I've never wanted a dog to die so badly in a movie. It's not his fault, but it was some horrific acting by the (usually) lovable St. Bernard breed. The acting in the film was superb and perfect for the insanity caused by being trapped by an insane dog. I stopped myself from seeing this for years because
it's a dog film, about dog things and other possible non-interesting things. The relationship between mother and son especially was something that I never knew about, though, and it made the film a little more worth seeing than just a film about a crazy canine. And it's got the boy from "Who's the Boss!" What's not to love! I felt the marriage story was thrown in just to heighten the emotions of the story, but I don't know how badly it needed to be here. Just look at movies like "Kill Bill" where the female lead can hold her own while caring for her young. The music was pretty generic, symphonic filler, to me.
If anything, I felt the story should've been more interesting and possibly tied in a relationship to the dog in some way. The disjointed fear of monsters is fine, but the translation from the book version to the film version screwed up the tie with this fear and actuality for the boy. I think the book version would have made this fear more weighted.
It was a fine movie, but I wouldn't put it up there with "movies I should own." It still feels like a creature-feature but without the backstory to make any sense of connection to this random dog. Watch it once and decide for yourself.
If anything, I felt the story should've been more interesting and possibly tied in a relationship to the dog in some way. The disjointed fear of monsters is fine, but the translation from the book version to the film version screwed up the tie with this fear and actuality for the boy. I think the book version would have made this fear more weighted.
It was a fine movie, but I wouldn't put it up there with "movies I should own." It still feels like a creature-feature but without the backstory to make any sense of connection to this random dog. Watch it once and decide for yourself.