Lassie

OK so am I the only one who never realized Lassie was set firstly in 1939 and secondly in Yorkshire? I grew up believing in gingham tablecloths, dusty gold mines, skunks in prairies and dangerous rattle snakes all of which our furry heroine, pined at, climbed from, lifted to safety and made friends with, yes and all without being stung, bitten

or even pooped on. Well move aside Nantucket because the real bitch is back and Charles Sturridge has done Eric Knight's beautiful story proud.

The film looks beautiful, set very convincingly in the 1930s English depression. The sets, camera work and locations provide us a time that makes much more sense of a dog returning home to his young master than 1960's America. Lassie's impossible journey deals with issues of loyalty, generosity, determination and good old Britishness all of which must have been useful propaganda tools for a country heading into war in 1939. So that's why it was written back then, so why remake it now? Because, those same basic issues and emotions are just as useful to remind ourselves of now as then but unfortunately for us modern family films have become lost in a sea of CGI and comuterized, sickly nothingness that has no relevance to anything but thrill. Truthfully? It's just plain nice to sit with your family in a cinema, cry your heart out and remember what's important in life. (And it doesn't have to be 40 feet tall and eat bananas!)

The boy is wonderful as indeed is the dog(s). The support from Morton, Lynch, O Toole, Drinkage is perfectly judged and I defy you not to blub a dub during the emotional Christmas homecoming. This is a beautiful film, a joy to watch and a credit to its makers.

Go Lass go.....

I saw this film on August 24th, 2006 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival's Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture "…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life." Heartland gave that award to this film.

Obviously this is an often-told tale about a boy and his beautiful and intelligent collie. But … this is an especially fine telling of that story and specifically of the loyalty and love that can happen between a boy and his dog.

The story is set in England prior to World War II. The boy, Joe, is from a working class family and the father loses his coal mining job when the coal peters out. Lassie catches the eye of a rich Duke played by Peter O'Toole and Joe's parents reluctantly sell Lassie to obtain much needed cash. This causes Joe to go into a deep sadness. But to make things worse for Joe and his parents, Lassie regularly escapes the Duke's dog handler and finds his way back to Joe. Over and over the dog is honorably returned to the Duke because a deal is a deal.

Finally the Duke goes off to his other home in Northern Scotland 500 miles away and takes Lassie with him. Lassie escapes again and the rest of the movie revolves around the impossible attempted journey back to Joe.

Lassie is obligated to steal the movie, but he doesn't quite do this. There are too many other interesting things going on. Peter O'Toole is a great curmudgeon with a slowly revealed heart of gold. The English countryside is gorgeous. And the rich class- poor class dichotomy is adroitly told.

Honor and integrity and human dignity are human traits that can be shown by anyone despite their age or sex or income or social status in life. That's a message worth communicating in a movie.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Lassie is just a wonderful movie. It has a sweet, engaging story, and everything works so well that you completely forget any areas that fall on the predictable side. Lassie's greatest strength is that it is never afraid to explore deeper and present some mature themes.

The film also looks beautiful. The photography is just marvellous and wonderfully evergreen, while I loved the scenery just as much as it was stunning and quite picturesque. The script is also a strength; it is a very poignant one that cleverly avoids falling into mawkish sentimentality and also balances subtle humour social tension adeptly.

The cast are just excellent. It also helps that the characters are well fleshed out and easy to relate to. Jonathan Mason brings the right amount of pathos to his character, while Peter O'Toole is a warm and charismatic presence and John Lynch, Peter Dinklage and Samantha Morton are also impressive. Lassie though makes the picture endearing, what a cute and talented dog and it makes it easier for the audience to sympathise with Lassie's predicament too.

All in all, a very beautiful and moving film. 9/10 Bethany Cox

It is so refreshing to watch a family film that doesn't have to rely only on special effects to tell the story. This film is just how they used to make films with great acting, beautiful photography and of course a lovely story. It's full of emotion and soul and it's just a good all round film the whole family will enjoy. It's about a boy and his parents who fall on hard times and have to sell their beloved dog, which gets taken hundreds of miles away. But his love for his dog never falters and the dogs love for its owners makes it determined to escape and travel the vast distance to get home. We have watched a few blockbusters lately but this film deserves praise. It might have a lower budget, but it has something that we all deep down want out of a film.

Intelligent, well made family feature from the original novel, bearing little resemblance to the now campy-seeming US TV series.

Beautifully shot, well scored, and featuring a first-rate adult cast (Peter O'Toole, Samantha Morton, John Lynch, Peter Dinkage) along with some very endearing child actors, this manages to be sweet without being saccharine, sentimental without being cloying.

It even has a nice layer of social commentary about the English class system – the story involves the beloved pet being bought away from a near-starving family who can't afford to say 'no' when a lord offers them cash for their son's faithful companion.

I appreciated that Lassie is treated as a real dog, and not some kind of super-mutt. A great, wonderful dog to be sure, but her behaviors all stay within the realm of real-life dog abilities.

A very good film for kids and tweens, and a not at all bad one for grown ups who might watch with them. While it might not have quite the deep emotional power and/or wild humor of the truly classic family films, it's certainly well crafted and worth watching.