I've decided that there must be some all-mighty Hollywood guru who really likes his or her pets. Why else would so many 'action/thriller/suspense' movies involve having to go back for the family fish? One of the ultimate examples of this is Dante's Peak, where Pierce Brosnan and company rescue their little dog, Muffy (or Scruffy, or Muffin, or something like that), while driving an old pickup truck through a lava flow. Then there's the more subtly stupid examples, like Alien, where Ripley spends a good five minutes chasing the cat, Jones, around while listening to her crewmates die over the intercom. I'm sure there are tons of other examples I could think of given more time, but you get the point.