first third very good, overall quite a good movie but plot elements jarring

Rating: 6/10 (25 July 2010)

*Executive summary* I'd recommend the movie to entertain children and younger teens only, really. As an adult, the movie is worth watching but I'd not buy it from other than the bargain bin or pay good money on PPV.
*Analysis* The first third of the movie is really excellent, a heartwarming story of childhood sweethearts who grow old together, the man becoming old and grumpy when wife dies and deciding to run away to follow their original dream.
It then coasts for a while until they arrive and discover the mad old explorer and his bizarre talking dogs. The plot then turns into an old fashioned chase, fight, run sequence, all too predictable.
I puzzled over the point of the dogs and thought back to very old adventure movies where the heroes go off to Africa or S. America and encounter some aggressive/hostile barbaric tribe. Political correctness means such movies aren't made any more, so I guess the screen-writer simply substituted "native" for "dog" and carried on.
The characterisation of the animals is mostly a bit weak, they're neither just animals nor fully-formed anthropomorphic creatures, the major villain is over the top, and the boy scout grows throughout the movie fulfilling the requirement of all these kinds of movies.