10 Promises to My Dog (2008) Japan

It is all about 'the promise' you make.

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Original title:

Inu To Watashi No 10 No Yakusoku (Japanese)

Review:

     Expected usual dog movie with emotional ending, but I encountered different here. In fact the end was very touching, but this dog movie is not your regular one. It is largely distinct from similar themes you had seen before which is not ruled by the dogs like the one from 'The Cave of the Yellow Dog'.

     This is a pure drama about the father-daughter relationship and a childhood friendship where a dog sneaks into their lives as the part of it. The best performances by everyone, but sad for those who are expected dog's contribution like naughty stuffs to enjoy the parts of the story.

     To clearly say about the plot, it is about a girl who makes the 10 promises to her dog and would she keeps her oath is what the movie briefs in the rest. If you ever had a dog it will question you as well what you did for him/her other than giving shelter and food.

     So far seen half a dozen of Japanese dog movies, but this is one of the special dog movie, in some angle it is best of its kind. Because the story was not told from the dog's perspective or dog did not have a strong presence. All about his/her master, whether he treated respectfully with love and shared his life or not.

     I remind you again, don't go for it expecting the regular style dog movie because you may end in a disappointment. But I still recommend this decent romance-drama which stated its intention clearly to the viewers with a strong ending.

Similar movies:

Quill: The Life of a Guid Dog, The cave of the Yellow Dog, A Tale of Mari and Three Puppies

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

• Tween: From age between 7 to 12
• Teen: From age between 13 to 19
• Adult: From age above 20
• Ignore: Not worth watching
• Bad: Not good but watchable
• Average: 50-50, choice is always yours
• Good: great certainly not masterpiece
• Excellent: A must see, Masterpiece

The Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005) Mongolia | Germany

A little girl's a little summer adventure.

Drama

Original title:

Die Höhle des gelben Hundes (German)

Review:

     One of the rare movie about the people most of us won't know their culture and lifestyle. This is a Germany-Mongolian jointly produced and Mongolian's Oscar submission during the year 2005. The movie about a small Nomad family who live in the grasslands of the Mongolia.

     The story follows when a young girl named Nansal returns home for summer vacation. Soon she finds a strayed puppy in a nearby cave and brings it to the home. But her father is against the idea of keeping it around. So Nansal hides it from him and provides required facilities. As the dog was raised in wild it finds hard to fit in the human surrounded condition. After some incident the dog will be left behind by the family, but his heroic effort makes them to realize his worthiness.

     It was a dog movie, but the dog did not exactly ruled the movie. They showed it just as a small part of the story which comes now and then, more like a reality. Actually, it was told from the girl Nansal's perspective. Her little adventure in the summer. There was a story where an old woman tell to the girl, it was really good, a meaningful proverb.

     The family in the movie was a real nomad family. They were not professional actors, but they gave the best performance. We can't call it a performance, they just executed what they do in their daily life, but this time in front of a camera, that's all. And the director and his crew captured it in the camera very well. They also captured the beauty of grassland of Mongolia.

     Due to this movie I came to know a little about the people called Nomad. It was more like a documentary than a regular cinema. The place where the movie shot was breathtaking. A perfect art movie from all the angles. A good relief movie and gives a watching satisfaction if you are fading up watching plenty of commercial movies.

Similar movies:

Siberia Monamour, How I Ended this Summer, kauwboy, Fly Away Home, Duma

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

• Tween: From age between 7 to 12
• Teen: From age between 13 to 19
• Adult: From age above 20
• Ignore: Not worth watching
• Bad: Not good but watchable
• Average: 50-50, choice is always yours
• Good: great certainly not masterpiece
• Excellent: A must see, Masterpiece

Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog (2004) Japan

Quill was trained to disobey his master and that's for his own good.

Drama

Review:

A Japanese drama based on a true life story of a guide dog called Quill, a Labrador. Since dog won't tell a tale the whole story was told from a boy's perspective who was appearing on the screen for a very few minutes. It was just a formality to make the story reality. This boy meets Quill somewhere midway of the dog's life and disappear forever. But in Quill's case it begins with his birth till his death so he's the hero of this movie and no one else.

A cute Labrador born with a dark mark in his side abdomen, a few weeks later the owner pick him to train as a guide dog. So the first partition to the puppy, he was sent to a couple's house to keep him till he becomes a young adult. So then the second partition which slightly hurts inside our heart. Then he becomes the one of a best guide dog and soon after he becomes someone's, a blind man's eye, a guide dog like he was trained. The rest of the story tells how he devotes his work and himself to his master.

There's no other better way to teach our kids about life than giving a puppy as a gift. They will learn how to take care an another soul, playing with them, fighting with them, chasing with them and all the above separation, facing the death of someone you love the most. I said this because I had one too and I learnt many stuffs in life how to face it. So this movie is what intent to show us. Transforming from a cute puppy to an adult, faithful guide dog in a decade makes us to feel of seen a man's whole life as a dog.

This story was not intended to break the viewer's heart. So there's no strong animal and man bonding in this story like other dog movies had. They wanted to show us what's really happening in the real world and how a dog faces his hurdles throughout his life journey including the people he meet. But remember what I am saying, you won't control yourself, the more you try to hide your tears the more you will wet your eyes. Especially during last 20-15 minutes it was emotional, if you ever had a dog you will know the situation very well. It was the best dog movie (only by few margin) compared to those I mentioned below in 'similar movies' section because those movies tells the tales of the dog and their relationship with the humans and mostly from a man's perspective. Those were entertainer masterpieces but this one was more like a some documentary movie. A must watch movie, I guess kids would love to see Quill.

Similar movies:

Hachiko, Red Dog, Marley & Me, Fluke

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

• Tween: From age between 7 to 12
• Teen: From age between 13 to 19
• Adult: From age above 20
• Ignore: Not worth watching
• Bad: Not good but watchable
• Average: 50-50, choice is always yours
• Good: great certainly not masterpiece
• Excellent: A must see, Masterpiece