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Most live-action movies about animals end up as disposable, mind-numbing entertainment full of buffoonish human characters, unnerving CGI, and poop jokes. And the animals usually sound suspiciously like overpaid celebrities.

But critics are responding to the latest remake of Lassie with praise and enthusiasm … in their own famously pun-oriented fashion. You won't have to look far to find quotes like "Bow WOW!" and similar canine kudos.

Let's drop the puns and say it straight: This feature by Charles Sturridge will delight viewers of all ages, and is bound to become a classic.

Lassie isn't just better than the other films currently being marketed for all ages. It's a rare work of substance, simplicity, and grace that deserves to be mentioned among the best features crafted for younger viewers in the last twenty years, including Mike Newell's Into the West, John Sayles' The Secret of Roan Inish, Alfonso Cuaró n's A Little Princess, Agnieszka Holland's The Secret Garden, Carroll Ballard's Duma, and Andrew Davis's Holes. Sticking to the basic plot of Eric Wright's 1940 novel Lassie Come Home, this film returns Lassie to her native Britain, where she belongs to the Carraclough family in a Yorkshire mining town.

Sturridge has made one of those rare family films that refuses to insult the intelligence of its young viewers. It flatters them with honest depictions of mature grownups, intelligent children, and real hardships. What is more, it does not use cheap tactics in persuading adult viewers to pay attention. It stands apart from the typical, frantic family features that stoop to including sexual innuendo and pop-culture references (as if that's what adults really want).

While it does have scenes of outrageous whimsy—Lassie's adventure in a courtroom, her spectacular escape from the pound—it remains grounded in a specific time and place, giving us some sense of life in Britain during the build-up to World War II.

All in all, Lassie is a small wonder, providing a classy conclusion to a relatively disappointing summer movie season. It might just inspire some of us to become as respectful as our dogs think we are—and it might even challenge us to prove that dogs aren't the only creatures God made capable of steadfast, longsuffering, and unconditional love.

My full review is at Christianity Today Movies.

Harry Forbes (Catholic News Service) calls it "an exceedingly handsome adaptation." And he agrees that the scenery is "breathtaking, and the plot is ever appealing, making this highly recommendable family viewing."

Mainstream critics are similarly surprised and pleased to welcome Lassie home.

Horror-movie fans get chills when they think back on Robin Hardy's 1973 thriller The Wicker Man, a cult classic.

So, there was some speculation when director Neil Labute (In the Company of Men, Nurse Betty, Possession) decided to remake it. And, in spite of its two celebrated stars, Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn, critics are saying the speculation was well founded. The movie, while not a total disaster, doesn't pack the punch of the original.

Ron Reed (Christianity Today Movies) says, "When it comes down to it, this remake of this oddly chilling curiosity is neither a Big Deal nor a Big Bust. It's just a movie. And that's a real disappointment."

Reed goes on to say that the film suffers because the hero is "no longer particularly just." Further, he says, alterations to the character's moral development weaken the narrative. "Much is made of the mainlander's Christian faith in the original script, and if he comes across as something of a judgmental prig, it also lends real power when he cries out to God in that film's stunning climax. Here, when Cage gets in a similar scrape, he's got Nobody to call on."

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September (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50