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The Cave of the Yellow Dog Movie Review

The Cave of the Yellow Dog is a 2005 Mongolian family drama film directed by Byambasuren Davaa. It’s a slight, but highly enjoyable and endearing flick.

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“Everyone dies,

but no one is ever truly dead“

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The little Nansal finds a baby dog in the Mongolian veld, who becomes her best friend against all rejections of her parents. Needless to say, the movie is rather uneventful and slow. The runtime of 93 minutes was achieved thanks to some evident padding in the second act. You see, the girl encountered and old woman that told her a story about a dog. It’s a moral story and this entire section was typical for children’s flicks, but still it felt like filler.

There is a lot of charm to be found in this very simplistic tale of a girl and her dog. For one, the look that we get at the Mongolian veld and way of life was strikingly detailed, pleasantly reminding me of Japanese slice-of-life movies. The entire yurt that is depicted here was so cozy and charming and seeing the family’s daily activities was quite fascinating.

So the documentarian approach really worked, leading to the film being less effective as a drama feature. It should have been a documentary given that the actors are all inexperienced and apparently this is a real family from this region. For little or no experience, all of them made a solid impact with the main child actress being undoubtedly the major scene-stealer.

I loved Nansal. She is is so lovable that The Cave of the Yellow Dog is transcended to greater heights solely because of her. The relationship that she develops with this dog was also quite endearing, though ultimately the movie did not focus as much on it as I would have liked.

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The cinematography is terrific, the production design mesmerizing and the utilization of its setting was fantastic. Again, it would have fared much better as a documentary. The happy ending was earned and great for kids while the beginning was also wonderful with the only weaker spot being that lagging second act.

The Cave of the Yellow Dog surely is overly simplistic in its narrative and uneventful nature. The second act lagged and felt like filler in that framing story. Still, this is a wonderful, cozy and very endearing family flick about a girl and her dog living in the Mongolian steppe. It’s a sweet slice-of-life tale that admittedly would have fared better as a pure documentary.

My Rating – 4