Where The Red Fern Grows

I saw this when I was in my 20s and it made me ugly cry. Watched it again at 54 and managed not to cry like that but still teared up. WONDERFUL movie.

Plays wonderful

Both these movies, in my opinion, are Excellent.

I had to replace my son's copy because he wore his other out. It has been his favorite movie since he was a toddler. He's 13 now and has also read the book, and he hates to read. He calls the movie Billy Coleman, the name of the lead character.Yes, its a sad movie but so many life lessons about hard work, faith in God, and love. Everyone should watch.

I have recently purchased a copy of this Film so I could sit down sometime and watch it with My Daughter. I have seen this Film when I was a Child and I always thought that it would be a Great Family Style of Movie. It's actually a decent Film and has a good story line behind it. It's even really Sad at Certain Points of the Film. Then I've also always been a Dog Person myself and have had a Dog of my own for as long as I can Remember. So I agree with the Father in this Film when He says that Every Boy should have a Dog.

So I taught the novel this year, and my students were really excited to see the movie adaptation. I had never seen any of the movies, so I went with this version because it's Disney and I knew there wouldn't be too much, if any, blood and gore. Well, we all liked the movie on it's own... but my students were pissed that it almost had nothing to do with the novel - pretty much every detail and scene is different, with very little remaining the same.But it's well-made for the time, and it gave students something to compare and contrast in way of experiences, so that's a plus.

So here's the deal: As anyone who's read the book and seen the original movie knows, the original wasn't very good. Oh, it was "barely passable" but never captured the book. It was one movie that was BEGGING to be remade. Well, it was. And, as incredible as it is to believe, the remake is actually worse.That was some feat they pulled off. I really don't understand how you could remake a movie like this and do it worse, but they managed to do so. The updated movie is widescreen and looks a bit more modern. That's about all it has going for it compared to the original.Here's my problems with it (in no particular order):- Pretty poor acting all the way around, but Billy's parents were the worst and neither the father or mother "feel" right for their part at all- No establishing of any "feeling" or "connection" between Billy and his dogs at all. Considering this is a big part of the book, and at least attempted to be shown a little in the original movie, this is incredible that they could tell this story without doing this.- No establishing of any "feeling" or "connection" between any of the characters.- General "wussification" as I call it of life in general back then and Billy and his family specifically. This movie lacks the "ruggedness" that even the original portrayed somewhat. It's almost impossible to believe that THIS Billy Coleman could actually be skinning any raccoons given his demeanor in this new version.- The hunting supposedly takes place at night, but most all the scenes are in daylight...- The whole big scene with the boy dying flies so fast you can't even remotely tell what happened or experience much any feelings one way or the other in regards to it...- Musical interludes with styles that really take away from the scene you're supposed to be "in"- General lack of any real engagement of feelings with the viewer. I really wasn't the slightest bit moved by this version, whereas even the original managed to move me some!- Constant feeling that this movie was made on a "shoestring budget" even smaller than the original movie's was (and again, I'm sure that's saying something!)- The whole red fern reference they throw in at the very beginning of the movie in an awkward way. At least in the original, it had a nice scene at the table where you were introduced to it.- I also downright didn't like the fact that they showed Billy "crossing his heart and hoping to die" that he would put the dogs out of his mind and a split second later they show him breaking that promise and running to go get his dogs. I don't remember it that way in the book (though it's been a while since I read the book) or the original movie (which I watched recently) - it really teaches kids that their word means very little (i.e. it's okay to lie...) For a family movie that tries to counter that message later on when it shows Billy KEEPING his word to his dogs, it just seemed really odd. He can keep his word to his dogs, but not his mama???Anyway, all the above to say that this remake was a big disappointment. If you're going to remake a movie like this because the original movie was outdated and not very good as compared to the book, shouldn't you at least TRY to make it better?? This fails on just near every front. The magic of the book is nowhere to be found in this remake. Not that was in abundance with the original movie either, but compared to this, the original movie looks like a masterpiece (even if it IS older looking!)Bottom line: The older original version of this movie, even with it's "old" look, does a better job of telling this story than this remake, and that's sad. Unfortunately this book STILL is in need of a movie studio to come along and "do it right".

The original movie is a great, classic family movie that my family will watch again. The video quality was as good as could be expected. The second movie was just okay. I'm glad we watched it but once is enough.

Ausgesprochen schöne und relativ buchnahe Verfilmung des hierzulande praktisch unbekannten amerikanischen Jugendbuchklassikers. Ganz ohne Kitsch, schlicht und doch berührend umgesetzt. Ein Disney-Film, wie man ihn in Europa gar nicht kennt. Nach dem Anschauen hatte ich den Wunsch, das Buch noch einmal zu lesen. Sehr empfehlenswert, besonders wenn man Disney mal ganz anders kennenlernen will.

Love this movie, and my hubby, also. Made an excellent Christmas gift, thanks to this seller (almost didn't make it in time).

arrived in good coondition

Really enjoyed watching this movie very well-made, Nice to have family movies without using the Lords name in vain or foul language !

Thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Many lessons for young people today.Recommend.