10 Movies That Relied On Deus Ex Machina
8. Baxter The Dog Saves Ron And Veronica From A Bear - Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy
Anchorman culminates with the exciting news that Ling-Wong the giant panda is about to give birth, so all the news teams rush to be the first to cover the story. Veronica is shoved into the Kodiak bear enclosure by a rival newscaster to sabotage her story, and Ron Burgandy jumps in to save her.
The news team leaps to the rescue but are all mauled by the bears (apart from Brick who starts riding one of them!) As the mother bear angrily advances towards Ron and Veronica it looks like they are done for, when out of nowhere, Ron's dog Baxter appears and speaks to the bear, asking him to ‘leave these people alone’.
It transpires after he was kicked off the bridge he met and befriended a bear on his travels home, who happened to be the cousin of the bear in the zoo, who then lets Ron and Veronica go.
The film can be forgiven as it is a comedy, and this situation was designed to be ridiculous, but it is a great example of a deus ex machina as it relied on so many coincidences and suspensions of belief for Baxter to have met that exact bear, be able to communicate with bears, and find his way back to Ron at exactly the opportune moment to save him!