Pet Shop of Horrors

If Rod Serling had written and directed Gremlins, the result might have been something like this anthology of four anime tales, each of which revolves around a) the purchase of an exotic pet from the mysterious Count D's Chinatown pet shop, which comes with b) a list of "caring for" rules that are c) invariably broken with d) disastrous results. In the episode "Despair," for instance, a has-been sci-fi actor (clearly suggested by Star Wars' Mark Hamill), purchases a blindfolded lizard that looks like a beautiful woman, with the caveat that her blindfold must not be removed. No doubt internally singing the strains of "can't take my eyes off of you," the besotted actor eventually lifts the blindfold only to say hello to a Medusa-like reptile. The other stories involve a "rabbit" that looks exactly like a young couple's recently deceased daughter, a mermaid that resembles a husband's dead wife, and a little girl (known as a Kirin) who will grant a single wish to her master. While the animation is admittedly good, the stories themselves--which pretty much follow the same formula--are somewhat repetitious. The DVD includes Dolby Digital 5.1 audio for the English-dubbed version, but not, unfortunately for the Japanese version w/English subtitles (a rather odd switching of priorities) and a rather bizarre, occasionally humorous audio commentary by the English director and cast who did the dubbing (as opposed to any of the original creative team). Optional. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)