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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good but doesn't follow book, May 14, 2002
We loved the movie very much...my 9 and 5 year old girls loved it, especially the ending. We didn't find it too scary at all. However, both my 9 year old and I enjoyed the book far more...it gave such a deeper insight into Marty's heart, and into the world of a boy and his dog. We were both very affected by the book; it made an impression on us that the movie did not. I especially did not like the addition of another child, a girl, into the story. It seemed Hollywood wanted to add a little childhood flirting to make the movie more sellable. That just served as a distraction from this fine story. There were many differences from the book, but this was the one that irked me. It still was a very good movie with a heartwarming ending. If you haven't read the book, you'll like it even more cause you won't be comparing differences.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Expectations, May 14, 2007
This is a story of a boy who goes for a walk one day through his West Virginia town and a beagle, Shiloh, follows him home. The boy, Marty Preston, discovers that the dog has an abusive owner. The boy's own family is very poor and can not afford a pet; also, his father is a firm believer that, abused or not, the dog has an owner and he must be returned. They give the dog back but Shiloh escapes again, and when he turns up outside the Preston home, Marty hides him up a hill behind their house. If you've never read the novel by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, I suppose you might like this movie; however, I'm a fan of the book and I've read it a few times with my language arts classes, and in comparison, the movie is terrible. The family does not appear to be poor, an integral part of the story, and the main character, Marty, is often disrespectful, something he never is in the book. Both of these aspects are important to the story, because they help you to understand why the family can not keep a dog, why Marty has some difficulty in standing up for himself, etc. And then there's the ending: horrible! The novel has a complex, beautiful ending, one in which you begin to understand the mean dog owner, Judd, and why he is abusive. He and the main character's hostile relationship evolves into something almost like friendship, and it is so well written, it is believable. In the movie, instead of us seeing that, we see instead what some idiot director must have thought of as a more suspenseful ending. If you truly want a family treat, read the novel aloud to your kids!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
GOOD FAMILY MOVIE, October 8, 2006
SHILOH is an entertaining movie the whole family can enjoy. It especially stresses the importance of children taking responsibility for their pets, and the movie also has a warm family relationship. While it's pacing is rather slow, the story of how a young boy rescues a beagle from an abusive owner should keep even the smaller kids involved. The cast does well in their roles: Blake Heron shines as little Marty, determined to provide a good home for the mistreated Shiloh; Scott Wilson is appropriately evil as the dog's abusive owner; Michael Moriarty and Ann Dowd do well as the parents; and Rod Steiger and Bonnie Bartlett are fine as the elderly couple who befriend the young boy.
SHILOH is refreshing entertainment for the whole family.
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