Red Dog: True Blue

A father takes his two young sons to see Red Dog. After the movie he describes to his oldest son how Red Dog is based on the story of a dog he had as a boy - Blue. From this we see the period in the man's childhood when Blue was his dog, their trials and tribulations living on a farm in a remote part of Western Australia.

The first Red Dog was interesting, engaging and very emotional. This movie just seems like an attempt to cash in on the success of that movie.

The story is quite lightweight and unengaging. Quite clumsy too, especially the segue from the father and sons watching the movie to it turning into a prequel to Red Dog. Even the adventures the boy and the dog go on seem very unexciting. While the original movie worked for both adults and children, this one was definitely made for kids, and kids only.

I feel bad having to give only a five rating as the lead character was a young person who acted his heart out and did so well but the movie doesn't deserve a higher ranking. I would have enjoyed it ever so much more if it didn't have the feel of movie-making by numbers: we must have some homosexual characters, we must knock Christians (this time mission nuns), we must have mystical Aboriginals etc... political correctness will be the death of good story telling. There is nothing wrong with each of these individually but it felt contrived as if the director had to get them on screen somehow.

And as much as I love stories about dogs I felt this one tried to milk that good will too much. The dog chasing the plane when the boy leaves, it was all too much. Maybe I would give it a higher rating if it hadn't been called Red Dog as it felt like a blatant cashing-in on that crazily enjoyable film.

This wasn't a story about the dog it was a story about a boy becoming a man. Great scenery, great acting and great dog it just didn't come together as a good story.

Good family movie and sad at the end....................

This was a nice "doggie" story but fairly predictable and did not seem to relate much to the original story in the book.

One question that comes to mind also is how much research did the film crew do on props? This was a period story set in the late sixties / early seventies. The cars and (e.g.) suitcases looked authentic, but what about the guitar that Stemple (the young stock man) was often seen playing? This looked to me like a modern Maton guitar! There are are hundreds of vintage Maton guitars out there, so why not use one from the correct period?.

These days if you are going to make a period story set forty years ago, at least make a bit more effort with the props!

The original Red Dog is a 9/10 film for me, an iconic movie so any further films have a tough act to follow but I think True Blue does well. It's a different take on it, an original story that explores the origins and whilst its not a classic like Red Dog, it's a good film in its own right. I liked all the characters, I liked that its somewhat simple and I just like the story. You can't have enough Outback Australia and Red Dog. I definitely recommend it as good entertainment.