Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

The story of the boy and his mother and O was fine, very sweet, even. Even the fact that Joe turned out bad and let the boy down was okay -- a kind of life lesson for him.But there was no need to do such cruel things to the dogs. It was heart-breaking. I don't know how anyone can be so heartless, yet I know such cruelty does go on in real life. The people who hurt animals have no hearts and I hope they burn in hell.I agree with the review from Leo 811. The film should not have depicted such violence. It was unnecessary. A good story could still have been told with letting the boy get his beloved Celt back safely in the end. Tacking on the "happy" ending with a new puppy is not good enough.Films need to be more uplifting. We should be inspiring young people to be kind to all animals, domestic and wild.

Low budget indeed, but worked with intelligence, feeling and genuine talent. A sincere and clean view towards the relationship between dogs and humans. From the professional point of view, it's also entirely commendable. Well chosen and managed actors - the boy was surprisingly natural and expressive, and the trainer composed a credible and complex portrait. The director had the skill to build up very realistic tensions between the two leading characters, dramatically working up his way to the tragic peak of the dog's slaying - a scene that literally tears one's heart, and not by using cheap tricks!Not only the movie touches the deep soul of all the people who love, understand and respect animals, but is also depicts a honorable piece of good cinematic work. Congratulations - and thanks! :)

The story line on this is fairly mainstream, but set in an Irish framework.The accents here are noted as being "very realistic" by friends who appreciate Irish lore, history and culture, but are fairly difficult to discern by those of us who are "dialect-challenged". Other comments note the accuracy of the accents, but do consider turning the subtitles on with this one in order to catch the idiom and other nuances.The character development is middle-of-the-road, and the cinematography is nicely done.The story develops predictably, with only a few bumps in the road for younger viewers while more than adequately maintaining the interest of the adult viewing crowd.

Gillian Anderson as a single mother from Northern Ireland. Never in my days of salivating over her in the X-Files (though not in a 'Tooms'-like fashion) did I think that I'd see her playing such a role in such a movie as this. It's basically a down to earth, straightforward story of a boy growing up in a nation that itself is only beginning to grow after 30 years of 'the Troubles' (a local war with Nationalist and Unionist terrorists along the lines of modern day Iraq but not half as brutal and deadly). The boy in question has an interest in and love for greyhounds which race for money, much as in horse racing. His relationships with the greyhound trainer that he's known for years and a new male influence in his life, who returns to Northern Ireland after being on the run for years, inevitably leads to conflict which ultimately leads to a simple resolution which is just a bit too clean and rushed in the final reels. There are no alarms and no surprises and everyone acts well enough. Despite the lack of deep thought, complicated plots, astounding cinematography, explosive special effects, etc. it's not bad though and neither is Anderson's accent. A time filler for an 84 minute gap in your life that you have little else to do with.