Want personalized picks that fit your family?
Set preferences to see our top age-appropriate picks for your kids.
A Dog of Flanders
Common Sense says
- NR
- 1959
- 96 minutes
Parents say
Kids say
Searching for streaming and purchasing options ...
Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free.
Get it now on
Searching for streaming and purchasing options ...
Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free.
A lot or a little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this video shows many deeply affecting scenes involving a beaten dog, and the death of a grandfather. It also depicts the death of a dog-abuser by a windmill blade, which some younger children may not understand.
Stay up to date on new reviews.
User Reviews
- Parents say
- Kids say
Wonderful holiday film my entire family loved
There aren't any reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.
What's the story?
While struggling with poverty and becoming an artist, a poor orphaned Flemish boy named Nello (David Ladd) rescues and befriends a dog.
Is it any good?
A DOG OF FLANDERS is a fine, though unabashedly sentimental, story of triumph over adversity, but children expecting the dog to play a major role may be disappointed. This earlier version of the classic novel is slightly better than the more recent movie. Ladd, as the young hero of the movie, speaks his lines too carefully, but the rest of the cast, including Theodore Bikel, does a convincing job. It moves slowly, imparting lots of information about 19th-century Flanders and the training and work of an artist, but the material is always interesting and well integrated into the story.
An 11-year-old viewer wondered aloud about the title of A Dog of Flanders when so much of the movie is about Nello's determination to become a painter rather than his rescue of the dog. But she was entirely engrossed in the movie and cried -- hard -- when the grandfather died, leaving Nello and his dog alone and hungry. Although it is slow-paced, this is fine family fare, old-fashioned in its sentimentality and fairly educational.
Talk to your kids about ...
Families can talk about the tragedy here. Many popular films for kids have sad elements -- like Bambi or Finding Nemo. Why do you think that is? Do kids gain anything from this painful plotting?
Movie details
- In theaters: March 17, 1959
- On DVD or streaming: September 12, 1991
- Cast: David Ladd, Donald Crisp, Theodore Bikel
- Director: James B. Clark
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- Genre: Family and Kids
- Run time: 96 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
For kids who love animals
Our editors recommend
Top advice and articles
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.