Pet movies constitute a genre of their own; heartwarming family flicks in which a pet reunites a family or solves a crime and makes the day. Other times, pets just show up randomly in movies as an essential plot point or the villain’s minion. The possibilities are endless. The conventional collar dogs and cats aside, there have been some weird pets in cinematic history too. They can be aliens, genetically modified creatures, talking animals, dancing trees, anything, and everything.
Audiences are implored to check out the ten weirdest movie pets of all time that they still love at the end of the day. Likability and weirdness are the parameters here so troublemakers like Gremlins wouldn’t be featured here.
Zombie Ed: Shaun of the Dead
In Edgar Wright’s cult horror-comedy Shaun of the Dead, the title character survives a zombie apocalypse with his best friend Ed, a bumbling yet heartwarming ‘manchild’ of a person. When the zombies bite him to in the end, Shaun’s love for Ed prevents him from smashing his brains.
Instead, as is revealed, Shaun takes care of Zombie Ed tethered in a shed. Food and video games are all that Zombie Ed needs now and he leads a content life with Shaun. No zombie flick might have shown such wholesome human-zombie bonding.
Stitch: Lilo and Stitch
A cute blue alien who runs away from an intergalactic prison, Stitch is arguably one of the most adorable Disney characters. Originally created and genetically enhanced to resemble a blue koala, Stitch is a weird, little creature who was supposed to cause mayhem in the galaxy with his mischievous habits.
But on earth, he gets a new life when a girl called Lilo adopts him. Oh, and he also absolutely loves Elvis Presley. He uses the singer as a model to understand good behavior in human society.
Toothless: How To Train Your Dragon
The two leads in How To Train Your Dragon, both of them are misfits who try to complete each other with their friendship. Hiccup comes from a long line of dragon-slayers but he realizes he doesn’t have what it takes to be one.
Compared to the other sharp-toothed, ferocious dragons, Toothless is a Night Fury who just engages in fun-filled adventures and is pretty friendly on the contrary. As his name suggests, he doesn’t even have teeth. Hiccup feels guilty about crippling one of his wings accidentally. Hence, he even designs a prosthetic wing and harness for his pet dragon.
Sparky: Frankenweenie
Inspired heavily from the novel Frankenstein and Tim Burton’s own short film of the same name, his black and white animated horror-comedy features a dog who is brought back from the dead after a powerful science experiment. Even though Sparky, the bull terrier has stitches all over, he’s not a creepy abomination like Frankenstein’s monster is usually depicted.
Instead, the dog is a merry creature loyal to his adopter Victor Frankenstein, the brilliant scientist shown here as an introverted boy. Sparky’s valor is further proven when he doesn’t think twice before saving Victor from a burning building, even if that cost him his own life yet again.
Donkey: Shrek
Eddie Murphy seems to be in his comfort zone whenever he voices Donkey. A pet with probably the simplest of names, he’s the ogre Shrek’s sidekick on his adventures although all he does is bicker and blabber about random things all the time. It gets even weirder in the sequels when it’s revealed Donkey marries the dragon from the first film and they have a couple of donkey-dragon hybrids as kids!
Regardless, Donkey is a trusted friend of Shrek and is pretty fun-loving. Musical sequences further show that he’s an energetic singer too, whether he’s singing a reprise of songs “Living La Vida Loca” or “I’m a Believer.”
Sherman: Mr. Peabody & Sherman
Calling Sherman a pet depends on perspective. Mr. Peabody is a genius inventor dog who adopts the human boy Sherman as his own kid. If it was the reverse case, everyone would have seen the dog as the boy’s pet.
So, it only makes sense to see Sherman as a son and maybe as a pet too for Mr. Peabody. A dumb, good-natured bespectacled boy, Sherman often creates problems for the canine protagonist as he messes around with his time-travel equipment. However, the resulting historical misadventures only bring the dog and the boy closer.
Babe: Babe
Babe is a pig that talks just like the rest of the animals in Farmer Hoggett’s farm. But that’s not the weird aspect of the little pig. This is a pig who grows amidst a group of sheepdogs and hence, shows its interest in becoming the best sheepdog ever.
Even Hoggett feels the same and goes to the extent of making Babe compete at a prestigious sheepdog competition. The other farmers ridicule this as a gimmick but Hogget’s warmth and Babe’s smartness prove everyone wrong. A smiling Hoggett looking at Babe and saying, ‘That’ll do, Pig. That’ll do’. That has to be one of the most heartwarming closing scenes in cinema.
Gromit: Wallace & Gromit franchise
A silent and loyal companion, Gromit is a dog who walks on two legs and take care of the eccentric inventor Wallace. A master of silent deadpan humor, he often doesn’t show interest to Wallace’s good-natured yet crazy ideas. Wallace regardless follows his passion which ends up in causing more trouble.
That’s when Gromit steps usually and takes charge. He’s featured in various films starring the animated duo and their debut feature The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Dug: Up
A golden retriever with a sound collar that allows him to speak, Up‘s Dug is a genuinely good canine but his overwhelming positivity can get annoying at times especially with a character like grumpy, old Mr. Fredericksen. He tries hard to be a good dog, eager to find a human who can adopt him.
Finally, Fredericksen also gives in and plays with Dug showing that good-spirited-beings can make anyone happy (especially if the animal has a collar on his neck that can make him talk like humans).
ET: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
There was a time when aliens in movies were just seen as invading creatures from outer space who need to be defeated. In contrast to that, the wrinkly, brown alien dubbed as ET (short for Extra-Terrestrial) is a symbol of positivity. He craves to go back to his alien family but still is of great help to his human friend Elliot and his family. He tries adjusting to human customs like drinking beer and watching Sesame Street in some of the most hilarious scenes of the film.
Even when he finally leaves for his homeland, ET tells Elliot that he’ll always be there for him and points his glowing figure on the boy’s forehead. ET definitely revolutionized the portrayal of alien pets for the generations to come.
