Like a pony ride in the park as a child, it's cute and it's fun and it's dark if you start to think about the animals feelings. EO is the road trip of a donkey, told from the point of view of the donkey. As such, there's very little dialog, which means the film rests squarely on the director's shoulders and he doesn't let us down. It's a poetic, insightful and poignant look at the treatment of animals, without ever falling into bathos or 'family movie' fare. Even more exciting, it will be sure to garner best animal actor Oscars for Tako, Hola, Marietta, Ettore, Roca and Mela (the six donkeys who played EO). See it if you can and you too will be leaving the cinema saying, Nice ass!

What makes one movie stand out from the other is much what makes one piece of music or painting stand out from another. What makes these things stand out is what makes them mean something different for each viewer or with each viewing. This is what truly makes art ART. And in my opinion this movie borders on art... or at least very artistic. This movie apparently was made to portray the suffering or abuse of animals but to me it showed something completely different as I injected my own feelings and thoughts into what is portrayed on the screen. Of course it STILL is about what the film maker intended it to be, but it can and is so much more than that. [spoiler] To me this was a movie about a donkey losing his one place of happiness, where he was loved and taken care of. Not perfect but still... home. He's forced to roam the world after it is taken away, showing the viewer both the beauty and the cruelty of the life and people he encounters on his path. The donkey always has a melancholic, often sad look in its eyes and the usage of images and flashes offers more than just an animal cruelty narrative. The kind trucker getting his throat slit by someone, the wolves being killed, the traversing of the bridge with the water flowing upward, the robot dog staring into a puddle and falling over... these are images that have SOME symbolic meaning so you can take them as you please. They are in a way also foreboding to what is to come. The slow and ever present element of death (loss) that surrounds us all.[/spoiler] [spoiler] To me this film was about loneliness, loss and a finding a sense of purpose in a world that disregards you cause you're just (in every sense of the word) "a donkey". Moving from one place to the other, being discarded by person after person, both good and bad. The bleak ending adding - those few moments where you think he has found a family, a flock and a new happy home- that is almost immediately shattered and reveals the futility of it all. A dark ending for a being that just wanted to be... home.[/spoiler] Calling it a movie about "animal cruelty" does this film a disservice. Watch it, put yourself in the donkey's hooves and experience it all the ways it can be.

Who knew the world could be such a lonely place for a donkey. This film made me lonely. I need more than great cinematography, which, unfortunately, is all EO could provide.

What huge waste of my time.

This film is supposed to show the world through a donkey’s eyes, but it’s just a movie starring a donkey as an excuse to connect various scenes with human characters. Not to mention that the few times it’s really about the donkey, its reactions are humanized in a rather displeasing manner… it even kicks the villain’s butt as in a cartoon. The forcefully dramatic ending just added up to the overall bad taste of the operation. Quite sad to come up with a negative review as the individual scenes are finely directed and show off remarkably charming visuals, with an artsy soundtrack as the icing on the cake. It’s the overall result and a few isolated terrible moments to be a failure.