New Zealand's chief censor has ordered a controversial children's film about dogs, accused of "normalising" sexual assault, to be specially reviewed by his office before it is released.

The film, called Show Dogs, featured a scene in which a dog's genitals were examined against the dog's wishes. The dog was depicted going to his "zen place" as the unwanted touching occurred.

Chief Censor David Shanks made the unusual decision to call the film in for review following a number of complaints.

Normally, films rated G or PG arrive in New Zealand without requiring a localised classification. However, the Classifications Office confirmed Show Dogs would be specially reviewed.

"We understand the film's distributors are currently re-editing this film in response to public concern. We can confirm that the version distributed in New Zealand will be classified, regardless of any edits made prior to release," the office said in a statement.

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.

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".

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.

A spokesperson for Roadshow Films, the film's distributor in Australia and New Zealand, confirmed the company "plans to only release the revised, recut version of the film".

"Roadshow acknowledges that there have been concerns raised regarding two scenes in the upcoming release of the film. Roadshow wishes to advise that the producers of the film are editing the film to remove the relevant scenes and Roadshow will only be releasing the revised version," the company said in a statement.

Show Dogs was expected to reach New Zealand in October.

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".