Alfred Ollivant wrote the book "Owd Bob, Son of Battle," an excellent dog story. This movie is the third or fourth retelling of it. They've basically butchered the book. This movie twisted up all of the characters and the story of Ollivant's book. This is not always bad, but I don't think it added anything to the story in this case.
The dogs are central to this story. Although they are attractive Border Collies, many aspects of the dogs are very inaccurate. For example, one of the main plot lines of the story deals with a killer dog--a dog that kills sheep. In sheep country, a dog who kills sheep is totally unacceptable and would be shot immediately. I suppose in a rare case an owner may find out and try to hide it, but even this is very rare. These are working dogs, and a working dog can't be a sheep killer. It's an instant death warrant. Furthermore, these sheep killers get smart. If they kill a sheep and come home with blood on their face and fleece in their teeth they KNOW they'll be shot. They clean up. But the sheep killer in this movie keeps coming back to his owner with a bloody face, and his owner cleans him up, and keeps quiet. This movie totally ignores this basic fact.
Furthermore, when the dogs are in the sheepherding competition, one of the dogs (not a main character) herds sheep excellently. But when the main character dogs begin their sheepherding, it's pathetic. The dog is just shown jumping up and down somewhere in the vicinity of the sheep. He doesn't even seem to realize the sheep are there. Border collies have VERY strong instincts, and if they are around sheep, even if they're movie dogs, the sheep should attract and hold their attention. But this dog doesn't even seem to care that sheep are there, which is very strange for a Border Collie. They could have at least dyed the coat of another dog and shown the dog actually herding. The herding of a good sheepdog is a beautiful sight, and this left me very disappointed.
One last point on the dogs. The dog, Zac, is supposed to be aggressive and hate people. However, it only looks like he was cued by his trainer to jump up and bark. He doesn't give a terribly believable performance.
Besides these, the story itself wasn't terrible, but I didn't feel like the characters were very realistic. There seemed to be a lot of emotions--crying, running, screaming. . . But I didn't feel like the characters were developed as well as they could be.
All of this considered, it's not a bad family film. Good values, beautiful dogs, great scenery, okay plot. Perhaps worth seeing, perhaps worth buying if your as dog crazy as I am.
The dogs are central to this story. Although they are attractive Border Collies, many aspects of the dogs are very inaccurate. For example, one of the main plot lines of the story deals with a killer dog--a dog that kills sheep. In sheep country, a dog who kills sheep is totally unacceptable and would be shot immediately. I suppose in a rare case an owner may find out and try to hide it, but even this is very rare. These are working dogs, and a working dog can't be a sheep killer. It's an instant death warrant. Furthermore, these sheep killers get smart. If they kill a sheep and come home with blood on their face and fleece in their teeth they KNOW they'll be shot. They clean up. But the sheep killer in this movie keeps coming back to his owner with a bloody face, and his owner cleans him up, and keeps quiet. This movie totally ignores this basic fact.
Furthermore, when the dogs are in the sheepherding competition, one of the dogs (not a main character) herds sheep excellently. But when the main character dogs begin their sheepherding, it's pathetic. The dog is just shown jumping up and down somewhere in the vicinity of the sheep. He doesn't even seem to realize the sheep are there. Border collies have VERY strong instincts, and if they are around sheep, even if they're movie dogs, the sheep should attract and hold their attention. But this dog doesn't even seem to care that sheep are there, which is very strange for a Border Collie. They could have at least dyed the coat of another dog and shown the dog actually herding. The herding of a good sheepdog is a beautiful sight, and this left me very disappointed.
One last point on the dogs. The dog, Zac, is supposed to be aggressive and hate people. However, it only looks like he was cued by his trainer to jump up and bark. He doesn't give a terribly believable performance.
Besides these, the story itself wasn't terrible, but I didn't feel like the characters were very realistic. There seemed to be a lot of emotions--crying, running, screaming. . . But I didn't feel like the characters were developed as well as they could be.
All of this considered, it's not a bad family film. Good values, beautiful dogs, great scenery, okay plot. Perhaps worth seeing, perhaps worth buying if your as dog crazy as I am.
