SYNOPSIS:
Dong-wook in his late teens is falling behind in his studies and has already transferred schools three times. Dong-wook's only friend is a Labrador named Hearty, a present from his late father. When Hearty gives birth to three puppies Chubby, Dodo and General, Dong-wook becomes even more obsessed with Hearty and raising up the puppies. Worried and displeased, Dong-wook's mum decides to send Hearty and the puppies away to her brother's place without giving them a proper goodbye.
A major diamond theft makes the national headlines. Hiding from the police, the burglars conspire to siphon off the diamonds abroad by concealing them in a stuffed animal so they kidnap General the new puppy in town. Witnessing General's kidnap right infront of her eyes, Hearty chases after the burglars' truck like a bullet. When Dong-wook arrives at his uncle's place to take back Hearty and the puppies, he finds that Hearty and General have gone missing. While Dong-wook is searching desperately for them, Hearty locates the burglars' hideout in an abandoned school, Hearty rescues General, swallows up the diamonds and runs away and so begins the chase between the burglar and Hearty, a dog that an outsmart them all.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Given the heartbreaking denouement at the end of the first movie, it’s probably quite impossible to make a sequel with any relation to it. “Hearty Paws 2” therefore bears only the minimal-est of relations to the original- it shares the same name; and it shares the same animal actor. Other than that, this is a wholly different story that avoids the melodramatic tendencies of its predecessor and aims for a fun amusing time that the kids will love.
Appropriately, most of the screen time and story is dedicated to the Labrador whose name is Hearty and her young pup General. General’s been kidnapped by two bumbling diamond thieves who want to ‘taxidermy’ him, so in comes mother to the rescue. Much of the humour from the film derives from Hearty outsmarting the two goons, like switching the cage General’s been kept with a similarly sized box while one of them is asleep, or getting across a corridor littered with thumb tacks. Director Lee Jeong-Chul has made this for the kids, so parents need not worry that there may be any real danger which would be upsetting for the younger ones.
That said, it’s a good thing that Jeong-Chul doesn’t dumb down his film too much to appeal to the younger demographic. There are scenes which clearly show the distress a mother would face when the life of her child is threatened, and a nice twist in the middle of the movie realistically depicts how Hearty is forced to rely on the very people she was trying to escape from in order to save General’s life. Adults will appreciate these mature moments alongside the cute antics Hearty and General get up to.
Since the focus of the movie is on the clever Hearty, it’s no surprise that Maeumi, the dog which plays her, actually steals the movie from her human actors. Not only does Maeumi impress with her physicality in the many stunts her character gets up to in the movie, she also expresses her character’s anxiety, helplessness and desperation beautifully and allows her audience to feel them just as keenly. Next to her, each one of the human actors (including the young heartthrob Yoo Seung-Ho)- who are also arguably given much less to do- ends up equally unremarkable.
But it’s not likely that you will mind- “Hearty Paws 2” is filled with scenes that will delight the young ones and entertain the adults. Unlike the original, the pace here is also brisker, and the tone kept light and comic with fewer melodramatic moments. If you are looking for a good-natured, good-humoured family film, then this is just the movie for you.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is clear enough for you to be able to distinguish the various puppy sounds. Visuals are clean- though not as sharp- and the colours in the film look vibrant. .
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong
Posted on 23 April 2011
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