Millionaire Dogs
| Millionaire Dogs | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Michael Schoemann |
| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Starring | Michael Chevalier Thomas Danneberg Nina Hagen |
| Music by | Gregor Narholz |
| Edited by | Karl Fugunt |
Production company |
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| Distributed by | PolyGram Filmed Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 82 minutes (German, original release) 80 minutes (English dubbed version) |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
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Millionaire Dogs (German: Hot Dogs: Wau - wir sind reich!, literally "Hot Dogs: Wow - We Are Rich!") is a 1999 German animated film about five dogs and a parrot who inherit a fortune from their late owner and must defend their home from her niece and nephew who are after her riches.
Plot[edit]
The film starts with Chuffie, a dog who is dumped on the side of the road by his owner. He almost gets hit by a truck but is rescued by JD, a street dog who is also without a home. While they rest under a bridge, the two dogs meet Emmo, a parrot who was separated from his owner. The dogs try and eat Emmo, but the parrot convinces them to spare him by promising them a new home with his owner, a wealthy old lady named Miss Lilly. After Emmo leads them back to the mansion, Miss Lilly welcomes JD and Chuffie into her home and introduces them to three other dogs in her care: an athletic guard dog named Sherman, a frisky teenager named Velvet and a former circus performer named Bella.
Sometime after settling into their new home, JD and Chuffie end up meeting Ronnie and Hannie, Miss Lilly's twin nephew and niece who are after her fortune. The twins try to convince her to move into a retirement home and leave the mansion to them, but Sherman ends up hitting Ronnie with a baseball and the two leave, promising to return. After Ronnie and Hannie leave, Miss Lilly's attorney Dr. John Fairview arrives to discuss something in secret with her, which JD overhears. Later that night, Miss Lilly falls asleep while reading the dogs the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but the dogs wake up the next morning to find that she had passed away in her sleep.
After the dogs mourn the loss of Miss Lilly, Dr. Fairview, Ronnie and Hannie show up to read Miss Lilly's last will and testament, and find that she has left everything to her animals. Angry that they didn't inherit the fortune, Ronnie and Hannie decided to take matters into their own hands and find a way to get rid of the dogs. After doing a bit of research at the city library, Ronnie and Hannie discover an old law stating that if the dogs are off the property for a period of 48 hours, ownership of the estate and fortune will transfer to them. The twins then seek help from Dr. Quack, a goose pet psychiatrist who teams up with the twins to help them get rid of the dogs.
Meanwhile, the pets' friendship is beginning to wane as JD doesn't approve of how the others are using Miss Lilly's fortune. After leaving on the motorcycle, Dr. Quack shows up with limousines and tells the dogs that he will help them fulfill their dreams, but in reality it's a plot to get rid of them. Emmo gets stuck on top of a skyscraper after going skydiving, Velvet ends up in a dark alley, Sherman ends up in what appears to be a dog fighting ring, Chuffie winds up in a facility for space testing on animals and Bella is chained up to be sent to a fur coat factory. After the dogs are off the property, Ronnie and Hannie decide to move into the mansion.
Emmo eventually gets out of his predicament and meets up with JD, telling him about Dr. Quack's plot to get rid of them all. The two animals find Quack and force him to tell them about the whereabouts of the other dogs, and in the process Quack reveals that the twins found an old law stating that the mansion and Miss Lilly's fortune will belong to them if the dogs don't get home in time. After everyone is found safe and sound, JD reveals to everyone what he heard Miss Lilly say to Dr. Fairview before her death. She wanted her mansion to become a sanctuary for abandoned and unloved animals.
The dogs make it back to the mansion, only to find that Ronnie and Hannie have moved in and locked all the doors, but the dogs are able to sneak inside thanks to an unlocked window in the mansion's attic. After trying to scare the twins out of the mansion, the dogs end up getting kicked out of the mansion just as the 48 hour period is about to end. The twins rejoice believing that they have won, but in turns out that Chuffie and Emmo are still in the mansion and the twins are then arrested for trespassing.
After the dogs reclaim their home, JD and Bella suddenly hear the voice of Miss Lilly coming from within the house, telling them that she is very proud of them all for carrying on her work. The dogs later convert the mansion into Miss Lilly's Home For Animals and JD and Bella look on as several animals come in to stay, happy that they were able to fulfill Miss Lilly's dream.
Cast[edit]
- Thomas Danneberg as JD
- Hans Hohlbein as Chuffie
- Nina Hagen as Emmo
- Katharina Koschny as Bella
- Michael Chevalier as Sherman
- Magdalena Turba as Velvet
- Lutz Mackensy as Ronnie
- Philine Peters-Arnolds as Hannie
- Bettina Schön as Miss Lilly
Release[edit]
The film was released in Germany on April 1, 1999 and was distributed by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and was later released on DVD by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. In 2002, the film was dubbed into English by Pop Twist Entertainment and had a limited release in the 2002 Kids First! Film Festival, which played in theaters in 15 cities across the US, including the El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles. On November 15, 2003, Millionaire Dogs made its US television debut on Cartoon Network[1] and was later released on DVD by Warner Home Video on May 24, 2005.
The English dub cuts out a scene from the climax where Hannie tries to burn JD and Emmo with a lighter and a can of hair spray, presumably because it was deemed too violent for children.
References[edit]
- ↑ Ryan Ball (November 13, 2003). https://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/millionaire-dogs-bow-wows-on-cartoon-net/. Missing or empty
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External links[edit]
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