Red Dog: True Blue will undoubtedly generate plenty of smiles

FILM REVIEW: True Blue comes up slightly short in every department when compared to its irresistible predecessor, yet there is no real shame in that.

RED DOG: TRUE BLUE (PG)

Director: Kriv Stenders (Red Dog)

Starring: Levi Miller, Bryan Brown, Jason Isaacs, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, John Jarratt.

Rating: 3

The tale might wag, but the dog still has his day

A MORE accurate title for this fair follow-up to the Australian all-ages smash hit of 2011 would have to be Red Dog: The Early Years.

With a sequel out of the question, a prequel filling in some of the many blanks on the heroic Pilbara pooch’s sketchy bio was the only option.

To be totally frank, True Blue is not destined to go fetch the entire nation’s embrace in the same way that Red Dog did.

The laid-back, knockabout, anything-goes vibe of the original is rarely recaptured here. Put simply, there are many scenes that feel ever so slightly stilted. Forced, even. (Particularly whenever the real star of the show retreats back inside his kennel trailer and puts his paws up for a well-earned breather.)

Nevertheless, if you’re prepared to let True Blue off the leash as merely a welcome reunion with (a younger version of) an old friend, you won’t be barking up the tree at all.

The narrative tape is rewound to some time in the late 1960s, where a little dog named Blue is experiencing the life lessons that will one day come in very handy when he finally hits the open road.

For now, he’s have a fine old time running about a rural WA farm with his best bud Mick (Levi Miller), a young boy from the big smoke who could really use a mate.

Actor Winta McGrath, who plays Nicholas Carter, with Red Dog in a scene from Red Dog: True Blue. Picture: Supplied

The film is at its very best when it’s idling in a relatively relaxed second gear, and chaining together scenes of the kid and the canine making mischief all over the homestead.

The occasional irascible interjection from Bryan Brown as Mick’s good-naturedly grouchy grandpa also serves as a welcome, winning distraction. Old Brownie is so well-cast here as the quintessential Aussie hard-but-fair man of the land.

Bryan Brown’s performance as Mick’s good-naturedly grouchy grandpa is a highlight in Red Dog: True Blue. Picture: Supplied

The support cast do not fare so well, having been written into being as kooky/corny caricatures that never really become lifelike.

There are also a number of surreal storytelling flourishes that kind of work, and kind of don’t. I’m still in two minds about seeing John Jarrett bob up out of nowhere as the late and legendary mining leviathan Lang Hancock, knocking back a few beers and playing a banjo, of all things.

Levi Miller’s Mick could use a mate and I think you know what’s coming up. Picture: Supplied

Red Dog: True Blue film ‘deserves the support and smiles it will undoubtedly generate.’ Picture: Supplied

Though True Blue comes up slightly short in every department when compared to its irresistible predecessor, there is no real shame in that.

It remains a very endearing children’s film. Just as importantly, with quality live-action fare for kids at a bare minimum in the present era — and Australian-made fare in this field ever harder to find — True Blue deserves the support and smiles it will undoubtedly generate.

Good dog.

Originally published as Red Dog: True Blue will undoubtedly generate plenty of smiles