Australian cinemagoers will see an edited version of controversial family movie Show Dogs, following claims the Hollywood film was grooming children for sexual abuse.
The film, starring Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and a talking Rottweiler, sparked controversy following its release in the US last week, after bloggers and parents groups said two key scenes in the movie normalised sexual abuse to child viewers.
The scenes were described as showing Rottweiler Max, a police dog who's gone undercover at a Las Vegas dog show, submitting to have his genitals manhandled, a normal inspection at a dog show.
Despite his initial protestations, Max relents after being told to go to his "zen place", earning his place in the show's final round.
Will Arnett and dog in Show Dogs.
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Concerned parents and child protection groups, including the US's National Center on Sexual Exploitation, accused the scenes of "grooming children for sexual abuse".
"These are similar tactics child abusers use when grooming children – telling them to pretend they are somewhere else, and that they will get a reward for withstanding their discomfort," a statement from the Center read, describing the scenes as "confusing messages endorsing unwanted genital touching."
The Hollywood film has been accused of promoting child abuse.
The controversy quickly spread to Australia, with local child protection group Bravehearts calling on Communications Minister Mitch Fifield and the Classification Board to ban the film ahead of its planned September holidays release.
Local theatre chain Cineplex Australia had also removed the film from its upcoming schedule.
Following the outcry, the film's production company Global Road Entertainment announced on Thursday it would be removing the two offending scenes from the film and re-releasing a revised version.
"The company takes these matters very seriously and remains committed to providing quality entertainment for the intended audiences based on the film's rating. We apologise to anybody who feels the original version of Show Dogs sent an inappropriate message," the statement, published by Deadline, reads.
Roadshow Films, the film's local distributor, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
The film, which also stars Natasha Lyonne and features voice work from rapper Ludacris, Alan Cumming and Stanley Tucci, has drawn poor reviews outside the scandal, with one critic bluntly labelling it "really bad, even for a talking-dog movie".
The film is due for an Australian release on September 13.
Rob Moran is an Entertainment reporter for The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Brisbane Times.
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