10 Best Movies For Pet Lovers

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One of Tom Hanks‘s earliest films, Turner & Hooch is a buddy comedy pairing a police detective with the only witness to a murder, the victim’s French mastiff, Hooch. Hanks’s Scott Turner lives by himself and doesn’t want to be in charge of the dog, which means that the two bond over time, like the dad that tells the family he doesn’t want a dog. Working together, man and man’s best friend figure out who the murderer is, in one of the 80s best buddy cop movies and pet movies wrapped up into one.

The first pet movie on our list also stars Reginald VelJohnson, Craig T. Nelson, and Mare Winningham.

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A harrowing tale of survival that technically stars Paul Walker, the real story of Eight Below has nothing to do with the humans but rather the team of sled dogs abandoned in Antarctica. Harsh weather conditions force an emergency evacuation, and months later, Walker’s Jerry Shepard returns to save the loyal dogs he left behind. One of the better pet movies that focus on the interaction of the members of a pack instead of how they interact with humans, Eight Below was a surprising success.

Making $120 million against a budget of $40 million, a pet movie that barely features Paul Walker is also one of the late star’s most successful movies outside of The Fast and the Furious franchise.

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A Wes Anderson film about a canine flu outbreak in near-future Japan, Isle of Dogs is a heartwarming pet movie about Atari and his dog Spot. After all of the dogs are sent to live on Trash Island, the young boy steals a helicopter and goes off in search of his friend. In a strange twist, the dialogue between dogs is fully translated and understood, while the human speech is kept in Japanese.

Regrettably, the film’s version of Japanese culture came under fire for relying on stereotypes, such as taiko drums, sumo, and anime. None of that distracts from the heartwarming tale of friendship, which is at the core of almost every pet movie.

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Hachi: A Dog’s Tale is based on the true story from Japan of a loyal dog that waits for its human to return home from work. To fully appreciate how heartwarming and heartrending this film is, all you need to know is that Futurama adapted the story for “Jurassic Bark.” If you aren’t crying already, you will be by the end of this pet movie, which is the ultimate display of friendship and loyalty.

Starring Richard Gere, Joan Allen, and Jason Alexander, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale is a classic pet movie that needs to be seen once and then never again.

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Milo is the first cat to appear on this list! The Adventures of Milo and Otis is a pet movie classic featuring no dialogue as the story follows two lost pets trying to get back to their home after the kitten gets a little too curious. Every character the pair encounter is voiced by the film’s narrator, Dudley Moore, and the result is a family-pleasing classic.

Originally a Japanese film, the English version is 15 minutes shorter, and while it was a VHS hit stateside, overseas in Japan, it made over $200 million adjusted for inflation. Strangely, The Adventures of Milo and Otis is the only pet movie on this list to receive an NES tie-in game.

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A Street Cat Named Bob is a biographical pet movie based on the book of the same name, and yes, it does star Bob the Cat as himself. James Bowen, played by Luke Treadaway in the movie, is a recovering addict that comes across Bob while pan-handling, and soon, the cat herds tourists to his new best friend. Struggling to survive together, the pair eventually overcome all obstacles in their way through the power of friendship.

A sequel, A Gift from Bob, was a Christmas-themed pet movie released in 2020.

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Marley & Me is a pet movie and a romantic comedy starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston as newlyweds preparing to start a family. A friend suggests adopting a dog as a test run, which is a plot that plays out in neighborhoods worldwide on a daily basis. Marley, the precocious golden retriever, stays by the couple’s side as the film goes through their life, reflecting the reality of dog owners everywhere.

As a pet movie, Marley & Me is the most realistic of the films on this list, and as a romantic comedy, it lets the two human leads shine at what they do best.

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One of Walt Disney‘s greatest movies, Lady and the Tramp, is a pet movie and love story focused on the real stars of all these movies: the dogs. Who hasn’t tried to re-enact the meatball scene at least once?

The star-crossed lovers, this time, happen to be canines, showing the other the world they come from and falling in love with each other while the audience falls in love with them. The 2019 remake, featuring Tessa Thompson and Justin Theroux, tried to recapture the magic, but it failed as something about the classic animation can’t be replicated.

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Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey is one of those films that, if you were a kid in the 90s, you watched the movie at least once, but most likely, on constant repeat. This pet movie follows three pets, Chance, Shadow, and Sassy, voiced by Michael J. Fox, Don Ameche, and Sally Field, respectively.

Separated from their family, the three pets spend the movie crossing the wilderness from Colorado to San Francisco, overcoming all obstacles by relying on each other. The most unrealistic part of the movie is implying that Sassy the cat wouldn’t abandon the two dogs at the first sign of trouble by finding another family right down the street.

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A Christopher Guest mockumentary that explores the twisted world of dog shows, Best in Show is one of the best pet movies as it examines the relationship between humans and dogs while being one of the best comedies of all time. Starring the usual cast of actors, including Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Ed Begley Jr., Rachel Harris, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, and Fred Willard (via IMDb), with an adorable cast of show dogs.

The relationships here are much different from the preceding pet movies, with some of the owners deriving their whole identity from the dogs, and yet, at the end of the day, it’s all about love and companionship.