Brilliant and touching

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This turned out to be a watchable little family film. It very much has a made for t.v. quality to it, and the actors are about on that level as well. The movie builds tension well as the real focus of the story, Judd Travers, becomes more and more of a threat. Like the first movie, Judd was the best performance in the story. It's strange how his character walks a fine line of being dangerous and threatening, but the other characters still show him some amount of courtesy and respect. I think we're meant to assume that because the setting is a small, close knit community is an out of the way village, that Judd gets away with things he wouldn't in another time or place. As I watched with my six year old daughter, I was very aware of what exactly was being shown as far as his anti-social behavior. In fact, the story does a good job of making him seem very scary and threatening without ever having him do anything truly wicked. Kind of like the Wicked Witch of the West, he is a safe villain for young audiences to experience some fear through without going too far. The last few sequences with Marty writing letters and helping Judd to bond with Shiloh were really well done and genuinely heartwarming. I'm glad I took the time to try this one. The payoff was worthwhile.

This is a very heartwarming film and has a very nice message that is perfect for a family film, though not quite as warm as the original, and is a tad predictable. And perhaps an adult may find the screenplay a little saccharine. But on the whole it is beautifully filmed, has nice music and the acting is very good, with Zachary Browne appealing as Marty and Scott Wilson great as the ever hateable Judd. Plus Shiloh was adorable. Also worth of note are David Moriaty, Rod Steiger and Caitlin Wachs, who bring their charming supporting characters to life. Overall, despite its flaws, Shioh 2 is a very pleasant family film, that is well meaning and not at all a bad way to pass the afternoon. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Unlike most sequels, I was surprised to find "Shiloh 2: Shiloh Season" better than "Shiloh". Maybe it was the more developed story, or maybe a better actor playing the part of Marty Preston. Normally seeing a different actor in a leading role turns me off sequels, but in this case it just wasn't like that. And even though this movie deals with some hard issues, it seems like even more of a nice, warm family film. I'm so glad I decided to watch it because now, it's one of my favourite "nice" movies.

The first Shiloh film was enjoyable by adults as well as children. This one starts with about an hour of filler where not much happens, with stilted dialogue; only in the last act is there any significant action that really moves the plot along. The dog is still cute, though, and young kids may enjoy it.