EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

wcgardner As for the single "In My Life", I purchased all of the Beatles on 45 rpm and large record size singles in the 60s, I have it on both formats. So it is not a goof! There are songs and records issued in different formats for regional, different countries and specialized markets that are never released for most of the USA. The music is good, photography is excellent and rich is color, story extremely possible, locations were outstanding. Production gave a feeling that you were right there is the location and experiencing everything as it happened. My four year-old loved along with the rest of the family. It kept everybody attention. Overall an excellent family movie.

LoupGarouTFTs Yes, I'm a sap, but there were a couple of places where this movie really tugged at my heartstrings. There were some almost inevitable Lassie-type scenes, but it was fun getting to see Lassie act like a Collie for once. One thing that I noticed missing from the credits was Robert Weatherwax's name. Without Robert Weatherwax's training, the amazing things that this Lassie does would not be possible. As a dog trainer myself, I recognize the difficulty that accompanies training dogs to do even simple behaviors, so I think that he should be acknowledged.One thing that made me laugh, though, was the kid's comment about getting another kind of dog for sheep dog: a (German) Shepherd or EVEN A LAB. (Caps mine, from horrified amazement) If a Labrador retriever can herd, the canine star of this movie can give birth to puppies. I'm sure that the problem was that the writer didn't want to say "border COLLIE or Bearded COLLIE or Australian SHEPHERD, but why not "Corgi," or "Sheltie," or "Tervuren?" There's an entire Herding/Pastoral group out there, people! A Lab . . . *rolls eyes*

rebeljenn As a fan of all things 'Lassie', I looked forward to watching this film in 1994, and at the end of it all, I regret to say that I was disappointed. I guess that I was expecting this film to be old-fashioned. However, this is a modern version of 'Lassie', and the children in this film enjoy the types of activities that children enjoy (at this time in 1994). Lassie is able to convert them, however, to a more old-fashioned and slower paced lifestyle. The film did little to engage me, and I do not think it worked well as a modern story. I cannot see older children wanting to see this film, and it seemed that is was targeted more to older children because of the age of the children in this film. If you want to watch a 'Lassie' film, then I suggest the classic 'Lassie Come Home' or watch the old series of 'Jeff's Collie' or 'Lassie'.

Raymond-Gossen I really don't understand some of the negative reviews. What do people expect when they pick up a Lassie video? Yes, this one is admittedly formulaic: crisis looms - Lassie saves the day (repeatedly - it's like four or five of the TV episodes compressed into one movie. Maybe some people feel it's too simplistic, or that there's too much shaggy-haired heroism for one movie. But it's Lassie, for crying out loud! My four-year-old daughter loves it, as do her eight- and eleven-year-old cousins (a boy and a girl, respectively). Older kids would probably find it too schmaltzy, but for the younger ones (and for me, who can remember watching the TV series when I was a kid, and for my wife who's a sucker for schmaltz), it's great.