Film Reviews

The Adventures Of Greyfriars Bobby

• Rating:
• Director: John Henderson.
• Starring: Oliver Golding, James Cosmo, Greg Wise, Christopher Lee.
• Details: UK, 105mins, PG.

Edinburgh, Scotland, 1858, and the local constabulary is helped by the four-legged heroics of a terrier named Bobby, owned by a local policeman, and loved by a little boy (Golding). When the constable dies, however, his wife moves to Dunbar (some forty miles away) and takes Bobby with them but the determined Bobby travels the treacherous journey back to his master's graveside, which he guards come wind, rain or snow. His resolve wins the heart of the Edinburgh community and slowly word reaches other towns and Bobby becomes a legend; so much so that he raises the spirits of the downtrodden workforce of a local mill, run by an evil landlord. When a law is passed, stating that all stray dogs must be put down, the city rallies around poor Bobby. Calling the movie the 'adventures of' was the right title as this is more a series of scrapes that Bobby gets himself into, and out of, rather than a straightforward cohesive plot. Greyfriars Bobby tries to inject many a cliche (there's even an Oliver Twist/poor house sequence) and sometimes feels like a Lassie's greatest hits collection, but director Henderson deserves some credit in creating a realistic looking Victorian Edinburgh; shooting the dark back alleys and misty highlands in moody sepia colours gives the film a darkness not present in last year's Lassie. But this won't put the kids off, as Bobby is a little bit more believable and cheeky than the aristocratic looking Lassie, and they will whoop at the 1001 cute shots of the dog.

Review by Gavin Burke