salmo365

I don't know who made this, what their funding was like, but it was very amateurish in feel. It wasn't bad, nothing shockingly awful, but neither was it entertaining, adult or polished.

Even accepting it for an indie flick, it just lacked something.

Langham was surely cast because they thought it would generate headlines, good or bad but he just lacked something and was phoning it in. The same with Amstell, he clearly did his cameo in one afternoon, probably as a favour to a mate and I wasn't really sure what the point of his character was. Which was a shame because it was his name that sparked my interest.

There was no story arc, you were clearly supposed to have already read the DVD cover and we were just there to see how it unfurled.

Very disappointing really.

This is one of those family films that is based on one line idea. I.e. somebody thought, hey Dogfather is like Godfather, lets make a movie about a dog in the mafia.

They throw in some stupid adults, some saccharine kids and a dog (obviously) and just assume we will lap it up.

There are so many things wrong with it, I don't know where to start. But from a Dog wandering around wearing gold tags and chains being assumed to be a stray to mafia henchmen running screaming from kids armed with Nerf guns, there isn't a believable scene in the whole film.

Its cliché, cliché cliché. Dorky husband with hot wife? check. Horrible boss who insists major presentation has to take place at family home? check. wife and kid who love pet and ignore father? check. etc etc etc.

There are are a few good - if not generic, predictable & formulaic - slapstick moments and maybe a few slightly humorous lines, but there are an awful lot that fall flat.

And the end of the movie plays like a 10 minute advert for Nerf weaponry. I was surprised the prices weren't flashing up on screen and a voice-over announcing they were "available from all good toy stores".

That said it mildly entertained our kids. Personally I think there are better films out there that don't treat kids like idiots. Don't resort to making the adults into imbeciles. And give some thought to the plot and dialogue.

Perhaps it's the African setting and the beautiful locations as another commentator mentions, but my family & i were total enthralled with this film.

It was simple, spiritual and left us all with a wonderful feeling. It was timeless and if it wasn't for the cars and technology then you would struggle to know when it was set. There were some weak parts, mostly involving the adults but overall it was a wonderful story and we'd love to see the other six films for the other six continents.

At times you feel you are watching a 1960s Disney film and the dialogue is occasionally unrealistic. But as a family we were able to work past that and I could tell from my kids faces that they were captivated. My son even turned off his Nintendo DS.

Sadly there aren't many true family films about these days and it was a delight to stumble across this gem from the Netherlands.