Movie Reviews

You know, there are days when you picked up a movie to watch and it turned out to be a great movie? Yesterday was the day for me.

Khan Kluay 2

I took my kids to the cinema yesterday to watch Khan Kluay 2. That was a rare treat because I seldom watch movies at the cinema.

Khan Kluay 2 is a Thai animated film about a young elephant, who was often teased and looked down by other elephants because he was fatherless, who eventually became a war elephant for the King of Ayyuthaya.

I watched the first film, Khan Kluay, from a rented DVD from Speedy many moons ago. I found it by chance, didn’t think much of it because it was a Thai animated film, “Surely it cannot beat Finding Nemo or Ice Age..”, I thought.

But surprisingly, it was a good film. The animation was fantastic, the storyline was very touching and heartwarming. Forget that it was spoken in Thai (which makes it better actually, but it has subtitles), the message is clear: if you have the will, you can be anything you want to be.

So, when I read that Khan Kluay 2 is coming to our cinemas, I must watch it! Indeed, it was still as good. It didn’t disappoint me although this time, it was dubbed in Malay.

The animation is better, the war scene is more fantastic and Nadim, who hardly likes to watch these kind of films, came out of the cinema exclaiming, “It was a GOOD!”

You should watch it with your children. It’s a beautiful story about love between a mother and son, husband and wife, loyalty and bravery, and a strong devotion by a father to protect his family.

And you know elephants… they are adorable anyway you look at them. So you cannot go wrong with this movie!

Hashiko

When we got home from the cinema last night, it was still too early to sleep. So we put on this new DVD which I bought recently, titled “Hashiko”. I had no idea what it was about except it starred Richard Gere but it turned out to be another great movie.

Hashiko is a story about a dog, who was very loyal to his master. It’s based on a true story in Japan. Every day, Hashiko would walk to the train station with his master (Richard Gere) to send him off to work (he’s a university professor). And in the evening, he would wait for his master’s return at the same spot in front of the train station every day.

One day, the master died of a sudden heart attack in his class and never made it home on the evening train. But the dog continued to wait for him in front of the train station, day in day out for the next 10 years, until he died.

This is a great story and has been used by the Japanese in schools to teach children about loyalty towards family.

The train station where he waited for his master is the Shibuya train station, outside of which, a bronze statue of Hashiko has been erected at the same spot where he waited for his master those 10 long years.

A very touching movie indeed. Another must watch. But make sure you have a tissue box next to you...

Richard Gere and Hashiko in the film



The real Hashiko

Hashiko statue infront of Shibuya train station