Hearty Paws - A Touching Movie That Will Draw Tears from Dog Lovers

Thanks to the train fault during peak hours earlier this morning, i managed to complete watching an old 2006 Korean movie known as "Hearty Paws".

I was anticipating a light-hearted comedy with an animal theme and wasn't at all prepared to fight back my tears every now and then on the crowded train (i must have attracted quite a number of weird looks)!

In addition to the marvelous performance by Yoo Seung-Ho, the 13 year-old actor and Dolly, the loyal Labrador retriever, i must say i was most impressed with the acting skills of Kim Hyang-Gi, the very cute 6 year-old actress.

There's another reason why i am so drawn to Hyang-Gi; her haunting similarity to my niece Jovyn (her antics and especially her adorable cheeks)! 

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Very Brief Summary [includes spoilers]

A young pair of brother and sister were abandoned by their mom (status of dad was unknown; likely dead) and to please his sister for her birthday, the boy stole a Labrador puppy. Puppy grew up and although barely self sustaining, life was somewhat happy until the day when the sister drowned in a lake [tearjerker scene #1]. 

Boy blamed the dog and left alone for Pusan city to find his mom (effectively leaving the dog to fend for himself). Dog faithfully followed the boy via the railway tracks, found him yet was totally ignored. Boy found the mom but could not bring himself to tell her that her daughter has passed away. Furthermore, the mom was already planning to leave for the states. 

The boy left and was picked up by a syndicate that used children to make money. At this point, you could roughly guess that bad things happen and the dog, while trying to protect the boy, was badly injured and eventually passed away [tearjerker scene #2].

What i have written above could not reflect the touching story in its actuality and i would strongly recommend that you catch the movie on youtube (which i have faithfully appended above for your viewing pleasure)!