Loin de la maison

Angus is learning to drive in his father's pickup truck (with comic results), so he must be in his mid-teens. A mysterious dog shows up at his house, and he wants to keep it, but his parents say it must belong to someone. They reluctantly agree to keep the dog at least until its owner is found, if there is one. The dog causes problems and Angus is reminded he must be responsible for the dog. One day the father is making a delivery on the boat CORMORANT, somewhere on the Pacific coast, with Angus and the dog. The weather gets rough unexpectedly, and the boat capsizes. The father is rescued quickly but does not know what happened to his son. Angus and the dog managed to get in a small boat Angus helped build, along with some supplies, and they make it to shore. But the area is very isolated, and even though search planes fly over several times, Angus can't make his presence known. He is there for many days with the dog, but despite his age Angus has learned many survival skills (earlier in the movie Angus and his younger brother camped out in the back yard and we saw the father teach some of these skills; the father also gave Angus a knife that had been given to him by his father) and gets along quite well. After a while the food situation gets so bad Angus even eats some of the cookies his girlfriend Sara made him. The dog helps some, even chasing away wolves and later a bobcat (these were the only scary scenes, but nothing that should bother parents). Angus later starts moving toward civilization. The search team shows signs of giving up, but as in most movies like this, the parents will not let them. This was an okay movie. No standout performances, and nothing to make it better than any other movies like it, but the boy's ability to take care of himself was nothing less than amazing.

The plot is the standard fare, touched on by quite a few viewers already. Boy meets dog, Dog and Boy get lost in the wilderness, dog and boy get attacked by wolves ( but no bears surprisingly). Good acting but no real standouts, beautiful cinematography ( the film's strongest point) Direction is weak in points, but enough to keep the film flowing. Overall a decent effort. The problem is in the script. This is a young fellow who clearly has some survival skills yet manages to throw them aside at every turn. At one point he has access to a dead deer and a cabin, yet he continues on! Give me a break. Well I suppose you need to keep the suspense in order to have a movie. However some attempt does need to be made to keep things realistic. It is very frustrating to watch a film and constantly have to ask, "now why did he do that!" Well,this film is entertaining enough, but the writer is certainly no Jack London.

If your a dog lover who's in for a good family film full with adventure as well powerful friendship, this is the movie to see, to share and to watch it with your family over and over again. "Far from Home: the Adventures of Yellow Dog" is probably on of the best family films ever made and of course Philip Borsos' last film until his death came along, the story is really good, the characters are quite unforgettable and the music score sounds mighty epic which sounds like something you hear from a motion picture released in 1940s or 1950s during the era of Hollywood's Golden Age. but of course the chemistry between Angus and Yellow (a Labrador Retriever) is really nice and has some beautiful compared to Bingo and Chuckie Devlin from "Bingo" (1991), touching scenes that will make you cry and even laugh, shot in British Columbia, Canada and yet I recommend this to any dog lover out there who really wants to watch a perfect family/animal movie.

This is a locally made movie, so my expectations were low. It was a gripping tale. First, the characters were all thoroughly likable, none of the Hollywood cliché petty cruelties and insults. The landscapes are spectacular and menacing. The imaginative use of mixed sound and music gives a heightened sense of reality. Even though I saw it on a relatively small screen, it has much of the emotional impact of IMAX. Of course yellow dog steals the show since she is so sincere. This is not a cute film, but a rather scary tale of getting lost, survival and rescue.

Only in retrospect did I wonder how the climatic scene was done. I still wonder if everyone, including yellow dog risked their necks to shoot it. The natural world dangers in the film were similar to dangers I have lived myself, so they seemed ever so much more frightening than guns and bombs. It would be a bit too frightening for small children.

Even though I knew I was being strongly manipulated by the inevitable happy ending, I could not help myself from bursting into tears.

I found this to be a most enjoyable little film. The scenery magnificent and the young stars acting I thought most enjoyable. Even the dog was good. Hell it made me want to cuddle my own dogs.

A wee bit sentimental, but whats wrong with sentiment now and again. I can recommend this movie.