Customer Reviews

The Mighty Celt

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't expect a Disney style cute story in this movie. I'd say that it depicts life in Donal's part of Ireland so realistically that one could think they were watching filmed every-day life there. By this, I mean that there are very few typical film tricks to evoke emotion or to carry the story. The only one I noticed was at the end when the animal control people were confiscating the dogs from the evil trainer. There are actually two stories here; one is Donal's relationship with the dog trainer, and the other is with the man who comes into his life, one who carries a long-held secret. Both stories are interwoven seamlessly into a very satisfying whole.

I do have a couple of caveats, however. The first is that young Donal, about 13 or 14 years old, is shown smoking over and over again. Even when the stranger says it is bad for him, Donal defends it. I don't recall any bad language, once again proving that evil people and 'low class' people can be shown realistically in movies without constant swearing. The second warning to families with young children is that some dogs are being shown (apparently) drowned in a quarry, and the dog trainer slashes the throat of Donal's assigned dog, one that he trained for racing.

Both my wife and I found this movie to be very realistic and it certainly did not lag in any way. I would give it five stars if it weren't for the smoking by a young teen boy. Also, it is graded down a bit because there is not closed captioning, and we simply could not figure out what some (especially the dog trainer) were saying because it the strong Irish dialect of English. All in all, it is an excellent movie about a boy, a dog, and of both betrayal and creating new family ties.

The movie depicts a story of a little boy trying to save the life of one dog. It's not a Disney portrayal of a boy and his dog, but rather a more realistic telling of the fate of racing greyhounds. If you are a big Gillian Anderson fan, be aware that she has a supporting role here as the protagonist's mother, and so her screentime is limited. Also, beware of the lack of close captioning and the sick Irish accent and slang that is the language of this film.

First of all Gillian is the BEST!!! I love her and I think all of them were spot on! It is very Irish and so you need to be familiar with the language to understand it but its not too hard to figure out. I am familiar with Irish movies but I did understand probably about 90% of what was said because of that. But its still a great movie but not for young kids. My daughter is 14 and she was shocked about the dog part but it ended happy and we both were thrilled. I will be buying this movie from Amazon, of course.

I orginally got this movie because Gillian Anderson is in it and I love her. The story line is good but you do have to listen really carefully if your like me and don't understand Irish English slang it can be difficult to understand. Story line is good but if you are a dog lover you might want to prepare yourself for some very intense scenes of animal cruilty.

scully was wonderful in her performance in another life. It's good to she anderson playing a low status character compared to her upper status character in the x-files. When I seen her character smoking I said no don't do it scully It's bad for your health. she played splendid talking with that irish accent I loved it and her. I recommend it for anderson fans.

A film that shows the best and worst of the human animal. Gillian Anderson and her co stars all show excellent performances. This film is very creative and should be enjoyable to audiences of any age.

The Mighty Celt (Pearse Elliott, 2005)

Not a bad little film, this. When I read the description, I figured I was in for a Disney-esque light-hearted family tale about a dog winning against all odds, but that's certainly not what I got. It also listed the top stars as Tyrone McKenna and Ken Stott, so I was quite surprised when Gillian Anderson and Robert Carlyle popped up, as well. Surprises in casting are usually a good thing.

Yes, there's a dog, and there's racing, and all that sort of thing, but a lighthearted family tale this is not. Good Joe (Stott, who's been making a name for himself recently as the title character in Rebus) runs a kennel for racing greyhounds. The tone of the movie is set in the opening scene, when we see him at a quarry tossing in a vaguely bloody and dog-shaped burlap sack. This is not a Disney film, by any means. Donal (McKenna, in his first screen role) is Joe's helper around the stables, and he gets attached to one of the dogs, whom he names The Mighty Celt. The dog trains well in the mornings, but in his first race, he finishes dead last. Donal saves the dog from disaster by making a deal with Joe: he'll train the dog and run him in his (Donal's) own name, and after three races, if the dog's become a winner, Joe will let Donal keep the dog. Cue miracle. Of course, that's not all; it seems any movie made in Ireland in the past thirty years must have a subplot regarding the Troubles (as any movie in America since 25th Hour must say something about 9/11), and that comes with the friction between Good Joe and Donal's uncle O (Carlyle, in a rare impressive performance), the latter of whom is tentatively romancing his ex-girlfriend and brother's widow, Kate (Anderson, in a not-at-all-rare impressive performance).

It's not a great film, by any means-- the IRA plot sort of wanders off into the distance, never to be seen again, for one thing-- but it's emotionally honest, which is one thing that vast numbers of American movies involving children and their attachments to animals are not. That alone makes it worthy viewing for an American audience that's been weaned on such pap as The Incredible Journey and My Friend Flicka. McKenna does a creditable enough job with the role, and the actors around him are quite good; the script's few problems are jarring, but not a deal-killer. ***