Will Lassie save the day?

After giant simians, emperor penguins, raptors and the like, how nice to find a harmless, domesticated collie starring in a film. Yes, it's Lassie again, served up this time in slightly grittier fashion by British director Charles Sturridge. There may be clichés galore, but younger children won't mind about that.

Lassie belongs to Yorkshire miner John Lynch, who reluctantly has to sell her to Peter O'Toole's slightly glazed-looking Duke of Rudling when he's made redundant. She is whisked off first to the Duke's stately pile with his granddaughter Celia, and then to his castle in Scotland, where his bullying kennelman (Steve Pemberton) is thoroughly nasty to her.

But she escapes and, well, I won't say more for fear of spoiling things. But on her way home, we glimpse the Loch Ness monster, who disturbs a cricket conversation between two fishermen (John Standing and Edward Fox, surely reprising those turns by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne of happy memory), which provides the film's one real surprise.

It's all nicely shot and respectably acted, with Lassie quite as eloquent as anyone else on screen, including the little son of the miner (Jonathan Mason) who loves her so.

Prepare to shed a tear before the end if you are susceptible to doggie tales. And enjoy O'Toole, who seems to be wandering about not quite certain what film he's in but still with a voice to quell anyone who gets in his way.

Lassie
Cert: PG