Review: ‘Sgt. Stubby’ film tells worthy story that starts in New Haven

This April 30, 1919 photograph provided by the Connecticut State Library shows famed war dog Stubby walking in a homecoming parade for World War I veterans in Hartford. This April 30, 1919 photograph provided by the Connecticut State Library shows famed war dog Stubby walking in a homecoming parade for World War I veterans in Hartford. Photo: Contributed Photo: Contributed Image 1 of / 35 Caption Close Review: ‘Sgt. Stubby’ film tells worthy story that starts in New Haven 1 / 35 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN — The new animated film “Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero” — which will have a special preview April 8 in the Elm City before wide release April 13 — is no Pixar studio marvel. The Fun Academy Motion Pictures film is computer-generated, but it strikes a simpler tone for a simpler era. And its heart is in the right place as it tells a worthy true story with young people in mind.

The story is compelling enough — with Stubby participating heroically in four offensives and 17 battles — and the film works in historical points from a century ago, from the gas masks to the battle maps to the emergence of the 1918 flu pandemic.

The 90-minute film will be screened at Bow Tie Criterion Cinemas on Temple Street at 5:30 p.m. on April 8, with a red carpet starting at 4 p.m. (check ahead for tickets; it may be sold out).

The film is based on the unlikely story of the most decorated canine in American history, Sgt. Stubby. The New Haven stray dog was adopted by a soldier, J. Robert Conroy of New Britain, as the 102nd Infantry Regiment of the 26th “Yankee” Division was training for World War I at (or near) Yale Field.

The movie’s opening places that training on the New Haven Green, with some familiar buildings in the background. That’s a nice buzz for folks familiar with New Haven, although as the Yale Alumni Magazine put it recently, “Bingham Hall appears in the background — anachronistically, as it wasn’t built till 1926.”

“Sgt Stubby” is narrated by Conroy’s sister Margaret, voiced by Helen Bonham Carter. Logan Lerman voices Conroy and Gerard Depardieu plays a friendly French soldier.

This reviewer watched intently with his two grandchildren — me because my grandfather served in that very outfit sent over to France in the “war to end all wars,” and the kids because it’s an engaging story of a dog who could stand at attention, salute officers, have adventures and inspire trust. The younger child at one point did ask what “war” is, and I avoided saying it’s where politicians send young men when they’re trying to procure a second term in office.

But it did lead me to curtail the 4- and 6-year-old’s viewing of the war scenes, where there is camaraderie but also a mustard gas attack, injury and even (implied) death — all handled tastefully so the film is acceptable to kids 7 and over. If it were a live-action story, you would expect a lot more agony and horror, but while the animation mostly skims that bloody surface, it doesn’t glorify its subject either.

The film has been chosen as an official project of U.S. and French WWI centennial commissions. Stubby’s status as an adopted stray is also leading Fun Academy to partner with animal organizations across the country for the film, which is slated to be released to 3,000 screens in the U.S.