"Red Dog" is an interesting film based on a real story about a dog in the wilds of Western Australia. The film could have been considerably better and had a wider audience though. It's opening and early and frequent use of flashbacks made it hard to follow even for me. After about 10 minutes with grandkids 4, 7 and 12, we switched to another movie. It hadn't shown much promise yet, and I almost didn't go back to it on my own. I'm glad I did, because it wound up a very nice film.
One thing that seemed odd to me was Red Dog finding John's grave after what appeared to be at least a couple of years – and maybe more, of searching for him. With such strong senses, dogs should be able to sniff out a loss like that quite quickly. And where was Red Dog during John's funeral and burial? Why wouldn't Nancy or Vanno or Peeto have taken the dog along with them?
With the sadness there was much humor and fun around Red Dog. The dog star, Koko, was obviously well trained for the film. It's mostly a film for adults and older kids. While the youngsters would like the dog scenes, the jumping back and forth in time would probably lead most to lose interest – as it did my grandkids.
One thing that seemed odd to me was Red Dog finding John's grave after what appeared to be at least a couple of years – and maybe more, of searching for him. With such strong senses, dogs should be able to sniff out a loss like that quite quickly. And where was Red Dog during John's funeral and burial? Why wouldn't Nancy or Vanno or Peeto have taken the dog along with them?
With the sadness there was much humor and fun around Red Dog. The dog star, Koko, was obviously well trained for the film. It's mostly a film for adults and older kids. While the youngsters would like the dog scenes, the jumping back and forth in time would probably lead most to lose interest – as it did my grandkids.