- Released: June 26, 2008
- Directed by: Steven de Jong
- Running time: 1 h 37 min
- Rating: 3/5
Synopsis
My Thoughts
This was one of these movies that came out during my childhood that I always wanted to see when it came out, but just never ended up doing so in full. We rarely visited the cinema back then, so I think one of the only movies I watched in theatres that year was Bolt. This movie was also briefly released as a miniseries on a Dutch TV network, with each episode being fifteen minutes or so of this movie. I caught some brief glimpses of episodes of the miniseries, but never the full thing. I think that the original format in which this piece of media was meant to be experienced was in film form, though. So I'm glad I finally got the DVD now.
Also, I'm aware that the Dutch title sounds kind of funny in English. The dog's name is Snuf in Dutch, literally meaning "sniff". It seems that the international release title of this movie is also Sniff the Dog in Wartime, which is funny because the Dutch book this is based on has also been translated into English before the movie, and has a completely different title (The Secret of the Swamp). Also, Snuf's name is actually Scout in the official English book translations. A name I honestly think is more fitting because even in Dutch Snuf is kind of a lame cliché not-so-cool-sounding name for a heroic dog.
Ah well. The actual film. I consider it...decent. Back when I first caught some of the episodes of the miniseries I always thought this was a super exciting film, and while I think it's just okay now it still has its exciting moments. And it does have good characters, though the acting isn't always exactly great.
Tom is one of those protagonists who isn't always likable but at the same time you kind of really get attached to. He's a bit of an asshole, he's a loner, he never listens to anyone, he overestimates himself, he wants to fight any Nazi he comes across regardless of the consequences and he puts both himself and others at risk by doing so. And the movie does have a good arc with him becoming more responsible while also not giving up on his dreams of thwarting the Nazi forces. He just does so in a less violent way, instead managing to get some intel (together with the Jewish girl, Mirjam) about a trap the Nazis are laying for the Canadian army and bringing this information to said army. And in the end all is good as the war is about to end, the Nazis are driven out of town and the family and friends, previously torn apart, are re-united in freedom.
The other characters aren't all that deep, but that doesn't mean they're unlikable. I liked Tom's family, though they weren't always sympathetic, especially his uncle Tjerk. I liked Haaksma and Miriam, too, though I feel like the latter became a major character a bit too late into the movie. She definitely has her moments, is pretty clever and does play a major part in the last third of the movie, but before she didn't really do much. She was established early enough, with Tom adopting Snuf from a litter on her farm and the two seeing each other sometimes, but she didn't really do anything and we didn't even really know her name or anything about her before it was suddenly revealed that she was actually part of a Jewish family in hiding which is being captured by the Nazis. She manages to escape with the help of Tom and Snuf and thereafter becomes a major player in the story, but it felt a bit too late to me. I feel like her being established a bit more prominently earlier on could've helped.
Our traitor in this movie is Dries, who appears as amicable towards everyone (including Tom) but is secretly in cahoots with the Nazis. He was set up as a twist antagonist pretty well by everyone liking him but Snuf being onto the fact that things are never quite right with him. There's also a scene early in the movie where Dries says he told the Nazis something in order to leave a family and their dog they're harassing alone, but we never outright hear him say it. I personally think it would've been cool if they did show what he said, but just didn't subtitle it or maybe kept is hushed and nearly unrecognizable. That way German speakers can pick up on another hint of him being untrustworthy when he thereafter tells Tom he said something different to the Nazis in order to get them to leave the family alone.
Now, you may notice that so far in this movie I have barely even touched upon the titular Snuf "Sniff" himself. That's because, despite him technically being one of the main characters and the cause of the title, he is just kind of a generic hero dog. Which doesn't have to be bad, but when I think of good dog media, usually the dog has some kind of arc to go through.
Animals don't have to talk in stories in order to have a personality, I mean just look at the works of Jack London and James Oliver Curwood for example. Those have mute canine protagonists that only use animal behavior, yet still they have personalities and arcs. Snuf isn't a bad canine protagonist, but he's just...generic. And he doesn't have much of a personality other than "heroic" and he doesn't have an arc at all. Tom is the one who gets all the character development and focus (and some other more minor characters). Snuf, despite being in the title and central on all posters, is just kind of an accessory to Tom most of the time. Which wouldn't even be that bad if he wasn't the main point of advertisement of the title and movie.
The dogs acting in the movie definitely do a good job and seem well-trained. But they just aren't given that much to work with and I think I'd have liked it if Snuf had more of an arc or at least a personality. "Generic hero dog" is a pretty tired and done trope in dog-focused movies so it'd be nice to see something to shake things up a little. Maybe make Snuf a bit of a loose un-trainable canon at first, much like Tom in personality. But as Tom matures over the story and Snuf gets better training (possibly helped by Haaksma) they both start growing alongside one another. That sounds like a more interesting concept to me rather than Snuf being a pretty perfect canine role model from the start.
Another thing that kind of annoyed me in the film was one scene where Dries is talking to a Nazi in German, and after every few sentences Miriam repeats exactly what they said in Dutch to Tom. That just felt really redundant (especially as a German speaker myself) so I feel like maybe subtitles would've been a better option. Or only relaying the really important information in a few words because I don't need to hear the entire conversation twice in both German and Dutch.
The rest of the movie is mostly fine. Sets are fine, characters outside of our leads are pretty one note (except that one surprisingly friendly Nazi) but fine, effects generally aren't used that much but when they are they look okay (though a bit cheap sometimes). I haven't watched many war movies about World War II, but I feel like this one is pretty generic as far as I can tell. Still, it does have some good character development particularly regarding Tom. Just wish the dog had more of a point and personality to him.
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