“Smitty” Movie Review

Proverbs 17:17(NKJV)—A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.

Proverbs 18:24(NKJV)—A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

This is a good family movie that shows how a loyal dog can help reach an unreachable, angry, bitter child.  No matter how miserable the boy acts toward this dog, “Dog” sticks with him through thick and thin. The DVD came out in March of 2012.

This inspirational movie is about a struggling, single mother of a 13 year old boy who gets in trouble with the law. The court gives her an ultimatum, either the son is to go to a Juvenile Detention Center for three to five years or to his grandfather’s farm in Iowa for three months. The mother has no choice but to send him to her father’s farm for the summer. She had not kept in touch with her father for over thirteen years and he never met his grandson, Ben. Peter Fonda plays the grandfather.

The grandfather takes him to the dog pound, where he meets —a lovable mutt who was left behind by his owners. Ben wants nothing to do with the dog or his grandfather. Louis Gossett, Jr. plays the friendly neighbor, Smitty, who tries to help the boy understand and get along with his grandfather.

It is definitely an adjustment for the troubled city boy to learn how to live in the country and have some discipline in his life. Ben learns some hard life lessons about friendship, family, discipline, and responsibility. This is a great family movie. In the beginning the boy says some swear words, but this shows how there was a lack of discipline in his life. His manners slowly improve as the movie progresses.

The acting is excellent and it is a very entertaining movie. You can’t help but fall in love with the dog. It is really worth watching. There is a great message of redemption portrayed in this movie.

Hosea 14:3c(NKJV)—“For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”