Lassie - Freunde fürs Leben

This movie was fun. I like Dogs, and I think this movie lived up to my expectations about what a Lassie movie should be. I watched it with my 8 year old sister who was very entertained by the whole thing. It's true, the plot is quite simple, and the sheep farming wasn't totally accurate, but overall, this movie which focuses on some young kids and of course, Lassie, is good for a night at home in your jammies. My parents were very happy when we picked this off the shelf at the video store. While my sister and I were very happy that Lassie was so beautiful, and that we had fun watching this movie together.

(Spoilers) Beautifully photographer, in and around the hills and woods of the state of Virgina, and wonderfully acted. This revival of the timeless story about the sensational sheepdog Lassie that never seems to lose it's charm and affection no matter how many times you see it.

The Turner family father Steve and his new wife Laura and two kids Matt & Jennifer, Jon Tenny Helen Slater Tom Gulry & Brittany Boyd, left the big city of Baltimore to go live and work as sheep farmers in the picturesque countryside of rural Virgina at the house that Steve's late wife Anna left him, come on to a tractor-trailer accident.

Waiting for the state troopers and local fire department to clear the wreckage this sweet and loving collie appears almost out of nowhere. With her master the trailer driver killed and now all alone she's looking for a new home and choose the Turner's as her new "best friends". At first trying to ignorer the cute canine the dog is so persistent, following the Turners on the highway for miles, that they decide to adopt her. It was the best decision that they ever made.

The movie "Lassie" grabs you right from the start and never lets go even after it's emotional and heart-stirring final that if your not in tears by then your just not human. Courageous and detected Lassie wins over everyone she comes in contact with: The Turners, especially young Matt, who at first tried to have nothing to do with the playful pooch. Lassie even wins over the Garlands, the father Sam and his two boys Josh & Jim (Frederic Forrest Clyton Barclay Jones & Charlie Hofhirner), who tried to kid-or dog-nap as well as shoot and kill Lassie. As she tried to keep them from stealing the Turner's flock of some 400 sheep. Young Josh was also angry, at the Turner's, because his girl April, Michelle Williams, left him and his self-indulging macho he-man act for the much more sweet and sensitive, as well as later brave, Matt Turner. The Turner's neighbors were also very bitter at the newcomers for taking over the rich grazing land, by putting a barb-wire fence across it, adjacent to the their farm, grazing land which in fact belonged to the Turners.

Lassie prevailed over all the perils that came before her. From a vicious dog-fight with a wild wolf who she saved Matt from being attacked and possibly killed. To a fast flowing and deadly white-water stream that Lassie saved both Matt as well as Josh who at first got into a fight with Matt over the stolen Turner sheep. That Josh and both his brother Tim and dad Sam Garland tried to commandeer away .

Lassie showed Matt that friendship is not like the CD's records and Walkman radios where you throw, or lock, them away and then buy new ones after you get tired with them; friendship is a life-long commitment. Matt who at first didn't want to move to the country, What No MTV!" saw what he missed in the clean fresh air and healthy environment of the Virgina farmlands. This while he was cooped up in the big city with nothing but rock, hard and soft, music and endless music videos to watch and waste his life, and hearing, away with. But most of all if he didn't move out to the country he never would have got to know and become a life-long friend, like everyone else in the movie, with Lassie.

Yes, I'm a sap, but there were a couple of places where this movie really tugged at my heartstrings. There were some almost inevitable Lassie-type scenes, but it was fun getting to see Lassie act like a Collie for once.

One thing that I noticed missing from the credits was Robert Weatherwax's name. Without Robert Weatherwax's training, the amazing things that this Lassie does would not be possible. As a dog trainer myself, I recognize the difficulty that accompanies training dogs to do even simple behaviors, so I think that he should be acknowledged.

One thing that made me laugh, though, was the kid's comment about getting another kind of dog for sheep dog: a (German) Shepherd or EVEN A LAB. (Caps mine, from horrified amazement) If a Labrador retriever can herd, the canine star of this movie can give birth to puppies. I'm sure that the problem was that the writer didn't want to say "border COLLIE or Bearded COLLIE or Australian SHEPHERD, but why not "Corgi," or "Sheltie," or "Tervuren?" There's an entire Herding/Pastoral group out there, people! A Lab . . . *rolls eyes*

As for the single "In My Life", I purchased all of the Beatles on 45 rpm and large record size singles in the 60s, I have it on both formats. So it is not a goof! There are songs and records issued in different formats for regional, different countries and specialized markets that are never released for most of the USA. The music is good, photography is excellent and rich is color, story extremely possible, locations were outstanding. Production gave a feeling that you were right there is the location and experiencing everything as it happened. My four year-old loved along with the rest of the family. It kept everybody attention. Overall an excellent family movie.

I really don't understand some of the negative reviews. What do people expect when they pick up a Lassie video? Yes, this one is admittedly formulaic: crisis looms - Lassie saves the day (repeatedly - it's like four or five of the TV episodes compressed into one movie. Maybe some people feel it's too simplistic, or that there's too much shaggy-haired heroism for one movie. But it's Lassie, for crying out loud! My four-year-old daughter loves it, as do her eight- and eleven-year-old cousins (a boy and a girl, respectively). Older kids would probably find it too schmaltzy, but for the younger ones (and for me, who can remember watching the TV series when I was a kid, and for my wife who's a sucker for schmaltz), it's great.