Very well executed

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Baxter is a French movie inspired by Ken Greenhall's Hell Hound novel. Set in Belgian suburbs, it revolves around the relation between a dog called Baxter and his owners – those he calls "the humans". Indeed, this is a dog that thinks and speaks aloud! But, far from being a Scooby Doo or a Beethoven, Baxter's behavior is far more realistic, and beastly. As we soon discover, Baxter is a creature with a strong character and distinct tastes, which will lead the story in unexpected directions.The narration is structured in an initial prologue followed by three segments, one for each of Baxter's owners. The movie is occasionally humorous, but overall very dark and serious. It explores the beastly spirit found in animals as well as in humans, and the joys and sorrows of a discipline of obedience. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A maladjusted bull terrier finds the perfect master in a psychotic suburban teenage boy who, when he isn't slapping his hand on thumbtacks to teach himself pain, is busy building a scale replica of Hitler's bunker. Needless to say, the star of this unusual French novelty item is a far cry from Lassie, and the already perverse scenario is made even more strange by maintaining the dog's point of view, with voice-over narration by Baxter himself, a device that could only have worked in a subtitled film. It all adds up to a small cautionary fable about the consequences of neglect and cruelty, to both animals and children, with an implicit critique of fascism summed up by Baxter's last words: "never be obedient". The moral is clear, but the message is mixed, because Baxter's obedience is already selective: his primitive canine instincts can sometimes override his training. But the film certainly has cult potential, and with a concise running time of only 82 minutes it won't likely tax anyone's patience.

Films where animals are given a persona and a human voice have long been a staple of children's entertainment, but I can't think of a single film made for adults where this is the case. With the exception of oddball French flick 'Baxter', of course! Any film with a premise as weird as this one is bound to become a must see for yours truly, but this is an idea which, when fused with black comedy, certainly has the potential to be great, and Jérôme Boivin's film comes close to fulfilling that promise. The film has a couple of points to make, and tries to fuse them with the perspective of a dog. The film follows Baxter - a bull terrier given to an old lady by her daughter. Baxter isn't fond of his owner, but she keeps him because she's lonely. However, it's not long before Baxter decides he's had enough and the old woman meets an untimely end. Baxter then moves on to the young couple across the street, where's he's happy for a while again, right up until their baby is born and he gets his nose pushed out. Baxter is searching for a human like him; and unfortunately, he soon finds one.The film shows that no matter how evil a mind an animal has, there's always a human with a worse one. Baxter succeeds in showing life from the point of view of a supposedly obedient animal, and the most powerful things in this respect are the things that show the dog at it's most instinctive - things like mating with another dog and bending to his masters' will. The dog in this film may be a comical impression of the real life 'mans best friend', but somehow it doesn't feel so unbelievable that you can't buy into the film. The main reason why this film is so eerie owes to the voice artist behind the dog. Maxime Leroux's voice gives Baxter a distinctive air of evil and authority, which suits the dog well. The things that the dog says are always interesting and often insightful, which helps the film to create an absurd atmosphere as dogs aren't usually associated with intellectual intelligence. The conclusion to the film is undoubtedly shocking and completely surprising, and works really well. Overall, Baxter is too weird a film to ignore and for that reason if nothing else, it gets my full recommendation.

I thought this movie was wickedly delicious at times, but at the same time is was downright depressing and had that feel of a car accident that you know you shouldn't be watching, but you keep your eyes glued to it anyway feel.Perhaps I'm a fool, but here's my major complaint: I could not tell that this was such a dark movie just from the box. I picked it up at the video rental store thinking it would be some kind of cute flick about a dog doing social commentary. The box neglected to mention that it was a sick existential journey into the mind of a sociopathic pit bull who lives only to serve himself and destroy others.I'll grant that the movie was hilarious in one part where Baxter is shown a baby and he comments on how disgusting this "bag of flesh" is. With lines like, "I thought they were trying to apologize to me for this mess they had conceived," you can't help but crack up. As for the rest of the movie though, I found myself shifting around uncomfortably a great deal more.