the audience applauded

Excellent but underrated film

A Masterpiece!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Intelligent, well made family feature from the original novel, bearing little resemblance to the now campy-seeming US TV series. Beautifully shot, well scored, and featuring a first-rate adult cast (Peter O'Toole, Samantha Morton, John Lynch, Peter Dinkage) along with some very endearing child actors, this manages to be sweet without being saccharine, sentimental without being cloying. It even has a nice layer of social commentary about the English class system – the story involves the beloved pet being bought away from a near-starving family who can't afford to say 'no' when a lord offers them cash for their son's faithful companion. I appreciated that Lassie is treated as a real dog, and not some kind of super-mutt. A great, wonderful dog to be sure, but her behaviors all stay within the realm of real-life dog abilities. A very good film for kids and tweens, and a not at all bad one for grown ups who might watch with them. While it might not have quite the deep emotional power and/or wild humor of the truly classic family films, it's certainly well crafted and worth watching.

This is a near-perfect film for what it is--a richly imagined, finely-acted, lavishly produced family film, and one faithful to the source; this Lassie is not a dumbed-down version where the dog does stupid pet tricks, but instead the film stresses the importance of the relationship between the dog and her pal, a young lad living in a coal town.Lassie, by the way is amazingly expressive and simply beautiful. The essential story is probably familiar to anyone over twenty who speaks English, but the film is enriched with cameos from major actors, including Peter O'Toole, James Fox, and Peter Dinklage, and with the lush, verdant vistas of Ireland standing in for Scotland.While not as emotionally elemental as the classic Roddy McDowell version, this modern retelling also has a strong underlying foundation; the implied criticism of the class system will not be an obvious statement to young eyes, but adults will easily pick-up the points made concerning the privilege of the rich; children of all ages should enjoy this sweet, universal fable.

In this day and age of noisy family/children movies starring flatulent Ogres and whatnot, comes this quiet little family film about love, loyalty, honest, and family. It is a wonderful movie with wonderful performances by all. Not hokie and over the top like many other animal movies. This movie has all the elegance and grace of the best British pastoral movies of our time. Lassie and her boy are from a poor family living in a town in the English country-side. Sarah is from a rich, royal family. The families rarely intermingle and the glaring differences in their surroundings startle and add to the movie. Neither the poor nor the rich are stereotyped, but instead, treated like the multifaceted real people that these kinds of people truly are. Peter O'Toole is nominated this year for an academy award for his role in Venus, but just as well could have been nominated for his excellent portrayal of the Duke in this movie. I cannot say enough about this children's movie that has real emotions and real people instead of CGI characters and little heart. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good CGI movie (Toy Story, Finding Nemo, etc...), but a children's movie with a heart and soul is hard to find. Go rent it. Make your kids watch it and talk to them about what they learned. If they don't learn anything from this movie, then it may be time to slow them down, ween them off the mindless drivel, and start filling their hearts and souls rather than their merely their funny bones.

Outstanding movie! Story well told.If anyone in Europe has seen this film, do you know whether that was an Irish or Scottish blessing that the owner of the dog Toots said while his dog was dying. Something like "If life has blessings to spare, may God grant them to you now." Does anyone know the exact words? Thanks much. Highly recommend this movie to families. I had originally thought that the movie was based on the Timmy and Lassie series on television here in the USA. I was surprised because I didn't know the original story and I'm so glad that I took the time to see the film. The characters are played by excellent actors and the sound track is very inspirational as well.