My Dog Skip (2000)

Review by Bret Walker

An amusing tale of a boy's first dog in World War II torn America, My Dog Skip is definitely a Kleenex movie. So many coming-of-age films before this one, such as A Christmas Story, Stand By Me, and Now and Then brush past the reckless abandon with which we live our lives before the age of 12, but never fully grasp hold as My Dog Skip does. This is a film that deals with the pressures of youth; coming to terms with domineering parents, hero worship, placating the bullies, falling in love, the shock of subtle racism. This film has it all. Based on a true story (written by the lead character, Willie Morris), My Dog Skip begins with the town sports hero, Willie's next-door neighbor, leaving for the Army to fight in Europe. Willie says goodbye to him with stars in his eyes. His mother, sensing her son's loss, buys him a puppy for his birthday against the wishes of his father, a war veteran himself who has become bitter with the loss of his leg. However, his father relents and lets him keep the dog.

The boy and his dog become inseparable. Skip helps Willie come out of his shell and become the boy he never was, giving him the courage to befriend the bully who has made his life unbearable. Skip was instrumental also in getting Willie into the heart of a girl whom he had never imagined would ever like him. Skip guides him through the growing pains and gives him even more reason to hang on to this dear friend.

When Willie's next-door neighbor returns from the war, he is a bitter man like Willie's father. Willie faces the reality of his boyhood hero turning sour by defending him to his friends, nearly coming to blows. When the neighbor fails to show up at a baseball game that Willie is playing in, as he had promised, Willie takes his anger out on Skip and hits the dog. Skip runs off and Willie's friends and the girl who adored him suddenly turn away.

It is this event, though, that brings everything back around full-circle, as Willie unites with his friends and his neighbor in a search for Skip. When they find him he is injured and nearly dead, and his life is left in the balance with everyone in the town pulling for him.

My Dog Skip tells of the ups and downs of growing up and how such a little thing as a dog in one's life can make so much difference. Willie was a bashful and meek child before Skip came into his life, and through Skip's companionship he turned the corner into young-adulthood with confidence and alacrity. It's a well-told tale through the eyes of a scared child that takes us back to our own childhoods, and whether we grew up in the shadow of World War II, during the horror of Viet Nam, or in the fearful haze of the Cold War, My Dog Skip brings a familiar tone: that of the pain and joys of growing up and the undying bonds of friendship that we make in our lives.

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Links:

The Official My Dog Skip Website

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