Lassie Come Home

source: Lassie Come Home

I believe the original Lassie was instrumental to we humanize dogs so much in our culture. It's not a good thing to the dogs' mental health - they are, after all, dogs and not people. I took pity of Lassie in this movie. It's a dog being stressed by a stressed out kid on one hand and a violent handler on the other. And at the end, as she drags her feet hurt and wounded, no one goes to help her because "she needs to do this all by herself". No she doesn't. She's a dog, uninterested in our cultural cliches. I wished so many times I could catch the kid and tell to his face "stop being so dramatic, you're making the dog miserable!" But this is the job of the parents and unfortunately they stood helpless against his tantrums. So the kid kept going through the movie feeling that he's the center of Lassie's world and that she must run 800km to reach him. That's a bit narcissistic if you ask me. Except that, the acting was not great, the tear jerking script was to much over the top and it all felt a bit amateurish.

Based on the classic book but in modern setting and in Germany. It is droll and less serious than the previous 2 book adaptation films (less effort by all means), some characters are overplayed or annoying, altough may be funny for the youth. The movie has sad and weepy parts as expected, but some are kind of ruined by either a milldly forced joke or odd interaction. But not all the time odd, certain side stories and characters and their relationship are well implemented. Camerawork had quite some stuttering and optic faults (lens flare, too much saturation). Music was okay, but not memorable. You can sit down with the family for this film, but won't be a lasting experience at all. This film is "meh to okay". But the 2005 british adaptation is lasting and not to mention the classic 1943 first movie. Watch those instead.

Good movie!

Lassie - Eine abenteuerliche Reise