A must for the mutt-obsessed, Paul and Sandra Fierlinger's animated adaptation of the beloved memoir by J.R. Ackerley (1896–1967) is a skillfully told man-dog love story. The literary editor of the BBC magazine the Listener, Ackerley was a bachelor of 50 when he adopted a bouncy, skittish, territorial German shepherd. His 14 years with Tulip turned out to be the best of his life. Through 58,000 drawings, this ambitious film offers the highs and lows of their time together, from Tulip's unfortunately deposited poops to Ackerley's screwball-comedy attempts to find for his dog a proper mate for an improper mounting. There are moments when Ackerley (voiced by Christopher Plummer) starts to feel like a creaky bore, but Tulip, beautifully conceived and drawn, commands attention throughout.
