For readers my age, the title Where the Red Fern Grows is quite likely to spark memories of a beloved children's book, one that both captivated us with its story of a boy and his dogs growing up in the Depression-era Ozarks and broke our hearts with its tear-jerking ending. Surprisingly, the book has had very little attention paid to it as a source for film: there's just one earlier treatment of the book (in 1974) apart from the 2003 rendition that's the subject of this review.

The film's protagonist is young Billy Coleman (Joseph Ashton) who lives with his parents and younger sisters on a hardscrabble farm in the Ozark mountains of Oklahoma. The one thing Billy really wants, but can't afford, is a dog... but not just any dog. What he wants is a pair of coonhounds so he can hunt raccoons in the forested hills around his home. Where the Red Fern Grows is the story of Billy's determined effort to earn enough money to buy his beloved pups, then to train "Old Dan" and "Little Ann" to hunt raccoons, and finally their adventures as the threesome learn together about friendship, facing challenges, and, ultimately, about dealing with death and loss.

The 2003 adaptation does a respectable job of bringing the essential qualities of Where the Red Fern Grows to the screen. Some areas are elided over, like the actual details of hunting and slaughtering raccoons (we see the live raccoon being chased by the hounds, and then we see its neat and tidy skin being put away... nothing in between); undoubtedly the filmmakers decided not to aim for quite that much realism about country life in that era. Apart from its (literally) rather sanitized feel in that area, though, Where the Red Fern Grows feels like it captures the place and time quite well, including the contrast between the country life and "big city" life.

Where the Red Fern Grows runs only about 84 minutes, which works in its favor for the most part; it's a good length for younger viewers, and there's really no sense of padding in between the various sections of the story. Still, I'd have wished for a little more time spent in some areas, most notably in the part of the story where Billy works to save up the money for his pups. In the book it's presented as a truly monumental undertaking; in the movie it loses a bit of its impact. (For younger viewers who may never have had to work in order to earn money for anything in their lives, though, it may still feel monumental.)

The film ends up being a solid choice as a "family" movie, in the positive sense of the word: it's certain to appeal to kids, particularly with its young protagonist, but parents will also enjoy (rather than merely tolerate) watching it at the same time.

The DVD

Video

Disney has done right by Where the Red Fern Grows by presenting the film in its original widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1; it's anamorphically enhanced. A pan and scan version is also included on the same disc, but at least the menu shows an image from each version so that viewers can see how there's more image shown in the widescreen version (which is the default as well).

As far as image quality goes, the film is a notch over average by virtue of its warm, natural-looking colors (and anamorphic enhancement). Some speckles appear in the print, particularly in the opening and closing scenes, but on the whole the image is reasonably free of flaws. There's a considerable amount of noise in the image, though, and edge enhancement is heavy in many scenes. Contrast is adequately handled but a bit on the heavy side. All in all, it's a reasonable transfer but decidedly middle-of-the-pack.

Audio

The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is fairly timid in its use of surround, but there are a few good uses of localized sound, and it provides a clean and clear listening experience overall.

Extras

Two short special features are included on the disc. "Lights! Camera! Animals!" is a seven-minute piece that takes a quite interesting look at how the animal stars of the film were chosen and trained. "The Roots of a Classic" (6 minutes) takes a quick look at the origins of the film in the original novel. Several trailers for other Disney films are also included.

Final thoughts

Where the Red Fern Grows is a solid choice for a family movie, doing a nice job of telling a coming-of-age story with a sorrowful ending, but without overdoing it on the sentimentality. It doesn't quite do justice to the original novel, but it's a nicely done film. Recommended.