Frozen River

There’s only one dog in Frozen River, an American named Dino who is playing --get this -- a Canadian guard dog named Thunder. Yes, Dino got his name in the credits, and good thing too because he does a fine bit of cross-cultural work (I’m sorry my friend but I couldn’t quite tell if you were a German Shepherd or possibly a Malinois, or maybe you have a little Husky in your lineage?). Unfortunately the script doesn’t give Dino much to work with: the usual tough-guy barking but then as soon as his master says a word he immediately turns tail and goes away, and I have to say I don’t see his motivation there as being clear. If my master wants me to stop barking at someone I might -- might -- but I’m certainly not just going to walk away. Who knows what this interloper is going to do next? And perhaps they have treats! So I think the story could have done with a polish, at least the dog’s storyline (and yes, I’m available).

In any event this is a pretty good movie because it’s about some people who give other people rides. The odd thing is, they make the people they’re giving the rides to, ride in the trunk. I don’t know how it is for people but I’m pretty sure we dogs got that outlawed a while ago. Ride in the trunk? Who wants to do that? The best thing about a ride is when you stick your snout out the window and it's: "grassgrassdirtfoodgrassgrassanimalgrasspersondoggrass." It's enough to make your head spin and for me, there's only so much I can take before I just have to pull my head in and snort. Information overload. But for some reason the people in this movie people ride in the trunk. The only thing I can think is that it looks quite cold there (note title) and the trunk may be warmer. In which case, being short-furred myself, I guess I can understand. But I think they’re missing out.