Owd Bob

Parents seeking relief from so-called family films that assault young viewers with sound and fury, inappropriate language and scatological humor, will especially welcome this low-key 1997 Canadian film. Based on the novel by Alfred Ollivant (and filmed previously in 1938 by Mary Poppins director Robert Stevenson), Owd Bob is set on the Isle of Man off the shore of Ireland and stars Oscar-nominee James Cromwell (Babe) as Adam MacAdam, a farmer who lives with his prized sheepdog, Zac (who has won the champion sheepdog trials two years in a row and is going for an unprecedented third win). When the taciturn farmer reluctantly agrees to take in his recently orphaned teenage grandson David "for the summer," he and the boy do form a tentative bond, but their relationship is strained when David meets Maggie, the daughter of Kevin Moore (Colm Meaney), with whom MacAdam is engaged in a bitter feud. Moore's sheepdog is Owd Bob, Zac's challenger in the upcoming trials. Although younger viewers may be upset at the death of Maggie's mother and the Old Yeller-like demise of one of the dogs, this is warmly recommended. (Note: the DVD offers exceptional value, since it's not only $10 less, but also includes a second well-received Canadian family film, Nico the Unicorn.) (K. Lee Benson)