The Lucky One on DVD

Lately, Nicholas Sparks book-to-movie adaptations have been striking out with me, so I wasn't too eager to see The Lucky One. But it kept crossing my radar, and since there's been little else out that I really want to see, I rented it. I was sort of pleasantly surprised; at least it was better than average.

The movie stars Zac Efron as a soldier whose life is literally saved by the discovery of another man's discarded picture. Logan returns from war an emotionally wounded man. To avoid hurting his sister's family and to try to offer thanks to the woman in the photo, he sets off walking across the country to Louisiana. He means to just say "thank you," but is that enough? Unable to find the words or even explain himself, he ends up with a job at Beth's dog kennel. Beth (Taylor Schilling) is still struggling from the loss of her brother in the war, and raising a kid as a single mom isn't easy, especially when  her former husband Keith, also the town sheriff, is making life more difficult. Quiet Logan does everything he can to help, and eventually he and Beth fall in love. But Logan can't keep ignoring the real reason he entered Beth's life. And Keith will do anything to get him out of it.

It's an interesting story, probably even better in the book. And neither of the two main characters dies in the end! (Sparks seems to like his romances to be partly tragedies, too.) There's still a lot of angst and true-to-life emotional trauma, but the romance is fairly solid.

I was impressed with Zac Efron, even though his character is stoic and seems to hardly require acting. Knowing what Efron is capable of (High School Musical), seeing him in this very different role was remarkable. He obviously has a pretty broad acting range. It can't be easy to pull off stoic and still make your character likeable and reachable; there's a lot of internal acting there.

I did say the romance is good, but unfortunately, there is a sexual aspect to it, shown in more detail (though nothing graphic; it's rated PG-13) than it needs to be. I would have preferred it not to exist, but it is Nicholas Sparks. Why does "good romance" automatically come with sex these days? We women like our Pride and Prejudice just fine. (Although, Fifty Shades of Grey seems to be the new thing. I wonder, do some of the same women like both? Can't they see the difference?)

Besides the sexual immorality, I had one other beef with the movie toward the end. (SPOILER ALERT) Do you know what deus ex machina means? It's a plot device where a god, or the equivalent, comes out of nowhere to save the day. Basically, it's a cop-out. Characters don't have to make the hard decisions. They are miraculously saved. That happens with Keith. He is nicely ejected from the picture so that Logan and Beth and her son can become a family. No mention is made of the effects this might have on the kid, who admires his no-good dad. It's played like it's supposed to be "happily ever after" from here on out. I guess the movie didn't want to dwell on the emotional fall-out when it was trying to wrap things up. Maybe the book does better, but in that case, I suppose it's somewhat of a tragedy, after all.

Otherwise, I generally liked the movie. Beautiful setting, lots of dogs, good acting. If only it wasn't Nicholas Sparks! I say that tongue-in-cheek, of course. But I do wonder if he's ever going to give us another "walk to remember." (Oh, wait, that was a tragedy, too, albeit one with morals and a hopeful, positive message at the end.)

Hachi: A Dog's Tale on DVD

I watched the most depressing movie today. It made me cry, and normally I like to cry at movies. But this cry wasn't cathartic. It was more despairing. And it wasn't just a few tears rolling down the cheeks. It was sob-out-loud sad. Why, oh, why would you make a movie like that?

Now, Hachi: A Dog's Tale really is an amazing story, don't get me wrong. This dog falls so in love with his owner that when the owner dies, the dog sits and waits for the five o'clock train every day for the next ten years. Talk about loyalty. But that's the kind of story I'd much rather hear about or maybe even read about than watch in detail. I don't really want to see a dog grow old, wasting its life, never loving another owner, just waiting for ten long years. Sadly, this story is based on a true story that happened in Japan, and there's even a stone dog memorial to mark the spot where the poor dog waited. Amazing story, yes. Amazing movie? No.

You know what you're getting into when you start this movie, so there're really no spoilers to be had. So, let me tell you exactly why I can't recommend this movie. When the dog's owner dies, the wife moves out of her home, and the dog goes to live with the daughter and her family. But as soon as the dog can, it escapes and follows the railroad all the way back to its previous home and then on to the train station. Although the daughter finds the dog, she realizes Hachi isn't happy with his new family and releases him to be on his own. Hold it right there! Really? I suppose this dog was as close to human as an animal gets, but no one would "release" a beloved pet to the elements without shelter or care to supposedly fulfill the animal's desires. You don't reason with pets just like you don't reason with two-year-olds. The adult knows better. The human knows better.

So, the dog goes to live under a train car, through snow and rain, for the rest of his life. And does anyone notice? Of course they do! People feed the dog and talk to it. The daughter even mails money to the train station worker to care for the dog. How thoughtful of her. But no one seems to be thinking, "Hey, this dog probably needs a new home, maybe closer to his beloved train station, but still." I get that the dog might not have accepted anyone else's home, like he didn't accept the daughter's. But realistically, the humane shelter would be all over that.

So, it happened in Japan, and it's a true story. Cool. (By the way, the movie is all American.) But I didn't need to see it. I thought there might be redeeming value when I chose to watch it. And, yeah, the story is cushioned in a little boy's school presentation about his hero, his grandfather's dog Hachi.

But all I could think was poor, poor dog, waiting for ten years, living under a train car. Clearly, the dog was miserable, and awful as it sounds, it might have been more merciful to put him out of his misery. Sorry, PETA.

Other than that, the acting is great. The dog is beautiful. The movie has potential, but the truth of the matter is, it's just too sad.