The film focuses on the Turner family, who is currently living in Baltimore, Maryland. There is a 13-year-old boy named Matt, his little sister, Jennifer, Steve their widowed father, and Steve’s wife, Laura.

Jennifer is watching an old movie about a dog named Lassie on TV. But Matt dismisses her beliefs on the dog being real.

At some point, Steve announces to his family that they are moving to the country. Of course, Jennifer and Matt are not happy about that. But they do it anyway.

On their way, the Turners stop at a restaurant. Meanwhile, a guy is driving a collie and a bunch of sheep.

Later, however, the truck crashes. All the sheep and the dog leave it.

Jennifer gets excited when she sees the dog and recognizes it as the same physical appearance as Lassie. She automatically assumes Lassie is real.

Despite Steve’s attempt to tell the family to leave the dog alone, Laura convinces him to take it with them on the road. They also named the dog Lassie and adopt her as a family pet.

Right after the Turners settle into their new home, Matt tunes out, and listens to music on his headphones. Lassie barks for his attention. But he tells her to go away.

Then Lassie grabs the headphones from Matt and runs with them outside. Matt chases her to get them back.

Once he does, though, he decides to have a good relationship with Lassie. Even when a stranger riding a horse almost tries to shoot her with a gun, Matt stops him in order to protect her.

When the week starts, Matt and Jennifer begin school. Matt is introduced as a new student in his eighth grade class.

A girl named April shows a live goat to the classroom. That silently leaves a poor impression on Matt.

But suddenly, Lassie is outside the school building. So, Matt sneaks out to leave campus and follow her into the woods.

That night, Matt overhears Laura singing a lullaby to Jennifer. Tears fill his eyes as he remembers his mom and how much he misses her.

He runs out into the rain. And Lassie follows him without him, even knowing.

However, Matt encounters a wolf. He freezes as he is terrified.

Luckily, Lassie finds Matt and fights the wolf to protect him. The 2 then return home.

Sometime later, Matt finds his mom’s latest diary. He reads it and learns more about her.

The next day, while in a pond, matt meets 2 mean boys from his school. Their names are Jim and Josh Garland. And Josh happens to be dating April.

Despite that, though, April starts developing feelings for Matt. The 2 make their relationship official.

Meanwhile, there is Josh and Jim’s father, Sam, who happens to be the Turners’ neighbor. He will do everything he can to make them suffer.

Even worse, he not only kidnaps the Turners’ sheep – but also Lassie. Stakes continue to rise from there.

I was surprised with how fast-paced this movie was. And it is only around an hour and a half long.

I admired the family relationships between all the Turners. Matt would constantly get impatient and annoyed with Jennifer. Steve was generally likable, but strict. And Laura was particularly sweet and affectionate.

I absolutely appreciated that approach for her character. It’s a unique and satisfying twist from the cliched evil stepmother trope in fiction.

Regardless of that, though, I did find it a little strange that she sang Jennifer a lullaby. I know she was trying to be a loving, compassionate motherly figure. But Jennifer goes to the same school as Matt. So, I assume she’s in fifth or sixth grade.

Yet she tends to act younger. Her age is never revealed in the movie. And the actress who played her, Britney Boyd, has no birth year available online.

But looking at her overall physical appearance and hearing her voice, I assume the actress who portrayed Jennifer was 10 or 11 at most.

In addition, Lassie was a very lovable dog. Some of her actions even made me laugh, such as when she took Matt’s headphones with her mouth.

Unfortunately, despite the perks, this movie did bore me. I was a little bit engaged at times, though.

But I think the issue was that there was not enough conflict. So many scenes went a little too smoothly for the characters.

Overall, I thought Lassie was just okay. If there were more tension levels, I would have enjoyed it more.

I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.