Inubu

A sweet but somewhat unremarkable little drama about two future veterinarians who both want to help animals in their own way. People with a soft spot for animals and pets are sure to appreciate the message and moral dilemmas put forward in this film, but the drama isn't quite strong enough to warrant the 2-hour runtime.

Sota and Ryosuke are both studying to become vets. Sota cares too much about animals to hurt them and his mission is to safe every animal possible, whereas Ryosuke wants to change things from the inside and is willing to get his hands dirty, if that means he can run his own shelter and make structural changes to animal welfare later in his life.

The actors do a decent job, there are plenty of cute animals running around, and the direction is pleasant. There's no real urgency though and the presentation of the moral dilemma is a bit simplistic. It's certainly not a terrible film, it's just that Shinohara is obviously capable of better. A film with its heart in the right place.