With his mother sick and his older brother constantly niggling him, young Ingemar is sent to live with his uncle and his wife for the summer. There he makes some new friends and has some interesting experiences.
I had high hopes for this film. It is highly regarded and is directed by Lasse Hallstrom who went on to direct the brilliant 'Hachi: A Dog's Tale' (2009) as well as 'The Cider House Rules' (1999), 'A Dogs Purpose' (2017) and 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' (1993), among many others. Turns out, it's not that great (and, almost as disappointingly, unlike the title or some of Hallstrom's later films, doesn't have much to do with dogs).
Starts badly enough: the two brothers are among the most annoying kids ever committed to celluloid. Engagement levels were practically zero for the first 20 minutes or so.
However, once the older brother is out of the picture, things get better. While he is still semi-annoying, Ingemar's experiences are interesting and the other characters that emerge make for a decent level of engagement.
Ending is okay, though not particularly profound nor powerful. The film is more about the journey and that was reasonably interesting.
I had high hopes for this film. It is highly regarded and is directed by Lasse Hallstrom who went on to direct the brilliant 'Hachi: A Dog's Tale' (2009) as well as 'The Cider House Rules' (1999), 'A Dogs Purpose' (2017) and 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' (1993), among many others. Turns out, it's not that great (and, almost as disappointingly, unlike the title or some of Hallstrom's later films, doesn't have much to do with dogs).
Starts badly enough: the two brothers are among the most annoying kids ever committed to celluloid. Engagement levels were practically zero for the first 20 minutes or so.
However, once the older brother is out of the picture, things get better. While he is still semi-annoying, Ingemar's experiences are interesting and the other characters that emerge make for a decent level of engagement.
Ending is okay, though not particularly profound nor powerful. The film is more about the journey and that was reasonably interesting.