威利（弗朗基·穆尼兹 Frankie Muniz 饰）是家中的独生子，在那个年代，独生子是十分罕见的，威利因此而受到了同龄人的欺负和排挤，性格也变得愈加的孤僻。只有住在隔壁的丁克（卢克·威尔逊 Luke Wilson 饰）能让威利感到快乐和安全，他甚至向丁克请教成为棒球 投手的方法。可是没过多久，这个值得信赖的朋友就离开了威利走上了战场。为了安慰伤心的威利，母亲送给了他一只名叫斯齐普的小狗，斯齐普聪明又听话，在它的帮助下，威利逐渐的敞开了心门，也有了一群朋友 丁克回来了，却背负上了逃兵的罪名，威利邀请丁克来参加自己的橄榄球比赛，后者失约了。愤怒的威利将火气发泄到了斯齐普的身上，这直接导致了斯齐普的离家出走，而这时的威利才发现原来斯齐普对他来说是这样的重要，他决心要找到它，并且向它道歉。
Recollections slip in and out and around in time leaving plenty of room to weave and backtrack. and drift and glide.
In my life, I've found that memories of the spirit linger and sweeten long after memories of the brain have faded. My fondest memories are of my childhood days back in Yazoo, Mississippi.
I can still see the town now. Ten thousand souls, and nothing doing.Where the old men sat drowsily in straw-bottom chairs watching the big cars with out-of-state plates whip by.
Drivers hardly knowing and certainly not caring what place this was. There was a war going on then.And it touched our lives every day. War, President Roosevelt reminded us required everybody to make sacrifices. And boy, we did.
The cotton grew tall that year, the summer of 1942, but I sure didn't. Matter of fact, I stayed so small and puny..l was a target for the neighborhood bullies.
Fortunately, I lived next door to Dink Jenkins Yazoo's best athlete and favorite son.
————————————————
This was a time of large families.Four or five kids, sometimes more. So needless to say, ours was already unusual what with me being the only child.
My mother was lively and talkative. Certainly didn't fit the housewife mold.
And my daddy....Well, my daddy was stern and verbearing.He was a war veteran and had lost his leg in battle.And from most accounts, it changed him.
Sometimes it seemed that along with that leg he'd also lost a piece of his heart.
———————————————— I met him on the day I turned 9. He was just a trembling ball of fur. Scared and shy as I was.
That night, lying in bed before sleep l felt the beating of his heart against my body.And though I didn't know it then, he was to change my life forever.
My dog, Skip. My best and most steadfast friend.
Skip and I instantly became the best of friends.He didn't mind that I was scrawny and shy or that I liked books a whole lot more than football.
It was unconditional love on both our parts.
———————————————— You could talk to him as well as you could talk to many human beings. And much better than you could talk to some.
He'd sit down, look you straight in the eye and when he understood you, he'd turn his head sideways.
I watched Skip grow from the puppy who came to me from a farm.into a sleek and dexterous,affectionate dog.
Skip became a true member of the family.We played games together, did household chores.Even my father had to admit Skip was an exceptional dog.
———————————————— Because of Skip,I was able to crossthe threshold from childhood to boyhood from being on the outside to finding myself smack-dab in the middle.
He helped open my eyes to the wonders of life.And I got to know the delta like the palm of my hand.Every bend in the road, every slope, every field.It became as familiar to me as grass or sunlight.
But Skip opened my eyes to other things too.
———————————————— Skip grew to know Yazoo too. It was a good place to grow up for dog and boy.
Being friendly, he occasionally wandered around town by himself and anyone of any consequence knew who he was.
One of Skip's favorite spots was my dear old Aunt Maggie's. Her bridge games meant finger sandwiches for the taking. And the strange creature that was her pet was an endless source of one-sided conversation.
———————————————— Like all dogs, Skip was colorblind.
He made friends easily with people of all races and origins. The town was segregated back then, but as we know, dogs are a whole lot smarter than people.
————————————————
The seasons in our region of America seemed to have minds of their own.
The fields in winter looked so barren that it seemed nothing could ever grow there again like the dark sky would last the rest of the year. Then, magically, spring would come and catch us by surprise every time.
And there were so many surprises that year.
Who'd have thought that my daddy would ever let me play football?Who'd have dreamed that Rivers Applewhite the prettiest girl in town, would let me hold her hand?
———————————————— Old Skip had helped me through the struggles of boyhood.
But his job was far from done.
———————————————— I almost lost old Skip that day.
Even as he was sleeping on the operating table he was still teaching me.
That day l became a young man.
Why, in childhood and youth do we wish time to pass so quickly? We want to grow up so fast.
Yet as adults, we wish just the opposite.
If, as the authorities often declare a dog's life in relation to a human being'scan be calculated by seven human years to his one then Skip was an adult when I was still a boy.
Sometimes it seemed as if he possessed the wisdom of a creature as old as time.
———————————————— In remembering moments such as these. l retain the sad, sweet reflection of being an only child and having a loyal and loving dog.
For the struggles of my life of the dangers, toils and snares of my childhood hymns loyalty and love are the best things of al and surely the most lasting.
The day finally arrived for me to move away from home. I was awarded a scholarship to attend Oxford University in England. A long way from Yazoo, Mississippi and a long way from my family and friends.
The dog of your boyhood teaches you a great deal about friendship and love and death.
I was an only child.
He was an only dog.
———————————————— Old Skip was and feeble with arthritis but he never lost that old devilish look in his eye. He made my room his own.
Came across an old photo of him not long ago. His little face with the long snout sniffing at something in the air. His tail was straight out and pointing eyes were flashing in some momentary excitement.
He always loved to be rubbed on the back of his neck. And when I did it,he'd yawn, and he'd stretch reach out to me with his paws as if he was trying to embrace me.
I received a transatlantic call one day.
"Skip died"Daddy said.
He and my mama wrapped him in my baseball jacket.They buried him out under our elm tree, they said.
That wasn't totally true, for he really lay buried in my heart.
3.5星，凯文叔补片进程+1✔，在片中是绿叶配角，饰演小男主的爸爸。
整个故事从小男主的视觉讲述了他与小狗斯齐普相识相伴的温暖童年故事。中间夹带了战争、种族隔离等话题，但点到即止没有展开。如果可以深入挖掘一点，整部影片的水平会再上一个台阶。
例如影片中小狗遇到坏人没有展现搏斗场面？
领居大哥哥丁克就这样放过坏人？走私酒在那个年代罪名不小吧！后来邻居的变化没提及。
小男主与同龄黑人小朋友是否发展友谊？
小男主是否能理解爸爸话中的深意(加个成年后的旁述也好）？
爸爸与领居丁克的对话，战争带给人的创伤和反思……
如果这些问题得于补全，那就真算得上佳作了。
看了这个片子，
我就想我曾经养过的小狗嘟嘟了，，，
本片是教科书式的讲述人与动物友谊的影片。在温馨的定格画面和柔和的背景音乐中，主人公娓娓道来，回忆一只小狗如何给童年时孤单内向的自己赋予了成熟与自信；它在成为最忠实伙伴的同时，也给自己带来了亲情友情甚至懵懂爱情的际遇。狗既是主角，也是线索。它伴随着男孩的成长，也见证着在20世纪40年代美国南方小镇上一幕幕世间的冷暖、战争的创伤、种族的隔离、时代的变迁。本片的最大特色在于温情而不煽情，各种可能的升华也都点到为止；但缺点是情节相对平淡老套、有些线索无疾而终、人物形象偏单薄。所以，这注定是一部佳片，但算不上出色，适合一家老小带着宠物捧着爆米花笑中含泪的打发周末时光。
共有6只㹴犬扮演了片中的Skip，包括在《欢乐一家亲》中成名的明星狗Moose及其儿子Enzo。
小成本（七百万预算）制作的本片全球票房达到三千多万，令华纳兄弟喜不自胜。
Recollections slip in and out and around in time leaving plenty of room to weave and backtrack. and drift and glide.
In my life, I've found that memories of the spirit linger and sweeten long after memories of the brain have faded. My fondest memories are of my childhood days back in Yazoo, Mississippi.
I can still see the town now. Ten thousand souls, and nothing doing.Where the old men sat drowsily in straw-bottom chairs watching the big cars with out-of-state plates whip by.
Drivers hardly knowing and certainly not caring what place this was. There was a war going on then.And it touched our lives every day. War, President Roosevelt reminded us required everybody to make sacrifices. And boy, we did.
The cotton grew tall that year, the summer of 1942, but I sure didn't.
Matter of fact, I stayed so small and puny..l was a target for the neighborhood bullies.
Fortunately, I lived next door to Dink Jenkins Yazoo's best athlete
and favorite son.
————————————————
This was a time of large families.Four or five kids, sometimes more.
So needless to say, ours was already unusual what with me being the only child.
My mother was lively and talkative. Certainly didn't fit the housewife mold.
And my daddy....Well, my daddy was stern and verbearing.He was a war veteran and had lost his leg in battle.And from most accounts, it changed him.
Sometimes it seemed that along with that leg he'd also lost a piece of his heart.
————————————————
I met him on the day I turned 9. He was just a trembling ball of fur. Scared and shy as I was.
That night, lying in bed before sleep l felt the beating of his heart against my body.And though I didn't know it then, he was to change my life forever.
My dog, Skip. My best and most steadfast friend.
Skip and I instantly became the best of friends.He didn't mind that I was scrawny and shy or that I liked books a whole lot more than football.
It was unconditional love on both our parts.
————————————————
You could talk to him as well as you could talk to many human beings. And much better than you could talk to some.
He'd sit down, look you straight in the eye and when he understood you, he'd turn his head sideways.
I watched Skip grow from the puppy who came to me from a farm.into a sleek and dexterous,affectionate dog.
Skip became a true member of the family.We played games together, did household chores.Even my father had to admit Skip was an exceptional dog.
————————————————
Because of Skip,I was able to crossthe threshold from childhood to boyhood from being on the outside to finding myself smack-dab in the middle.
He helped open my eyes to the wonders of life.And I got to know the delta like the palm of my hand.Every bend in the road, every slope, every field.It became as familiar to me as grass or sunlight.
But Skip opened my eyes to other things too.
————————————————
Skip grew to know Yazoo too. It was a good place to grow up for dog and boy.
Being friendly, he occasionally wandered around town by himself and anyone of any consequence knew who he was.
One of Skip's favorite spots was my dear old Aunt Maggie's. Her bridge games meant finger sandwiches for the taking. And the strange creature that was her pet was an endless source of one-sided conversation.
————————————————
Like all dogs, Skip was colorblind.
He made friends easily with people of all races and origins. The town was segregated back then, but as we know, dogs are a whole lot smarter than people.
————————————————
The seasons in our region of America seemed to have minds of their own.
The fields in winter looked so barren that it seemed nothing could ever grow there again like the dark sky would last the rest of the year. Then, magically, spring would come and catch us by surprise every time.
And there were so many surprises that year.
Who'd have thought that my daddy would ever let me play football?Who'd have dreamed that Rivers Applewhite the prettiest girl in town, would let me hold her hand?
————————————————
Old Skip had helped me through the struggles of boyhood.
But his job was far from done.
————————————————
I almost lost old Skip that day.
Even as he was sleeping on the operating table he was still teaching me.
That day l became a young man.
Why, in childhood and youth do we wish time to pass so quickly?
We want to grow up so fast.
Yet as adults, we wish just the opposite.
If, as the authorities often declare a dog's life in relation to a human being'scan be calculated by seven human years to his one then Skip was an adult when I was still a boy.
Sometimes it seemed as if he possessed the wisdom of a creature as old as time.
————————————————
In remembering moments such as these. l retain the sad, sweet reflection of being an only child and having a loyal and loving dog.
For the struggles of my life of the dangers, toils and snares of my childhood hymns loyalty and love are the best things of al and surely the most lasting.
The day finally arrived for me to move away from home. I was awarded a scholarship to attend Oxford University in England. A long way from Yazoo, Mississippi and a long way from my family and friends.
The dog of your boyhood teaches you a great deal about friendship and love and death.
I was an only child.
He was an only dog.
————————————————
Old Skip was and feeble with arthritis but he never lost that old devilish look in his eye. He made my room his own.
Came across an old photo of him not long ago. His little face with the long snout sniffing at something in the air. His tail was straight out and pointing eyes were flashing in some momentary excitement.
He always loved to be rubbed on the back of his neck. And when I did it,he'd yawn, and he'd stretch reach out to me with his paws as if he was trying to embrace me.
I received a transatlantic call one day.
"Skip died"Daddy said.
He and my mama wrapped him in my baseball jacket.They buried him out under our elm tree, they said.
That wasn't totally true, for he really lay buried in my heart.
普通小镇上普通男孩和普通小狗的小故事，但是情感熟悉到惊心动魄。配乐和蒙太奇都满载着温情，避开种族歧视甚至战场硝烟的沉重着重美好，举重若轻地刻画人犬情谊甚至人生本体，完整又轻盈。