Metacritic Film

Dog of Flanders, A

Starring Jack Warden, John Voight, Cheryl Ladd, Jesse James, and Jeremy James Kissner

MPAA RATING: PG for one scene of mild language, mild violence and thematic elements

Warner Brothers
Family/Kids
100 minutes | Color
USA
Released In Theaters August 27, 1999

Orphaned at birth and living with his kindly grandfather (Warden) in a small village in the early 19th century, Nello (Kissner) sets out against all odds to pursue his dream of becoming a great artist. (Warner Brothers)

WRITTEN BY
Kevin Brodie
Robert Singer
Ouida (story)

DIRECTED BY
Kevin Brodie

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

38 / 100

Critic Reviews

80	Washington Post Jane Horowitz A beautiful, sad, spiritual story with joy and delicacy, visual chops and emotional depth.
75	Chicago Tribune It was the adult in me that wept when the movie ended. Take the kid and have a good time.
63	New York Post Rod Dreher A film that parents can confidently and with pleasure take their little ones to see - but which is not quite a good movie.
63	Baltimore Sun Milton Kent As subtle as a cinder block crashing on your head.
58	Seattle Post-Intelligencer Somehow the elements do not add up to by anything especially memorable.
54	Mr. Showbiz Whenever Voight steps to the forefront, A Dog of Flanders is poochy-keen; alas, the rest of the time it's doggedly dull.
50	San Francisco Chronicle There are times when watching this film is like a near-death experience.
50	Film.com It can be treacly -- but in a crude way, it makes its point.
50	Philadelphia Inquirer Two of its youthful actors, although adorable, are not skilled enogh to carry their parts.
40	The New York Times Difficult to swallow.
40	Los Angeles Times This is a movie for younger children -- they won't notice that the children deliver their lines with all the conviction of an airline flight boarding announcement.
40	Variety This Dog won't hunt. Although well crafted and handsomely mounted, pic lacks sufficient sizzle.
38	USA Today A mongrel of a movie.
30	LA Weekly Anlee Ellingson Brodie assembles a grab bag of themes formulaic to films about poverty.
30	Film.com Limp direction, laughable production values, accent-heaving acting and dialogue and more lumps than three-day-old oatmeal.
25	Entertainment Weekly If you've been longing to see the worst family entertainment of 1966, A Dog of Flanders may be the movie for you.
25	Boston Globe Cate McQuade What a disaster -- a dog.
20	Chicago Reader Full of meaningless tragedies left unjustified by the absurdly optimistic ending .. (an) intolerable story.
15	TNT RoughCut Bill McLochlin There were only two other people in the theater where I saw it, and they left within the first 10 minutes. I should have followed them out.

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