spell now lasts five to ten minutes.
In the TV film Zottis great adventures (1987), which takes place between the events of the original film and this sequel, the magic changes again: As soon as the inscription is read, Wilby is trapped in the dog's body until someone reads it again.
The 2006 remake Shaggy Dog - Listen, Who's Barking with Tim Allen avoided the situation and characters of the first three films and instead opted for a science fiction version in which a man is bitten by a sick dog, causing him got infected with a virus that affects his DNA.
Zotti, Das Urviech was released at the same time as the remake of King Kong at Christmas 1976, reducing its initial audience. That decline changed after the Christmas break, and grossed $ 10.5 million in the US and Canada.
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Wilby Daniels | Dean Jones | Frank Glaubrecht |
| Tim | Tim Conway | Michael Chevalier |
| Betty Daniels | Suzanne Pleshette | Brigitte Grothum |
| John Slade | Keenan Wynn | Joachim Cadenbach |
| Katrinka Muggelberg | Jo Anne Worley | Anneliese Römer |
| Raymond | Dick Van Patten | Friedrich Georg Beckhaus |
| Admiral Brenner | John Myhers | Heinz Theo branding |
| auctioneer | Milton Frome | Joachim Pukass |
| barkeeper | Pat McCormick | Gerd Duwner |
| Manager | Iris Adrian | Agi Prandhoff |
| Professor Whatley | Hans Conried | Eric Vaessen |
| Director | Ronnie Schell | Andreas Mannkopff |
criticism
The lexicon of the international film rated briefly: "Typical Disney entertainment far removed from any reality."
cinema.de called the film “animal lovable fun”. Background: “The lively mix of slapstick and fantasy is based on a book by the 'Bambi' inventor Felix Salten . Actor Dean Jones later cameback to the dogin the Disney production A Dog Called Beethoven . "
Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars out of four and called it "one of Disney's better recent endeavors". Variety wrote: The film "has all of the elements of a smooth and sunny comedy that Disney does best and marks a return to top studio craftsmanship after a few disparate images lately."
Jill Forbes of the Monthly Film Bulletin said the film had a very "dull script and bad tempo" and was interrupted so often by set pieces [...] that it is not possible to depict a situation in a really humorous way. "
Web links
- The Shaggy D.a. in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ FSK ( Memento from December 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Zotti, the Urviech at filmdienst.de
- ↑ "Stevenson preps his 20th Disney movie in 21 years". Daily Variety, July 14, 1977, p. 1.
- ^ Cohn, Lawrence: "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Daily Variety, Oct.15, 1990, page M184.
- ↑ Editorial review at cinema.de , accessed on March 3, 2020.
- ↑ Roger Ebert: The Shaggy DA: "one of Disney's better recent efforts"
- ↑ looks like a comparable commercial winner. It has all the elements of smooth and sunny comedy that Disney does best, and it marks a return to top studio craftsmanship after a few uneven pix of late. Film review for Variety magazine on December 15, 1976, page 19.
- ↑ Forbes, Jill: dully scripted and poorly paced, and so frequently interrupted by set pieces (the pie fight and Tim's attempt to make his dog talk) that it never succeeds in exploiting a situation which is gratuitous when it is not gruesome The Monthly Film Bulletin dated July 1977.