Director: John Sheedy
Starring: Lily LaTorre, Celeste Barber, Jai Courtney, Joel Jackson, Jack Thompson and Deborah Mailman
Distributor: StudioCanal
Runtime: 92 mins. Reviewed in Sep 2024
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan
| JustWatch |
Rating notes: Mild coarse language

This Australian film tells the story of a young girl and a stray dog as they try to win top prize at a celebrity dog show in London, UK.
Ten-year-old Annie Shearer (LaTorre) lives in Upson Downs, a northwestern Victorian outback town, with her parents Susie (Barber) and Bryan (Courtney). The family is experiencing tough times, with drought and heat ravaging the family farm.
Annie connects with a stray dog on one of her walks, and names him Runt. They develop a lasting and affectionate relationship, with Runt becoming Annie’s constant companion. The impact of weather-warming is constantly apparent, and the family is forced to consider selling the farm to survive. Runt, however, is particularly intelligent and trainable, and Annie and her family enrol him in the Krumpets Dog Show in London which offers a prize of almost a million dollars to the top winning dog.
There are a number of dog movies that are exceptional, and the best of them tend to be about dogs and their owners who enter highly competitive dog shows. Outstanding among these is the 2000 film, Best In Show which is an American movie about the dog eat dog world of dog-competition seen through the eyes of ruthless dog-owners.
Two questions are routinely relevant to such movies: Is one dog good enough to always win? And what are the obstacles that are put in place to spoil other dog’s chances by fellow-competitors trying to win by fair means or foul? Both these questions are relevant to this movie, but they don’t give rise to the dramatic urgency that consistently characterised Best in Show. This is a film which is sentimental, comically enjoyable, and family- and value-friendly in all the right places. Young children will love the movie’s charm.
Runt is a loveable and endearing dog. Several accomplished actors, such as Mailman and Thompson, lend their talents to the film making it a highly suitable movie for family enjoyment. And the involvement of LaTorre serves to enhance a dog-friendly film in a child-friendly way.


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