Hachi - A Dog's Tale: Hachiko (2009)

A straight-to-video release in the US, this film was actually in the theaters in Japan. It is very loosely based on a true story of a Japanese professor in the 1930's (maybe 40's I forget), who's dog waited every day for him at the train station even after he died.

Entertainment Weekly made a big deal about this being one of Richard Gere's best performances in years. Boy o'boy that sure is setting the bar low. The film start with Gere getting home from the college in a train and walking home, since I live in Texas with a 45 minute commute I'm not sure how realistic walking to and from a train station and never using a car really is in the current setting that they make this film. He finds this abandoned puppy with no identification, after putting up signs to find the owner he eventually keeps him... which you can tell his wife isn't thrilled about. Joan Allen plays his wife, Jason Alexander plays the train attendant, and Sarah Roemer [Disturbia] plays his daughter.

The film is quite sad, definitely to a cheesy and sappy point. It is hard to not let a tear escape at least once. It is almost cruel that the rest of the family didn't give this dog any love, but the film is trying to make a point, and also following the amazing true story they are bending a bit. Anyways, it was able to sneak onto the modern top 250 and there are worse films.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1028532/

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