Far From Home: The Adventures Of Yellow Dog (1995) is a dramatic family film written and directed by Phillip Borsos. Borsos is an Australian filmmaker best known for his films The Grey Fox (1982) and One Magic Christmas (1985). Borsos’ films, including Far From Home: The Adventures Of Yellow Dog, can be characterized as slowly building character studies that use specific spaces and locations as a means of investigating his protagonists.
Far From Home: The Adventures Of Yellow Dog follows Angus (Jesse Bradford) and his dog Yellow as they fight for survival on Canada’s rural coast while his parents (Bruce Davison and Mimi Rogers) mobilize the coast guard. The first act focuses on how Angus and Yellow meet one another and form their bond whilst the second and third acts deal with their shipwreck and fight for survival while also exploring Angus’ relationship to his father.
As is the case with almost every film about a dog, Far From Home: The Adventures Of Yellow Dog is a tear jerker. Far From Home: The Adventures Of Yellow Dog at once recalls Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) while predicting films such as Air Bud (1997) and the more recent The Call Of The Wild (2020). The differences between these films and Far From Home: The Adventures Of Yellow Dog is that Yellow is not a computer generated creature or a special effect nor does he have a literal voice.
Far From Home: The Adventures Of Yellow Dog was never as big a hit as these aforementioned dog pictures probably because its portrayal of canine valor is more realistic. Because of this, Far From Home: The Adventures Of Yellow Dog is a film that can be gut wrenching for children in a way that Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey could never be. An entire generation that grew up with Borsos dog drama have been scarred by Yellow’s harrowing journey.
Of all the saccharine puppy flicks out there Far From Home: The Adventures Of Yellow Dog is probably my favorite. These films are highly affecting because they exploit humankind’s love for their canid friends and that’s a cheap shot no matter how you look at it. But Yellow looks like my late canine buddy and that’s what these films are really about. Films like Far From Home: The Adventures Of Yellow Dog are romantic fantasies we can share with one another about the dogs that shape our lives. There’s nothing cheap in that.
