by Nathaniel R
Over the Moon
We have a few big 2020 Year in Review pieces left to go but how about something fluffy and little tonight like "Bungee" in Over the Moon (pictured above).. or if not always that then slippery but cuddly, or dangerous and otherwordly. We polled Team Experience for their favourite critters of the year onscreen and here were the results (sort of). We'd intended to do the usual countdown thing but the results were truly all over the place with 20+ animals cited and not much in the way of consensus. So rather than attempting little blurbs and a ranking we'll let these dozen animals speak for themselves. Not that they can speak. Which was your favourite screen creature in 2020?
Onward
The New Mutants
If you fancy dragons as pet companions you had two options: "Blazey" in Onward and "Lockheed" in The New Mutants.
The Invisible Man
Love and Monsters
i'm thinking of ending things
The traditionalists or dog lovers amongst you might surely prefer brave "Zeus" in The Invisible Man or scene-stealer "Boy" in Love and Monsters though you won't get much comfort from elusive wet "Jimmy" in i'm thinking of ending things.
I'm thinking of ending things
Gunda
Pigs had a rough 2020 onscreen though they were definitely memorable via the hallucinatory bleeding pig in I'm thinking of ending things that surely inspired some critical discourse (we're guessing) and "Gunda" and her piglets, who refuse to be anthropomorphized in the stark and hypnotic documentary Gunda.
Wolfwalkers
First Cow
Okay so while we found no real consensus on greatest screen animals of 2020 amongst our team, there were two films which came closest to uniting our affections, "Mebh" and her wolfpack in Wolfwalkers and the titular First Cow in Kelly Reichardt's critical darling. Evie as that first cow unfortunately doesn't understand the concept of "acting" and doesn't think to hide her affection for Cookie (John Magaro) in one pivotal scene which proves to be one of the most weirdly nail-biting and suspenseful moments of the film year. Action directors wish! Evie was popular enough this year to get her own GQ profile.
What was your favourite screen animal this year?
Or are you not an animal lover? Perhaps you're more like Betsey Trotwood (Tilda Swinton) and wishing TFE was a "donkey free zone!"