In Brief

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The New York Sun

THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG
Unrated, 90 minutes

Actors like to say that you should never appear onscreen with children or animals. Director Byambasuren Davaa solves this problem by populating “Cave of the Yellow Dog” with nothing but children and animals. A follow-up to her hugely successful flick, “Story of the Weeping Camel,” this modern day fable about Mongolian nomads is full of breathtaking scenery.

Nansaa is the cutest little girl you’ve ever seen. She’s been off at school but returns to her family’s yurt for the summer and adopts the cutest little stray puppy you’ve ever seen. She and the dog bond, her dad wants her to chuck the pup before they raise stakes and move for the winter, there’s a little bit of drama, and then there’s a happy ending. Shot in a matter-of-fact style, the best sequences are utterly absorbing instructional mini-movies teaching viewers exactly how to make goat cheese or pack up our yurts.

The press notes contain some mumbojumbo about modernization, but the portions of the film that deal with it are so ham-fisted that I’ve already blacked them out. If I recall correctly, at one point the dad buys the mom a new plastic ladle that turns out not to be as good as her traditional ladle —a message brought to you by the Mongolian Ladle Makers Association.

Ms. Davaa should bless the beasts and the children that appear in her movie because beyond their cuteness there’s no reason for it to exist. If that sounds like I’m damning this movie with faint praise, then you haven’t seen exactly how cute these kids and this dog are. The “Lassie” remake feels like cocaine cut with baby laxative compared to the pure, unadulterated, adorable animal and children goodness in “Cave of the Yellow Dog.”


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