ROCK DOG
PG, 80 minutes. Starts Friday at Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook. The second Chinese-American co-production to hit U.S. theaters in as many weeks, animated feature “Rock Dog” arrives one week after the release of another prominent co-production, the fantasy adventure “The Great Wall.” Director Ash Brannon brings Pixar and Sony bona fides (he co-directed “Toy Story 2” and directed “Surf’s Up”) to this adaptation of rocker Zheng Jun’s graphic novel “Tibetan Rock Dog,” which mixes Tibetan culture with contemporary Brit-rock, and adds a splash of mob movies for kicks. We start in a village on Snow Mountain, where a young mastiff, Bodi (Luke Wilson), and his dad, Khampa (J.K. Simmons), are tasked with guarding a bunch of ditzy, addled sheep from a pack of hungry wolves. An opening sequence, rendered in a hand-drawn style, nods to traditional Chinese art and music. We’re dropped right into this world without much context, and the drawn animation is soon set aside for serviceable computer animation. The characters aren’t fully expressive, and the environment and setting are boring; the frames and visual compositions are dull. When we’re used to animated features with high joke-density, both visual and written, “Rock Dog” is a serious downshift in energy and content. Bodi discovers rock music on a radio dropped from a biplane and is soon obsessed with the tunes of Angus Scattergood. After a rift with his father over playing music or protecting sheep, Bodi heads for “the city” to find his tribe. He connects with super cool, super isolated rocker Angus (Eddie Izzard), a lean, white, Wayfarered cat, a sort of Gallagher brother, by way of Russell Brand, by way of Blur. Soon they’re writing songs and eluding capture by the wolves, who are now suited up and organized into a crime organization. While a mix of “Zootopia” and “Sing!” with hints of “Kung Fu Panda” seems like a great idea, the result is a strange combination. Those films created rich worlds, cultures and subcultures for anthropomorphic animals; there’s just not enough on the screen to buy into “Rock Dog.” — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
COLLIDE
PG-13, 99 minutes. Starts Friday at Stonington. An American backpacker gets involved with a ring of drug smugglers as their driver, though he winds up on the run from his employers across Cologne high-speed Autobahn. Stars Nicholas Hoult, Felicity Jones, Anthony Hopkins, Ben Kingsley. A review wasn’t available by deadline.