steveblank This inspired adventure will warm your heart and provide your children with an introduction to the inequities of class-based society. Set in early 20th century England, a struggling working class family faces destitution when the local coal mine shuts down, leaving no work in town. Their young son's primary source of joy is his dog Lassie, but they can scarcely afford to feed him. When the granddaughter of nearby duke fancies Lassie, a deal is struck to exchange the dog for cash. How will Lassie respond to this form of trade? What effect will the dog have on these two families representing either extreme of peerage? Find out, and enjoy a couple of delightful subplots along the way. Meet an opportunistic upper-class "wannabe," an amiable puppeteer with a traveling sideshow, and even catch a glimpse of the era's dating scene.Like most children's films, the performances lean toward the pedestrian, but the cast is engaging nonetheless. The cinematography is breathtaking, and the story is fully realized. Don't miss it!

tollini I saw this film on August 24th, 2006 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival's Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture "…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life." Heartland gave that award to this film.Obviously this is an often-told tale about a boy and his beautiful and intelligent collie. But … this is an especially fine telling of that story and specifically of the loyalty and love that can happen between a boy and his dog.The story is set in England prior to World War II. The boy, Joe, is from a working class family and the father loses his coal mining job when the coal peters out. Lassie catches the eye of a rich Duke played by Peter O'Toole and Joe's parents reluctantly sell Lassie to obtain much needed cash. This causes Joe to go into a deep sadness. But to make things worse for Joe and his parents, Lassie regularly escapes the Duke's dog handler and finds his way back to Joe. Over and over the dog is honorably returned to the Duke because a deal is a deal.Finally the Duke goes off to his other home in Northern Scotland 500 miles away and takes Lassie with him. Lassie escapes again and the rest of the movie revolves around the impossible attempted journey back to Joe.Lassie is obligated to steal the movie, but he doesn't quite do this. There are too many other interesting things going on. Peter O'Toole is a great curmudgeon with a slowly revealed heart of gold. The English countryside is gorgeous. And the rich class- poor class dichotomy is adroitly told.Honor and integrity and human dignity are human traits that can be shown by anyone despite their age or sex or income or social status in life. That's a message worth communicating in a movie.FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Peter OK so am I the only one who never realized Lassie was set firstly in 1939 and secondly in Yorkshire? I grew up believing in gingham tablecloths, dusty gold mines, skunks in prairies and dangerous rattle snakes all of which our furry heroine, pined at, climbed from, lifted to safety and made friends with, yes and all without being stung, bittenor even pooped on. Well move aside Nantucket because the real bitch is back and Charles Sturridge has done Eric Knight's beautiful story proud.The film looks beautiful, set very convincingly in the 1930s English depression. The sets, camera work and locations provide us a time that makes much more sense of a dog returning home to his young master than 1960's America. Lassie's impossible journey deals with issues of loyalty, generosity, determination and good old Britishness all of which must have been useful propaganda tools for a country heading into war in 1939. So that's why it was written back then, so why remake it now? Because, those same basic issues and emotions are just as useful to remind ourselves of now as then but unfortunately for us modern family films have become lost in a sea of CGI and comuterized, sickly nothingness that has no relevance to anything but thrill. Truthfully? It's just plain nice to sit with your family in a cinema, cry your heart out and remember what's important in life. (And it doesn't have to be 40 feet tall and eat bananas!)The boy is wonderful as indeed is the dog(s). The support from Morton, Lynch, O Toole, Drinkage is perfectly judged and I defy you not to blub a dub during the emotional Christmas homecoming. This is a beautiful film, a joy to watch and a credit to its makers.Go Lass go.....

c-v-mack It is so refreshing to watch a family film that doesn't have to rely only on special effects to tell the story. This film is just how they used to make films with great acting, beautiful photography and of course a lovely story. It's full of emotion and soul and it's just a good all round film the whole family will enjoy. It's about a boy and his parents who fall on hard times and have to sell their beloved dog, which gets taken hundreds of miles away. But his love for his dog never falters and the dogs love for its owners makes it determined to escape and travel the vast distance to get home. We have watched a few blockbusters lately but this film deserves praise. It might have a lower budget, but it has something that we all deep down want out of a film.