First Dog (2010)

Where to even start with this film. First Dog is a movie that has my opinion stretched. On one hand I liked it because the acting was good and the scenery was nice. On the other hand I didn't like it because it had some really dark elements for a children's film. Well let's look at the plot. The US President named Barrett (Eric Roberts) just narrowly misses an assassination attempt. In the chaos Barrett's dog Teddy runs away and inadvertently ends up with orphan Danny Milbright (John Paul Howard). Danny is a young shy boy who decides the right thing to do is hitch hike across the country to return Teddy to Barrett. Along the way Danny meets a friendly trucker named "Big" Mike (Tommy Lister) and a nasty hick couple. The film has good acting and beautiful scenery so why does it suffer? It has some really disturbing parts that will most likely make parents wish they hadn't shown it to their children. Let me list out some of the disturbing elements. The hick family is absolutely disgusting. These are some dirty people who smoke, hit each other, and curse. You know, for kids! One of them even points a gun at a character. There is also an unnerving scene where Danny is in a Detention Facility. And another unnerving scene where a doctor and Orderly in an animal shelter prepare to put down Teddy. Overall I admire the film for it's ambition but lots of violent scenes were really unnecessary and will upset kids.

The President of the USA (Eric Roberts) is excessively fond of his dog, Teddy. With good reason, Teddy is a charmer, even though the secret service men don't like him too much. But, one day when the President is on a visit to another state, Teddy gets out and runs away. No! He ends up on the west coast where foster child Danny finds him. Although Dan's foster mother (Priscilla Barnes) is kind, Danny knows to hide the canine from her. Also, the young lad sees from the dog's tags that he is the property of the President. Up for adventure, Danny decides to cross country and return the dog personally. Hitching rides with nice truckers and not-so-nice hucksters, Danny almost makes it. But, during the last leg, Teddy again sprints away and is captures by the DC dog catchers while Dan is taken to the police station. Will there be a happy hound ending? This is a great film, for the most part. The acting is good, the scenery is lovely, and the direction is active and fun. However, there are a couple of elements that might give parents pause. First, one of the couples that give Danny a ride express violence toward each other, with the wife hitting the husband quite a bit. Ouch. Then, near the end, Danny's juvenile detention place looks incompetent. Finally, Teddy is almost put down, where a doctor raises the deadly needle and where another man sings Dead Dog Walking. Not my idea of tasteful or family-friendly, this is. However, if your family loves animal movies and you have a talk with the kids before hand, this is almost certainly a winner for the next family flick night.

Charming family movie! Watched this at Little Rock Film Festival with a full audience (around 300 people). Everyone cried and laughed, a real feel-good movie! The film screened at the Clinton Presidential Library. We went to see the film again the following Thursday and it was even better the second time we saw it! We want to see this movie when it comes out in theaters. My kids said they can't wait to watch it again. We also all loved the original Dolly Parton songs, and even heard Willie Nelson singing the chorus on one song with his daughter Paula Nelson who also co-stars in the film. I wonder if they'll release a soundtrack as well. The music score by the composer was also great -- sounded like a big orchestra! The best family movie we've seen in a long time. If you have a heart -- you'll love love this movie!

I watched this movie.I found the good thing about this movie is that the child that play Danny is charm and so cute and the dog is cute , funny, and lovely.The story line is beautiful. I thought it's a one of a good plot. But the bad thing about this movie is that the story is so flat and the relationship between kid and dog is so flat and far from profound Other drawback is that this movie present the story message is far from dept. They just present the message by the word that character said that you must return the thing to the owner. But the story didn't say why you should do this.It' make the massage that using flat and not insightful And the last drawback of this movie is that the ending that present negligently. I admired that I like the way that story ending, But they present rather bad. It doesn't impressed or make make emotion enough On conclusion, I like this movie about the character is charming and the story line is good .But I don't like about their presentation of story is too dull, flat, far from profound, and not insightful