Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog: Critic Reviews

Its principal selling point - the supreme watchability of dogs, especially working dogs - is undeniably powerful.

When isn't it a good time to show a movie tracing the development of a kind, charismatic yellow Labrador retriever from frolicsome puppy to devoted seeing-eye companion to weary senior?

Yoichi Sai's movie may be a bit tough for young viewers, but it is gentle and illuminating.

What sets this film above so many movies about animals is that it's about a dog who is realistic in every aspect.

It's surprisingly unsentimental in its depiction of people with disabilities, and the scenes of guide-dog training are informative.

Puppy appeal nudges past some dramatic deficiencies -- if just by a nose.

It's possible to love one of these movies and hate the other...

Somewhere between an instructional film about guide dogs and a melodrama, the animal movie Quill, the Japanese hit from director Yoichi Sai, is mostly bizarre.

Charming subtitled drama shows healing power of dogs.

Quill is a drama that feels like a documentary . . . or vice versa. And that makes it kind of a strange animal.

The exquisite live-action Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog may be the family film of the year.

Director Yoichi Sai lays the sentimentality and humor on thick at times. Still, the movie is charming more often than not, and Sai's pseudo-documentary approach gives viewers a greater appreciation of service animals.

[The director] delivers a sentimental tale for dog lovers, grounded by the man-and-his-dog bond that has made the novels Where the Red Fern Grows and Old Yeller perennially popular.

Wonderful, emotionally wrenching charmer is an absolute must-see for dog-lovers of all ages.

Save for the tearful goodbye scenes, the only real drama in Quill is that Kobayashi is a little cranky at first and believe he's doing just fine with a cane.

It's a wonderful film, though, which is - oddly - only now getting a very limited release, eight years after its Japanese debut.

A heart-affecting Japanese film about a patient, skilled, and loving seeing-eye dog and his brief life of service.

The real star is Rafie, the golden pup that plays Quill; dogs can be taught to sit or lie down, but they can't fake the sort of connection he makes with the people around him.

A documentary-style drama portraying the training of a seeing-eye dog is sentimental and convincingly acted by both human beings and Labs

It's tough to argue with a movie that features close-ups of Labrador puppies. Still, the Japanese feature Quill is one of the strangest dog movies this viewer has ever encountered.

...this is the sort of movie kids will probably enjoy more than adults...