Before we start, we need to address one key issue about this film: the historic Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier but Westle, who stars in the titular role, is a West Highland White Terrier. The Skye Terrier Club spoke to the press about this when the film was in production, That then gets complicated when in 2022, the president of the Canadian Dandie Dinmont Terrier Club claimed it for their preferred breed. Which is to say that some people take these things almost as seriously as this film took its subject matter, and that after am hour of research into this I can conclude that all the breeds mentioned are adorable.

The film starts where most others would end, with Bobby (Westle) squaring off against a bull (uncredited) who’s about to shank Constable Gray (Thomas Lockyer) in the middle of the market. Bobby manages to talk/woof the bull down and establishes his star credentials for all to see and that this film has zero chill in an age-appropriate manner. It then cuts to Minster Lee (Greg Wise) giving a sermon about how Mr Smithie (Sean Pertwee) needs to do something about the poor, because this is a revolutionary socialist text as well as a canine based action adventure. It’s also got a mystic talking wind from the countryside, because, quite frankly, why not?

Lots of this

Gray dies, as that’s the thing you do when you’re mid-thirties and it’s mid 1800’s Edinburgh, so Bobby moves onto the grave that James Cosmo just dug, because the casting in this film is ridiculous. Ewan (Oliver Golding) is the young lad who comes out of his shell because of Bobby is adorable, Mr Johnson (Ronald Pickup) tries to get Bobby killed because he’s a total dick, Maureen Gray (Gina McKee) tries to keep everything sensible whilst having to prostitute herself to Mr Smithie, and Coconut Tam (Ardal O’Hanion) sells black-market coconuts because that was apparently a thing at the time. Christopher Lee also turns up, but by that point it’s not that surprising.

It’s also all shot quite magnificently, way more than it needed to be.

It’s a surprisingly brisk 103 minutes, with no slack and constant mild-peril. Importantly, there is lots of Bobby running around, including a nail-biting fight with a salmon, and a surprising amount of social commentary about how awful it is to live in a slum engineered by an uncaring ruling class. No characters overstay their welcome, no plot line gets in the way of another, and it has an engaging but not overwhelming tempo throughout.

This scene is brutally wrong in an utterly PG way

Obviously. this aimed at the younger viewer, but it’s the kind of family-film that anyone of any age can enjoy. Along with the aforementioned call to remove the established order and the factory owner being an overt-but-coded sexual predator, there are real emotions, actual dangers, random and violent death, and the determination to take things very seriously without bashing into camp or contrivance. There is a proper story being told, with complex and nuanced characters being played with generosity and care.

Actual picture of the Discord after we finished watching this film.

In short, this is a wholesome 13/10 film that I would encourage anyone to watch as, if you are willing to put yourself in an uncynical zone, it’s an absolute cracker of a work. There may well be some historical inaccuracies to contend with, and questions about the class-consciousness of a policeman proposing the radical redistribution of wealth whilst also enforcing the rules that support those inequities, but there is also a lovely dog running around and being bold in that charming way terriers (whatever their breed) do.