Arctic Dogs is an animated family film about a lively menagerie of animals living in the frozen tundra. The story centers on Swifty, an Arctic fox who stumbles upon a dark scheme to destroy the polar icecaps and bands together with his furry pals to save the day.
Swifty the Arctic Fox (Jeremy Renner), works in the mailroom of the Arctic Blast
Delivery Service, but he has much bigger dreams. He yearns to become a Top Dog,
the Arctic’s star husky couriers. To prove he can do it, he commandeers one of the
sleds and delivers a mysterious package to a secret location. Once there, he stumbles
on a hidden fortress overseen by the nefarious Otto Von Walrus (John Cleese). The
blubbery evil genius commands an army of oddly polite puffin henchmen. Swifty
discovers Otto Von Walrus’ villainous plan to drill beneath the snow-packed surface to
unleash masses of ancient gas to melt the Arctic and become the world’s supreme
ruler. To stop this sinister scheme, Swifty enlists the help of his friends: PB (Alec
Baldwin), a neurotic polar bear, Lemmy (James Franco), a scatterbrained albatross,
Jade Fox (Heidi Klum), a brainy engineer, Leopold (Omar Sy) and Bertha (Heidi Klum),
two conspiracy theorist otters and Magda (Anjelica Huston), his curmudgeonly boss.
The snowbound animated romp is chock-full of action and adventure, and can be appreciated on several levels.
“On the surface Arctic Dogs is about an Arctic Fox named Swifty who must team up with his friends to stop an evil walrus from melting the polar ice caps,” director Aaron Woodley said. “Another level that really resonates is the love story between Swifty (Jeremy Renner) and Jade (Heidi Klum) that runs underneath the main narrative. It’s like a classic romance: these 2 trying to come together and get over their own insecurities. Swifty grew up feeling invisible. That really speaks to me, and lot of people, on sort of a primal level. He wants to be a top dog. But, at the end of the day, chasing after fame and celebrity is an empty pursuit. This film sneaks in the message of accepting yourself for who you are and I think it’s a really good one for kids to take away.”
Producer Graham Moloy added another key takeaway: “We want people to be entertained and come away happy after watching the film. On top of that, we touch upon real-life issues pertaining to our environment, the melting of the polar ice caps. I hope that this film will make people stop and think a minute about that.”
DIGGING BENEATH THE SURFACE
Audiences will find themselves rooting for Swifty, the adorable Artic fox, who yearns to be a top dog, and then must save civilization from ultimate peril.
“The film centers around this fox named Swifty,” Moloy said. “He lives in a small remote town and his ambition is to become a Top Dog at the town’s courier service. Top Dogs are the vital line between the outer world and the town. Swifty—whose white coat blends in with his surroundings– wants to be noticed and recognized. We follow him through his journey of thinking that being noticed and recognized is the most important thing. But, in reality, we want to show that if he’s true to himself he can achieve so much more in life. Along the way, he joins forces with his friends, PB the polar bear, Lemmy the albatross and Jade the fox, and the object of his affection. The movie also deals with climate change, which is one of the most important issues of our time.”