The animated film The Queen's Corgi is receiving negative reviews and several scenes involving an animated U.S. President Donald Trump are part of the reason why. Directed by Ben Stassen and Vincent Kesteloot, and produced by Belgian studio nWave Pictures, The Queen's Corgi tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II's (fictional) favorite corgi, Rex. After a few unpleasant encounters with Trump, his wife, and their corgi, Rex accidentally leaves the ground of Buckingham Palace and ends up in a dog shelter.
Rex's adventures as a pampered pup out in the real world make sense as the plot of a kid's movie. What seems to be absolutely confounding (and which critics have picked up on immediately) is the inclusion of animated versions of Trump and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump. Wilder still, the Trumps are actually an integral part of the film; POTUS' arrival is connected to the reason Rex is on the streets. The first time Trump is seen in The Queen's Corgi, he is taking photos with his gold-plated cell phone, blithely unaware of formality and unable to focus. He goes on to grab the Queen and pose for a selfie while saying "Cheesesteak!" When Queen Elizabeth asks what the name of Melania's corgi is, Trump says his own wife's name thinking that's who the Queen referred to.
Perhaps the most egregious moment in the Trump's first meeting with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip is when the Queen and Melania decide Melania's corgi, Mitzi, who hails from Texas and wears bright pink eyeshadow (why that is, we'll never know), must have one of the queen's corgis as a mate. Trump encourages Mitzi, telling her to "grab some puppy." This is a very real line from this very real kid's movie that seems to make a joke out of sexual assault as the line recalls one of the most indefensible things Trump allegedly said (according to him but it's preserved in recordings, per the New York Times), about "grab[bing] [women] by the p****." It's a joke that would sail over a child's head, but for the parents accompanying their kids, it might elicit some shocked reactions. It only gets worse when Mitzi chooses to partner with Rex and comes onto him forcefully, ignoring Rex's protestations and violating his consent.
When asked by Metro.co.uk about why the line was included, director Ben Stassen explained:
"We did ask ourselves the same question and early on, we tested the scene (in storyboard version) with a few American kids (no scientific sampling, but enough to get an idea). Not a single kid understood the reference to Trump’s sexist remark. All the adults did. Maybe the line is tasteless (I personally find it funny…) but it is certainly not inappropriate for kids since they don’t know its origin."
That explanation begs the question of why Stassen and Kesteloot would include the line if it's a problem to those who do understand its origins and is going over the heads of the target audience. Trump's first scene in The Queen's Corgi may be a doozy but at least there's some catharsis for viewers. A little later in the film, Rex manages to bite Trump in the crotch before running away from Buckingham Palace. It's the last time Trump is seen in the film, making for an interesting (to put it mildly) end to his thoroughly problematic time onscreen.