Review of Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009) by Salah A — 22 Jul 2013

If all those pointless scenes with the professor's family were replaced with the dog and him hanging out together, then maybe I would understand the special bond between both characters that made this dog decide to waste away the rest of his life after his owner's death.

As a matter of fact, the main character shouldn't even have a family. I cared for none of these people and their interaction with each other, I just wanted to see this man play with his dog.

When I read the story this movie was based off, this professor character didn't even strike me as a family man. Why couldn't we just follow the life of a man who has nothing but his job and his dog. It explains so much more.

The daughter had no reason to be around, as for her pathetic boyfriend, and the mother was beyond annoying. It looked like she was solely written to make things harder on our two main characters.

Besides that, they all lacked a personality and none of them had a real bond with the dog, OR the main character for that matter. It was a waste.

The other characters in the movie were alright, but when knowing that in reality people were very skeptical about "this filthy dog" showing up at their station every day, yet their frown turned into a hypocritical frown upside down after the dog recieved media attention, the movie's appreciation for the dog so soon in the game was awkward to watch.

But to be honest, that's not one of the movie's biggest problems.

If you're making a movie based on a real event, at least try to make it accurate. Anyone who knows the original story begs for this accuracy. The edits made were unnecessary, as the real story was interesting enough to keep intact.

I think this movie is too slow and too boring for most people to watch, as there isn't much conflict. You're just sitting on a chair, watching the life of a family. Who don't encounter any conflict.

They've tried to write some kind of story revolving the family, but I have no idea what it was, and so it falls flat.

Every scene that doesn't include the dog is a bad scene. In fact, this movie would've been a whole lot more interesting if it was filmed with the doggie cam only.

In the beginning this low black-and-white view confuses you, but soon you realize it has potential.

Eventually, the only thing that people will remember about this movie is everything that happens after the professor dies.

That's all what's important, but even so, the "build-up" makes it hard to wait.