The plot and acting aren't anything special, but as an adopter of a retired racing greyhound, I'm always interested in depictions of the racing industry and, of course, these beautiful dogs. So I'll skip comments on the people and focus on the greyhound.
While I have to give props to the movie for the three or four lovely sequences of greyhounds running at top speed, my main problem is there aren't more. C'mon, these creatures are gorgeous runners! The human story is vapid enough, so we need some great action shots of the greys in motion to take up the slack. Decent movies about race horses always have scene after scene of the horses at full gallop, after all.
I did enjoy the scenes at the race track. I've never had the occasion to visit a track, and I'm not sure I'd want to give the industry my money anyway. So I content myself with anything I can get from TV, movies, or You Tube.
My other complaint, albeit a minor one, is about the unnecessary insertions of whining and barking sound effects in an apparent attempt to make the greyhound emote in a more dramatic fashion. Greyhounds are exceptionally quiet dogs that rarely bark or vocalize. Some do whine or make a "rooing" noise, but they rarely bark and certainly don't while running at 35 miles per hour! Their capacious lungs are working too hard for that. The sound engineer, if there was one, didn't even bother playing a variety of whines or barks; they were the same every time. I guess Hollywood thought dogs had to bark in order to be charming.
I'll close by saying again that the movie itself wasn't anything to scream over, but any dog or greyhound lover will find it worth a look. I'm even wishing I could find a DVD of it somewhere so it won't have to sit on my DVR forever.
While I have to give props to the movie for the three or four lovely sequences of greyhounds running at top speed, my main problem is there aren't more. C'mon, these creatures are gorgeous runners! The human story is vapid enough, so we need some great action shots of the greys in motion to take up the slack. Decent movies about race horses always have scene after scene of the horses at full gallop, after all.
I did enjoy the scenes at the race track. I've never had the occasion to visit a track, and I'm not sure I'd want to give the industry my money anyway. So I content myself with anything I can get from TV, movies, or You Tube.
My other complaint, albeit a minor one, is about the unnecessary insertions of whining and barking sound effects in an apparent attempt to make the greyhound emote in a more dramatic fashion. Greyhounds are exceptionally quiet dogs that rarely bark or vocalize. Some do whine or make a "rooing" noise, but they rarely bark and certainly don't while running at 35 miles per hour! Their capacious lungs are working too hard for that. The sound engineer, if there was one, didn't even bother playing a variety of whines or barks; they were the same every time. I guess Hollywood thought dogs had to bark in order to be charming.
I'll close by saying again that the movie itself wasn't anything to scream over, but any dog or greyhound lover will find it worth a look. I'm even wishing I could find a DVD of it somewhere so it won't have to sit on my DVR forever.