Lassie (2006)

After watching a movie with your children or students, we encourage parents and teachers to look for education opportunities to teach with movies. Here are a few discussion topics that can help with lesson plans or teaching in the home.

In two different scenes, a young boy is shown being hit on the wrists with his teacher’s ruler and in another it is implied—but not directly seen—that a cruel handler is whipping Lassie with a belt. Why do you think the director made this decision to depict the boy’s abuse, but not the dog’s? Are we more tolerant of violence against humans than animals? If so, why?

You may be interested in knowing that every “Lassie” dog seen in the movies or the television series, is a direct descendent from the original Lassie, whose name was actually Pal. In this film, the main dog is played by a ninth generation Lassie.