The Mighty Celt (2005)

The story of the boy and his mother and O was fine, very sweet, even. Even the fact that Joe turned out bad and let the boy down was okay -- a kind of life lesson for him.But there was no need to do such cruel things to the dogs. It was heart-breaking. I don't know how anyone can be so heartless, yet I know such cruelty does go on in real life. The people who hurt animals have no hearts and I hope they burn in hell.I agree with the review from Leo 811. The film should not have depicted such violence. It was unnecessary. A good story could still have been told with letting the boy get his beloved Celt back safely in the end. Tacking on the "happy" ending with a new puppy is not good enough.Films need to be more uplifting. We should be inspiring young people to be kind to all animals, domestic and wild.

saw the mighty celt at a local irish film festival and it was horrible. once again, scriptwriters use violence towards animals as a cheap tug at audience emotion, where their imagination falls short. the animal cruelty is superfluous. the advert and trailer are misleading. both reflect happy in the photo used to promote and the music in the trailer. as well, the trailer barely shows a hint of the violence and only in hindsight. shame on the filmmakers for making such a padded piece, on the marketers for misleading the public, and the festival for supporting such a film. BAD BAD BAD!!! it was a waste of time, i could have stayed home and adored my cat. it was a waste of money that i don't have, but like to support local festivals. if it wasn't for the company i was with i would have walked out the first scene.

This film was great. I caught it on sun-dance. I couldn't stop watching it the flow of the film really is great ...and you just want to see what happens next. And that is what this film is about, "what happens next." Great. I don't really care for dog racing or anything but that's not really the point of the story or the real focus. It's just a device to move the characters across the board. But who cares? As long as you care about whats going on in the character's mind. Check it out if you can on Sundance or on disc if its available yet. It's a shame this movie hasn't received as much buzz as it deserves. Who knows, maybe it will eventually this year after being on the sun-dance channel.

Gillian Anderson as a single mother from Northern Ireland. Never in my days of salivating over her in the X-Files (though not in a 'Tooms'-like fashion) did I think that I'd see her playing such a role in such a movie as this. It's basically a down to earth, straightforward story of a boy growing up in a nation that itself is only beginning to grow after 30 years of 'the Troubles' (a local war with Nationalist and Unionist terrorists along the lines of modern day Iraq but not half as brutal and deadly). The boy in question has an interest in and love for greyhounds which race for money, much as in horse racing. His relationships with the greyhound trainer that he's known for years and a new male influence in his life, who returns to Northern Ireland after being on the run for years, inevitably leads to conflict which ultimately leads to a simple resolution which is just a bit too clean and rushed in the final reels. There are no alarms and no surprises and everyone acts well enough. Despite the lack of deep thought, complicated plots, astounding cinematography, explosive special effects, etc. it's not bad though and neither is Anderson's accent. A time filler for an 84 minute gap in your life that you have little else to do with.