You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks
Truck driver Thomas (Luke Ford) comes across a sick dog in an Australian bar and finds himself listening to stories of the dog from all those who are there. It seems this old red dog whilst wandering around looking for his master befriended many a person, bringing people together through his very unique personality. One of those people is bus driver John Grant (Josh Lucas) who was his master and thanks to Red Dog meets and starts dating Nancy (Rachael Taylor) but tragedy brings an end to their love which led to Red Dog searching for his master for ages before deciding to return home.
Over the decades there have been more movies than I care to imagine about dogs and their masters, movies which focus on that special bond they have and the undying loyalty that a dog has to his master to the point that even when they pass on they won't leave their sides, waiting for them to come home and so on. Now I have watched another with "Red Dog" an Australian movie which serves up this light drama about a dog and his master.
Now of course being an Australian movie "Red Dog" has a certain style which is different to other movies, you have an aspect of quirkiness and rough and ready characters which you don't get in other movies. And on top of this "Red Dog" is often more like a series of sketches as people tell how Red Dog changed their lives such as one man through the dog ends up asking a woman out and another says how the dog saved his life. It is an enjoyable style which gives "Red Dog" its own personality to try and stand out from the crowd.
The trouble is that as I said there have been a whole lot of movies over the years about dogs and their masters and if truth be told "Red Dog" didn't really stand out from the crowd. It's because the actual stories have been mostly been told before and so whilst entertaining didn't really leave a lasting impression. Maybe it is different for younger audiences who are yet to realise that there are many similar dog movies out there but for grown ups it doesn't break much new ground.
What this all boils down to is that "Red Dog" is entertaining but you can't teach an old dog new tricks and so whilst this has its own style much of what goes on in the actual movie covers familiar ground explored by other dog movies.
Tags: Dog Movies
