The Adventures of Milo and Otis

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The Adventures of Milo and Otis, also known by its original Japanese name Koneko Monogatari, is a 1986 film. Milo is a curious orange kitten with a friend who is a pug named Otis. One day Milo drifts down the river while playing, and he and Otis cross paths and have adventures while searching for each other. Squee.


Tropes used in The Adventures of Milo and Otis include:
  • Babies Ever After: After all, why stop with just two adorable baby animals?
  • Cats Are Mean: Naturally, averted. The movie was extensively reworked from its original Japanese release... But the protagonist cat, Milo, is portrayed as good-natured and curious, and even his occasional mischievous moments are generally endearing rather than off-putting. Also somewhat unusually, he's close friends with a pug named Otis, hence the title.
  • Cute Kitten: Milo
  • Down on the Farm
  • Enforced Method Acting - Allegedly, many of the stunts were done by actually putting the animal actors in danger and then filming. The other wiki mentions the allegations but notes that nothing was ever proven.
    • It's rather cringe inducing either way to see the cat getting thrown down a river, pushed down holes, and falling off large cliffs and waterfalls, and the dog having to wrestle a bear. The Fridge Horror can really do a number on one's childhood.
    • The Japanese version has a good bit of footage deemed too nasty for the American cut, including a much more violent fight between the pug and the bear, and one kitten that reportedly had its foot deliberately broken.
  • Everything's Worse with Bears: Milo and Otis encounter several bears on their adventures.
    • Or, perhaps with a bit of imagination, the same bear.
  • Fantastic Foxes: The fox that both Milo and Otis meet on separate occasions appears to be crafty and fun-loving, though not necessarily a bad guy.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners
  • The Homeward Journey
  • I Will Find You: Pretty much the entire premise.
  • Inevitable Waterfall: Milo goes down one in a box.
  • Interspecies Adoption: Milo and Otis take a lesson in responsibility when they raise a baby chicken at the beginning of the film.
  • Interspecies Friendship: Obviously the title characters count, but we also see interspecies friendships galore in this movie.
  • Incoming Ham: When Otis encounters the Fox.
  • Laughably Evil: If you count the bear. Despite being...well, a freakin' bear, he can't seem to defeat a little kitten after three encounters with him. Not to mention a Crowning Moment of Funny where a bowling ball gets dropped on his head!
  • Messy Pig: Baby pigs have terrible table manners.
  • Missed Him by That Much
  • Name and Name
  • Odd Friendship: Dogs and cats can be friends. Awww...
  • Owl Be Damned: There's a scene in the treetops at nighttime where the kitten talks with a horned owl with glowing eyes who pops out of nowhere. Though he is friendly, he is needless to say quite terrifying for younger children.
  • Precious Puppy: Otis
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Milo as Red, Otis as Blue
  • Scenery Porn
  • Sleep Cute: Milo and Otis, Milo and the Deer...
  • Swamps Are Evil: Deadwood Swamp is a desolate, terrible place. Just see the name.
  • Third Wheel: Milo and Otis spend the who movie looking for each other traveling over harsh terrain and fighting off dangerous predators, finally being reunited near the end!....Only to have Milo meet up with a female cat and then the two of them unwittingly snub poor Otis.