Lassie - Review

Courtesy: Galatta
Friday, September 01, 2006
Directed by British filmmaker, Charles Sturridge, Lassie is a gratifying and heartrending adventure which is based on Eric Knight's original 1940 British novel, Lassie Come Home. The film that has already been released in U.K was shown in the Family Festival section of the Tribeca Film Festival recently.

The movie moves around the story of the collie, Lassie, who belongs to miner Sam Carraclough (John Lynch), his wife, Sarah (Samantha Morton), and their 9-year-old son, Joe (Jonathan Mason). As the World War II is brewing, the family is finding it hard to survive in the coarse Yorkshire mine.

When Lassie saves a fox from the hunting hounds of the Duke of Rudling (Peter O'Toole), the old man is so fascinated by the dog that he decides to purchase it for his granddaughter, Cilla (Hester Odgers).

The Carracloughs are forced to sell the collie, to the dismay of poor Joe. Escaping from the clutches of Duke, Lassie returns to Joe. Duke assigns the kennel master Eddie Hynes (Steve Pemberton) the task of teaching Lassie how to stay. Infuriated by the dog's continuous efforts to escape and rejoining Joe's family, Duke transports her to North Scotland to breed with his champion collie.

Considerate Cilla helps Lassie escape again. Lassie begins the 500-mile-long journey home, facing various threats and making new friends along the way. Her adventures include an encounter with an irate truck driver, a gun-toting farmer, Loch Ness monster spotters, Glasgow dogcatchers and a startled courtroom judge. Her most admired friends were Rowlie (Peter Dinklage), the nomadic puppeteer and his dog Toots. Lassie faces natural and human dangers as she paves her way across the country to reach home in time for Christmas.

Writer, director and producer Charles Sturridge extracts stirring performances not only from the well-trained dog but also from the two youngsters, Hester Odgers and Jonathan Mason. Lassie demonstrates herself to be a versatile canine who can jump fences, glide over automobiles and do all different antics to reunite with the loving family.

The movie conveys the anxieties of late-Depression and pre-war times; and the various social classes and nationalities which Lassie encounters.The movie with the dog, Lassie as its heroine is set for release in U.S on September 1st, 2006.

Cast: Peter O'Toole, Samantha Morton, Peter Dinklage, Steve Pemberton, John Lynch, Jemma Redgrave, Gregor Fisher
Producer: Charles Sturridge
Genre: Adventure, Family
Director: Charles Sturridge
Writer: Charles Sturridge