maddyx The main conflict in the book seems to have been softened for its expected family audience. At the heart of the book is the terrible anger and devastation felt by old Adam McAdam over the death of his wife. Adam takes out his anger on his son, who seeks solace with the neighboring family, the Moores. Without Adam's bitterness, there is no story. I received this book when I was a child and much too young to understand the conflicts in it. Only when I reread it as an adult, did I get the full value of it. It's too bad that a good film, for grownups hasn't ever been made of it. Forget the details of whether or not the dogs' behavior is realistic. Give us a believable character struggling with the pain of a disappointed, cheated life.

yimei zhu I happened to watch OWD BOB on TV last night and I was very glad to find out that it's an English movie after I was convinced that the girl Maggie has very English accent( London accent actually). I had lived in England for three years and it's a shame that I didn't visit Isle of Man. The scene in the movie was beautiful and peaceful. It reminds me of Isle of Skye which I visited this summer. The movie was about quiet countryside life but it didn't bore me. James Cromwell was brilliant as an old withdrawn farmer. I thought the character was in his sixties, but I found out on internet that he's only 57 when the film was made.I don't think the movie has shown much about the dog Owd BOB. It's more about the relationship between the grandfather and grandson, and people's feeling about each other. The movie doesn't have much dialogue, but we could feel what they were thinking. The movie has some little mistakes, but generally it's a good touching film that make me think.I wish that I would go back to UK and visit the island one day.

remobec Alfred Ollivant wrote the book "Owd Bob, Son of Battle," an excellent dog story. This movie is the third or fourth retelling of it. They've basically butchered the book. This movie twisted up all of the characters and the story of Ollivant's book. This is not always bad, but I don't think it added anything to the story in this case.The dogs are central to this story. Although they are attractive Border Collies, many aspects of the dogs are very inaccurate. For example, one of the main plot lines of the story deals with a killer dog--a dog that kills sheep. In sheep country, a dog who kills sheep is totally unacceptable and would be shot immediately. I suppose in a rare case an owner may find out and try to hide it, but even this is very rare. These are working dogs, and a working dog can't be a sheep killer. It's an instant death warrant. Furthermore, these sheep killers get smart. If they kill a sheep and come home with blood on their face and fleece in their teeth they KNOW they'll be shot. They clean up. But the sheep killer in this movie keeps coming back to his owner with a bloody face, and his owner cleans him up, and keeps quiet. This movie totally ignores this basic fact.Furthermore, when the dogs are in the sheepherding competition, one of the dogs (not a main character) herds sheep excellently. But when the main character dogs begin their sheepherding, it's pathetic. The dog is just shown jumping up and down somewhere in the vicinity of the sheep. He doesn't even seem to realize the sheep are there. Border collies have VERY strong instincts, and if they are around sheep, even if they're movie dogs, the sheep should attract and hold their attention. But this dog doesn't even seem to care that sheep are there, which is very strange for a Border Collie. They could have at least dyed the coat of another dog and shown the dog actually herding. The herding of a good sheepdog is a beautiful sight, and this left me very disappointed.One last point on the dogs. The dog, Zac, is supposed to be aggressive and hate people. However, it only looks like he was cued by his trainer to jump up and bark. He doesn't give a terribly believable performance.Besides these, the story itself wasn't terrible, but I didn't feel like the characters were very realistic. There seemed to be a lot of emotions--crying, running, screaming. . . But I didn't feel like the characters were developed as well as they could be.All of this considered, it's not a bad family film. Good values, beautiful dogs, great scenery, okay plot. Perhaps worth seeing, perhaps worth buying if your as dog crazy as I am.

VB-7 This is an excellent family film which sadly enough has not been rated with the same publicity as films out of the US, i.e. HOME ALONE. Personally, I feel that in the making of OWD BOB, the realistic story line which one can relate to plus the magnificent views should be able to hit our cinemas and deserve some credibility.The content of this film can be compared to BABE but at the end of the day, OWD BOB shows life in reality but is also pleasing to watch and our children should be able to enjoy a film without having to be constantly entertained with the extremes, i.e SPACE JAM. I personally really enjoyed SPACE JAM but the contents are of course unreal.I happened to watch OWD BOB which was shown on our TV this evening, only because of the write-up describing it being based in the Isle of Man. Having lived for a number of years in the U.K. this therefore 'took my eye'. What pleasure it was and definitely worth recommending as a good Friday evening family film with your hot chocolate and biccies.