FILM

Australia 2011 92 min Dir: Kriv Stenders Starring: Josh Lucas, Rachael Taylor, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Noah Taylor, Luke Ford

It's proving to be a great year for mutts on film. After Uggi's triumph in 'The Artist', here's Koko in a multiple award-winning true-ish story from Down Under, adapted from the short novel by 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' author Louis de Bernieres. Dog movie connoisseurs will observe that plot-wise it boasts plenty of similarities to 'Hachi - A Dog's Tale', right down to the big "there's something in my eye" moment at the end that'll have audiences perusing the credits intently while they compose themselves. Sure, there's a bit of superfluous romance and a dash of anthropomorphism, but this is a rare and welcome exception to the grotesque modern 'family movie' convention that serves up Hollywood morals about learning to be a better dad. Better yet, there are no children in it. And Koko proves more expressive than many a botoxed human actor.

Rufty-tufty immigrants outnumber sandblasted locals (and isn't Noah Taylor looking gnarly these days?) in the remote mining town of Dampier, which sits in a Western Australian landscape stained red by iron ore. While the vet is summoned to minister to ailing Red Dog, a bunch of townsfolk relate fond memories of the lovable, farty, hitch-hiking kelpie stray who became a local legend.

Geoffrey Hall's widescreen cinematography is outstanding and there's no shortage of that broad, earthy humour we've come to associate with Australian cinema. The crappy romance feels rather shoehorned in, but doesn't distract too much from more agreeable doggy antics. Nice to hear plenty of authentic Aussie blue-collar rock (The Angels, Rose Tattoo, Daddy Cool, etc) on the soundtrack too. Should you be interested, the rather splendid singalong at the end is 'Way Out West' - a 1973 obscurity by The Dingoes. I'll get me coat… (Robin Askew)

Website www.reddogmovie.com/

Opens 24 February

Copyright Robin Askew 2012