'Lassie': What a classic family film should be

In an old New Yorker cartoon, Timmy, down his usual well, tells his beloved, super-hero collie, "Lassie, get help!" In the next panel, we see the dog stretched out on a couch while a therapist takes notes.

Cinematically speaking, Lassie has, indeed, finally gotten help. Expert help. From writer-director Charles Sturridge ("Brideshead Revisited"). And from a first-rate cast headed by Peter O'Toole, Samantha Morton, John Lynch and Peter Dinklage.

Samuel Goldwyn Films 'Lassie' B+ The verdict: A beauty. Make sure to bring your hankies. Director: Charles Sturridge Starring: Samantha Morton, Peter Dinklage, Peter O'Toole, Jemma Redgrave, Kelly MacDonald Run time: 100 minutes Release date: Sept. 1, 2006 Rating: PG for some mild violent content and language. On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Lassie'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Though he's jettisoned the "Come Home" part of Eric Knight's cherished dog story — first published in the Saturday Evening Post, then as a novel, on which the exquisite 1943 film was based — Sturridge has been remarkably faithful to the text and, more importantly, to the spirit of the original. Here's what a classic family film should be — intelligent without being smart-alecky, heart-warming without being smarmy and exciting without relying entirely on CGI.

Especially when it comes to our title canine. What you see is all Lassie, all the time. Well, that's the running Lassie and the jumping Lassie and the licking Lassie and the limping Lassie and the close-up Lassie and ... you get the idea.

For those who always thought Lassie lived on a farm somewhere in the American Midwest full of Timmy-threatening rattlesnakes, the new "Lassie" may be quite a surprise. It takes place in a poor mining village in Yorkshire, England, on the eve of World War II. Lassie belongs to 9-year-old Joe (adorable Jonathan Mason) and his parents, Sarah and Sam Carraclough (Morton and Lynch).

She catches the eye of the local aristocrat, the Duke (played with a slightly dotty harrumph and a twinkle by O'Toole), who wants her for his granddaughter (Hester Odgers). The Carracloughs refuse to sell, but when the mine closes, they're forced to in order to put food on the table. Lassie repeatedly escapes and the family keeps bringing her back.

When the war grows nearer, the Duke moves his household, including Lassie, to his castle in the Highlands of Scotland. For Lassie to come home this time will mean a treacherous trek of some 500 miles. Part Steve McQueen in "The Great Escape," part homing pigeon, Lassie gets away yet again and embarks on her impossible journey.

Along the way, she's shot at, chased by dogcatchers, forced to swim great rivers and endure every imaginable version of wind, snow, sleet and dark of night. But she's offered the kindness of strangers as well, most notably Dinklage as a traveling puppeteer.

The title aside, Lassie truly does come home here. The movie was shot in Scotland, Ireland, England and the Isle of Man. In one gorgeous sequence, the dog gallops across the moors as if she were Julie Andrews twirling among the Alps in "The Sound of Music." Another benefit of the UK locations: The supporting cast is jammed with superb British actors including Edward Fox and Kelly Macdonald (the Loch Ness monster even has a cameo).

Can a flesh-and-blood canine survive in an era of animated cars and recycled kiddie TV shows? If "Lassie" is any indication, I'd say not only can you teach an old dog new tricks, but you can teach an audience a few as well.

(Parental note: There are intense emotional scenes, especially for dog-loving kids, and one pootch — not the title pooch — dies in the movie. Most appropriate for age 7 and up.)