Best Animal Companions in film?

[joeyfixit]

What are the best/favorite examples of Animal Companions in film?

My list is fairly short. It includes Ladyhawke and The Beastmaster. The other ones are mostly dog and horse, and none of them is much like a Druid.

[cheechako]

Rocket J Squirrel, Spot (from the Munsters), and Amy (from BtVS).

[Imbicatus]

The Mummy 2 (Oded Fehr's Hawk)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (the monkey)
He-Man (Battle Cat)

I also like Crocodile Dundee for Wild Empathy, even though he didn't have a companion.

[Kerney]

Donkey in Shrek, though with the intelligence and the talking, I could see him acting more like an Eidolon than an animal companion.

[Kjeldor]

Curious George. That is one smart monkey...

[Mathius]

avatar?

Silver from the lone ranger

[cheechako]

Kerney wrote:

Donkey in Shrek, though with the intelligence and the talking, I could see him acting more like an Eidolon than an animal companion.

Or some druid cast Awaken on him.

Speaking of druids, is there a swarm lord in addition to the pack lord? Because I almost forgot Willard.

[Eltacolibre]

Lassie, the ape in congo, Baxter in Anchorman, Babe in babe and...that's all crossing my mind at the moment.

[joeyfixit]

A lot of these are mounts. To be fair, my current Druid mounts his Ape AC...

Ahem.

The druid I currently play has a mount, and it is his Ape AC.

Monkey from Raiders was actually an enemy spy.

Crocodile Dundee is totally what I'm watching tonight! I had never thought of him as a Druid, just as a modern Tarzan. But whereas Tarzan is more of a Barbarian (with Rangerish tendencies), Mick Dundee is probably one of the better examples of a modern Druid.

Thanks for the mention.

[Boothbey]

Bubo from Clash of the Titans.

[joeyfixit]

Boothbey wrote:

Bubo from Clash of the Titans.

I'll allow it. More of a construct, though.

[Deadmanwalking]

Dug from Up (the talking is clearly an item, it doesn't effect how smart he is). Ditto Kevin.

Flipper, in whatever you see him in.

Sven, from Frozen.

Maximus from Tangled (who's more competent than the protagonists in many ways).

Disney movies in general (and many from Pixar) are a good source for these, actually...

[Imbicatus]

joeyfixit wrote:

Monkey from Raiders was actually an enemy spy.

Yeah, who was a companion to the mercenary ranger who was working for the nazis. :)

[Cthulhudrew]

Pascal from Tangled.

[Imbicatus]

The dire wolves in Game of Thones, especially Jon Snow's.

[Doomed Hero]

Thing from Adams Family

[thegreenteagamer]

Doomed Hero wrote:

Thing from Adams Family

Given it's intelligence and diminutive size, I'd say Thing is more of a familiar.

[john ralls]

scooby doo.

crime solving dog that can make a sandwich cant beat that

[Java Man]

Clyde from Any Which Way But Loose.

[Makarion]

Ladyhawke.

Comes with a complimentary Rutger Hauer.

[Vod Canockers]

Cheetah (Tarzan) Various Tarzan movies.

Blood (Vic) A Boy and His Dog (it's possible that Vic is the companion and Blood is the Druid)

K-9 (Doctor Who) Doctor Who

Rocket/Groot (Groot/Rocket) Guardians of the Galaxy

Tennessee Steinmetz (Herbie) The Love Bug

Bonzo (Ronald Reagan) Various Bonzo movies.

[Threeshades]

Appa and Momo from Avatar: The Last Airbender

[Kaisoku]

I know it's a tv show instead of film, but Diefenbaker from Due South. The protagonist constantly has one sided conversations (verbally), but it becomes obvious that the wolf/dog understands a lot and even has some fairly human-like desires (especially about food) and picks up on human social eccentricities.

Best example of a ranger with an int 3 companion.

[shadowkras]

Ace Ventura, pet detective.

[Marik Whiterose]

Buck, Call of the Wild.

[joeyfixit]

Imbicatus wrote:

joeyfixit wrote:

Monkey from Raiders was actually an enemy spy.

Yeah, who was a companion to the mercenary ranger who was working for the nazis. :)

I think I'd qualify that guy as either a poison-focused rogue with a pet or possibly a low-level alchemist with a monkey familiar.

[joeyfixit]

Vod Canockers wrote:

Cheetah (Tarzan) Various Tarzan movies.

Blood (Vic) A Boy and His Dog (it's possible that Vic is the companion and Blood is the Druid)

K-9 (Doctor Who) Doctor Who

Rocket/Groot (Groot/Rocket) Guardians of the Galaxy

Tennessee Steinmetz (Herbie) The Love Bug

Bonzo (Ronald Reagan) Various Bonzo movies.

K-9 is a construct. Also, Doctor Who is many things, but not a druid or ranger. You could make an argument that K-9 was a familiar, I guess.

Love Bug is a vehicle. So at best, a mount.

Rocket and Groot? Who would be the PC and who the AC? I'd qualify these as two PC's.

[Xuttah]

Grimlock kind of acted as a bonded mount for Optimus Prime in TF4. Movie was aweful, but who doesn't love a giant, fire breathing, robotic tyrannosaur?

[Imbicatus]

I don't really see the difference between a mount and a companion. They both progress as you do and can act independently. One is just typically a little bigger than the other.

Another example:

Harry Potter & Hedwig. (Clearly not a familiar, but way more abilities than a normal owl.)

[Lincoln Hills]

Xuttah wrote:

...who doesn't love a giant, fire breathing, robotic tyrannosaur?

Based on my film studies, I'm going to guess "a giant, fire-breathing, robotic triceratops."

On topic: has anybody mentioned Abu from Disney's Aladdin?

Terrified Guard: He's got a sword!!

[Mike Franke]

How can everyone have missed both Grizzly Adams and his awesome bear and Gentle Ben the companion of Ron Howard's younger brother in the TV show of the same name.

[Duiker]

I'm sure there's a good biography of Catherine the Great that fits the bill.

[Velcro Zipper]

What's the matter with horses and dogs?

Dog from Mad Max 2 aka The Road Warrior.

The Black from The Black Stallion.

Ambrosius from Labyrinth.

Thor from Bad Moon.

...or tigers...

Richard Parker from Life of Pi

...or whatever this is...

Fizzgig from The Dark Crystal.

[Nocte ex Mortis]

Mothra is an AC. A terrifying, highly-advanced AC that needs two twelve-inch singing druidesses, but still an AC.

[joeyfixit]

Nocte ex Mortis wrote:

Mothra is an AC. A terrifying, highly-advanced AC that needs two twelve-inch singing druidesses, but still an AC.

More of a giant summoned antagonist, wouldn't you say?

[Distant Scholar]

Comet the Wonder Horse from The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr..

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

Rin Tin Tin
Old Yeller
Clyde from Every Which Way But Loose
Silver and Scout (mounts)
Taarna the Tarakian's lizard-bird mount
Curious George
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Uni the Unicorn
The dragons in How to Train Your Dragon
Aquaman regularly swapped out aquatic ACs
Scooby Doo
Godzooky
Donkey

[Nocte ex Mortis]

joeyfixit wrote:

Nocte ex Mortis wrote:

Mothra is an AC. A terrifying, highly-advanced AC that needs two twelve-inch singing druidesses, but still an AC.

More of a giant summoned antagonist, wouldn't you say?

Amusingly enough, Mothra would be a heroic antagonist in that situation, as she is always described as good. Godzilla, on the other claw, is King of the Monsters, and doesn't care about, well, anything.

Plus, it's always very clear that Mothra doesn't just appear, but that she's called, and only answers to the two priestesses. Sounds like the baddest AC ever to me.

[666bender]

Artax - never ending story

[666bender]

Or the racing snail

[Einhänder]

@Kaisoku

Deifenbaker! It's awesome that someone else watched that show. Sometimes, I think I'm the only one...

[Renegadeshepherd]

Zip. Dog from "Last of the Dogmen" with Tom Berringer starring. The intelligence of the dog is the main draw as be could track well and was intelligent enough to obey complex commands.

[Vod Canockers]

joeyfixit wrote:

Vod Canockers wrote:

Cheetah (Tarzan) Various Tarzan movies.

Blood (Vic) A Boy and His Dog (it's possible that Vic is the companion and Blood is the Druid)

K-9 (Doctor Who) Doctor Who

Rocket/Groot (Groot/Rocket) Guardians of the Galaxy

Tennessee Steinmetz (Herbie) The Love Bug

Bonzo (Ronald Reagan) Various Bonzo movies.

K-9 is a construct. Also, Doctor Who is many things, but not a druid or ranger. You could make an argument that K-9 was a familiar, I guess.

Love Bug is a vehicle. So at best, a mount.

Rocket and Groot? Who would be the PC and who the AC? I'd qualify these as two PC's.

No, Love Bug is the druid and Tennessee is it's AC. The car is definitely the smarter of the two.

I am unsure which of the Rocket/Groot pair is which, that is why I listed them the way I did.

[Mystic_Snowfang]

Ash and Pikachu
Cody and Marahute (Rescuers down Under)
In an interesting Inversion, The Horse and his Boy.
Emily and Clifford the Big Red Dog
Scooby and Shaggy
Little Creek and Rain (Spirit)
This Kid and his Snake

[Belabras]

The Beast of Gévaudan from Brotherhood of the Wolf

Seriously, that is one bad ass CA