BELLE AND SEBASTIAN (Belle et Sébastien)

A six-year-old boy and his dog look to foil a Nazi effort to capture French Resistance fighters.

A delightful family movie (although kids will need to be old enough to read subtitles). Dogs in movies are always a winner and, along with a cute boy who befriends the dog, the story is engaging with a good message. Some elements of the story don’t come off as quite authentic but it’s good to see something for the school holidays that isn’t animated or commercialised. BELLE AND SEBASTIAN has won a couple of awards, one of which is the Films4Families Youth Jury Award ’For its realistic characters, beautiful scenery and cinematography, and strong, touching theme of friendship through hard times.’ Well-deserved.

***1/2