I remember being a kid and laughing like an absolute twat at Hale and Pace's cat in the microwave bit...
Animal cruelty for comic effect Page 3
In "Malcolm In The Middle" Francis sprayed in a cow with a highly flammable substance and then unintentionally set in on fire by duffing it.
They are ALWAYS killing cows in TV and films. It has become a thing. Any twister film, it takes a cow. Any monster or alien film, it eats a cow. Any film with frat boy types in, they blow up a cow.
Quote: Gordon Bennett @ August 30 2012, 6:06 PM BSTReminds me of "National Lampoon's European Vacation": Clarke Griswold throws his son's beret from the Eiffel Towers and a dog jumps to catch it.
also Clarke Griswold, but the first movie: He forgets that he tied the dog to the bumper bar earlier...you can guess the rest.
Again "National Lampoon"; the third movie ("Christmas Vacation"), this time it's a cat, sorry ZOOO!!!
The cat gets electrocuted under the Christmas tree. Why were the Lampoon guys so obsessed with killing pets?
I watched a film recently, seemed very Lampoonish but not sure what it was called, where a huge bear gets shot. He runs off making a really horrible, long screaming noise. It was clearly supposed to be hilariously funny, but it was really just upsetting!
The Great Outdoors.
It would be an effect zooo, obviously, there were laws in place by then.
C'mon, chasing the (obviously fake) bat with a tennis racket was funny. 
Speaking of obviously fake. I know this doesn't really belong in this thread but I find it hilarious. In a cartoon by a German comedian we see a forester who just shot a huge rabbitt. Two kids spot it and run to the dead body. They cry and shout "Noooo, he shot the easter bunny, whyyyyy!!!". Suddenly the boy notices a zip fly on the neck of the bunny and the two realize that it's not a real rabbit but their dad who had disguised himself as the easter bunny. The two kids smile again and are relieved that the real easter bunny's not dead. But the forester on the other hand looks a bit perplexed.
Quote: Nil Putters @ August 31 2012, 6:06 PM BSTThe Great Outdoors.
It would be an effect zooo, obviously, there were laws in place by then.
Well I didn't think they had actually shot it in the face!
Then why get 'really upset'? I don't get it.
Well, the same reason you get upset or sad or happy at anything in a film! You know it's all fake, but you still do.
Hmm
Quote: Nil Putters @ August 31 2012, 7:14 PM BSTThen why get 'really upset'? I don't get it.
I don't get it either. It's not like a love scene that wants to make you sentimental or horny, or a killing scene in a thriller, or scene in which a child is dying from cancer. These scenes we're talking about are supposed to be funny, they usually are so ridiculously over the top that you can't take them seriously. Either you laugh or you don't (because the scene is badly executed and therefore the comedy doesn't work). But getting upset about such a scene is beyond my imagination.
Would you watch a scene where a dog has just been run over and is slowly dying in its owner's arms, and sit there stony faced? Because it's just acting?
I don't really see why it's so unimaginable to feel bad for an animal in pain, even if it is acting. That's what all films are about, suspension of disbelief.
Aaaanyway, like I said (I dunno if you've seen the scene in question) it was the bear's horrible screaming that upset me. It went on and on, like a woman screaming in agony. Bloody horrible. I think it was a bad choice for a slapstick comedy. If the bear had made no noise and just run off I might have laughed.
But the bear in question is supposed to be 'a killer' IIRC. Do you feel bad for the killer in a horror film if they get their comeuppance?
I'm talking about comedy scenes. Of course I can't sit there with a stoney face if an animal gets hurt or killed in a "serious" movie. I cried many tears about dramatic scenes in which an animal died (especially when I was a kid)...even with "Turner & Hooch"