Red Dog: True Blue (2016) Reviews

• A True Blue Aussie Legend Makes for Solid Family Entertainment

  DJKwa2017-01-04

  Five years after Red Dog proved to be a smash hit at the Australian box office, the eponymous red kelpie is leaping back onto the silver screen, ready to win over holiday audiences once again in the sequel Red Dog: True Blue. Set immediately before the events of the first film, the story this time around is a coming of age story about a young boy who, after being sent to live with his grandfather in the West Australian outback, has a chance encounter with Red Dog that blossoms into a one of a kind friendship. Much like the first one, the film is a throwback to an old-fashioned type of family entertainment, before animal features involved CGI talking heads and loud and noisy special effects took front stage in lieu of genuine heart. It's only let down by its over eagerness to replicate what made the first film a big hit, that it often feels like it's lagging behind. It devotes a fair bit of the opening to replaying scenes from the first film, this time through the perspective of a middle-aged man sitting in a theatre watching the film with his children. We see his red, teary eyes glued to the screen, clearly touched by the story that has unfolded, which afterwards inspires him to recount his own childhood encounter with the dog. This meta moment feels a little bit like the sequel kissing its own butt for lack of a better expression. As a framing device, it's effective, but it can't shake off the shameless feeling that it's trying to coax audiences into remembering how teary they may have felt themselves after the first film, in case they forgot in the intervening years. It only sets up the sequel for failure as True Blue never manages to recreate this emotional punch, even when it desperately tries to turn on the waterworks once again towards the end. While this brings the film down a notch, wedged between these scenes is a film of comparable quality. It's light, breezy and frequently funny, with some mild third act drama, when a bush fire encroaches on the grandfather's cattle farm, adding some excitement to the affable proceedings. When a detour into Aboriginal mysticism threatens to veer into hokey territory, the film wisely strays away from any heavy-handed depictions, maintaining a light touch throughout. Verdict: Even though lightning doesn't exactly strike twice with True Blue, it still offers a solid piece of family entertainment that's replete with heart and a good-natured sense of humour, even if it won't win you over quite the same. 6.5/10

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• Clumsy and lightweight - not in the same league as the first Red Dog

  grantss2017-12-24

  A father takes his two young sons to see Red Dog. After the movie he describes to his oldest son how Red Dog is based on the story of a dog he had as a boy - Blue. From this we see the period in the man's childhood when Blue was his dog, their trials and tribulations living on a farm in a remote part of Western Australia. The first Red Dog was interesting, engaging and very emotional. This movie just seems like an attempt to cash in on the success of that movie. The story is quite lightweight and unengaging. Quite clumsy too, especially the segue from the father and sons watching the movie to it turning into a prequel to Red Dog. Even the adventures the boy and the dog go on seem very unexciting. While the original movie worked for both adults and children, this one was definitely made for kids, and kids only.

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• Terrible Terrible Terrible, not remotely like Red Dog, more like BAD DOG!

  newcoly-142202017-01-04

  Red Dog, one of the greatest Aussie movies of all time. It had everything, great story, tons of heart, characters you would hang out with in an instant, captured a time and place perfectly. Then there's this .. whatever it is. A complete and utter mess that I feel has and will rip people off. People who are expecting something of the original. Other than being set in Western Australia and having a dog in it, of a red tinge, there is nothing that is remotely similar to the original. The acting is of a standard that would barely pass an audition for a children's TV show. I mean Bryan Brown, come on. The 'Block of Wood' with eyes might have got you through in your 'Prime' such as that was or wasn't but the ad you recently did as a talking duck was better than this. At least we didn't have to see your constant and unwavering Grumpy Old Man face. The character development is fairly non existent, none of the characters are very likable, even the poor dog can't rise above the pedestrian directing. The story is told from the perspective of the 'original' owner of the Red Dog and is mostly one long, long, flashback. The film starts off in a shallow, clichéd fashion and never gets any better. The main Character, both present day older man and flashback younger version , is whiny and unlikeable. It's hard to feel anything for him. The supporting cast are a letdown, shallow and one dimensional, nothing like the bunch of loners, lovable rogues, and refugees from the world that made the first film so irresistible . The scenery is stark and portrays life in that part of the world fairly accurately, the soundtrack is a mix of great old Aussie tunes but doesn't fit well. It's almost like the soundtrack should be in a better movie. This movie was a massive disappointment, and should never have been released as anything to do with Red Dog.

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• Not true blue

  Molongirl2017-09-07

  I feel bad having to give only a five rating as the lead character was a young person who acted his heart out and did so well but the movie doesn't deserve a higher ranking. I would have enjoyed it ever so much more if it didn't have the feel of movie-making by numbers: we must have some homosexual characters, we must knock Christians (this time mission nuns), we must have mystical Aboriginals etc... political correctness will be the death of good story telling. There is nothing wrong with each of these individually but it felt contrived as if the director had to get them on screen somehow. And as much as I love stories about dogs I felt this one tried to milk that good will too much. The dog chasing the plane when the boy leaves, it was all too much. Maybe I would give it a higher rating if it hadn't been called Red Dog as it felt like a blatant cashing-in on that crazily enjoyable film. This wasn't a story about the dog it was a story about a boy becoming a man. Great scenery, great acting and great dog it just didn't come together as a good story.

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• Nothing like the original

  zakydx2017-01-02

  If your'e looking for a great story like the first red dog movie (which was absolutely great) then nope - nothing at all here.... just a story of some kid ( a story being told by the random father we know nothing about) with red dog before he became "red dog" The sad part was that i had huge hopes for this one after seeing how great the first Red Dog movie was years ago, but yeah the whole movie i'm expecting it to pick up but it never does,and then after the movie ended well yeah - nothing at all like the original red dog movie - more like a really boring pointless kid's version of the red dog movie without any of the elements that made the first red dog a great movie - like someone else said, the only good actor in the entire movie in my opinion was the actual red dog! - otherwise none of the other characters you really don't know about (or care about) to really enjoy the movie at all.... so yeah... for me, Most disappointing movie of 2016....lol

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