Courage the Cowardly Dog is one of the most iconic shows to ever come out of Cartoon Network for a reason, and now all these years later fans have gotten to see why with a brand new movie that basically shows off a new take on that idea. Courage the Cowardly Dog first hit Cartoon Network during the 2000s, and while it’s basically impossible to stream and revisit these days thanks to its removal from platforms like HBO Max, there was a time that it completely dominated children’s television thanks to its blend of horror, slapstick comedy and fun.
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But what if there were a more serious version of this idea? Good Boy is basically what you get. Much like how Courage the Cowardly Dog focused on a family dog as he faced off against unseen otherworldly troubles that only he could stop, Good Boy is told through the perspective of a dog that is the only one that notices something is wrong with a family farm house. Diving more into the horror side of things than Courage the Cowardly Dog ever could, it really shows off how this core idea can work in any medium.
How Good Boy and Courage Are Alike
Good Boy and Courage the Cowardly Dog share quite a few similarities that reveal themselves when you dig in. Courage the Cowardly Dog was set in Nowhere, USA and followed a young dog named Courage who lived in farm house with his elderly owners Muriel and Eustace. The two owners would constantly get into trouble, and it’s usually Courage who is the first to notice something wrong. He didn’t really speak English (outside of a few gags to the audience), so the only way he could communicate with his owners was through panicked dog noises and motions.
Because it was an animated series, Courage himself was allowed to be more animated in how he got Muriel and Eustace’s attention (and thus allowed room for more comedy). But ultimately, it was up to Courage to figure out how to stop whatever monster of the week was attacking at the time. Good Boy, funny enough, shares a lot in its core with the animated series. It also focuses on a dog named Indy, who is moving into a mysterious farm house that once belonged to his owner’s grandfather before cede grandfather died of mysterious circumstances.
Told through Indy’s perspective, the film spends a lot of time showcasing how Indy is sensing a dark presence within the farm house and is noticing something that his owner is not aware of at the time. Because dogs are always said to have a sense of awareness that humans don’t have, Indy can see shadows and otherworldly images that he can’t quite convey to his owner. Despite trying to get his owner’s attention, things begin to unravel at the farm house before long much like they would in any Courage the Cowardly Dog episode.
What Makes Good Boy Stand Out From Courage
Good Boy goes the extra mile with its core idea, however, simply because it is a live-action feature film production. The tension and terror is automatically taken to a whole new level as putting a real dog in danger with a situation like this ratchets everything up to a new degree that was never possible in Courage the Cowardly Dog. And because the animated series ultimately was meant to entertain children, there were some ways it couldn’t go as far as a full Horror film like Good Boy could.
Throughout the runtime of Good Boy, there’s an undeniable sense of tension as Indy is put in a very horrific situation. Every time he glances a look at the main creature popping up, it all feels very real as there’s no telling whether or not Indy is going to survive. Because despite how much had happened to Courage in any given adventure, fans could always rest easy knowing that he would be just fine and pop up in the next segment or episode. There wasn’t that safety net present here. Taking everything deadly seriously was where Good Boy really made itself stand out.
The real key change between the two, however, is that Good Boy does go a more heartbreaking route with its Horror film ending. You might have heard how the ending is definitely a sad one, and with a film focusing on a dog there really only can be a few endings that would result in something as “heartbreaking” as you’d expect. This is where Good Boy ultimately surpasses its compatriot because when it finally does come to its end, it’s done whether viewers like it or not.
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
