紅狗背包客

剧情

1979年的某一晚，货车司机汤玛士（卢克·福特）来到西澳大利亚州的丹皮尔。在进入小镇里的酒吧后，他看到一群人影，其中一个人握著一支枪。他以为自己目睹了一场谋杀案而冲进另一个房间，在那里他看到一个人正试着将一个看起来生了病的狗（Koko）放到地上。在汤玛士的面前，这群人无法替这只狗安乐死，因而回到了酒吧的吧台。

一名叫杰克．柯林斯的小镇名人告诉他说这只狗的名字叫做红狗（Red Dog）并开始叙述起它的传奇故事。初到丹皮尔，这只狗与许多哈默斯利钢铁厂的矿工结交成为朋友，这些人主要的工作是开采铁矿石。每一位矿工都向汤玛士诉说他们与红狗的故事，在这个阶段，红狗没有主人，它是属于工厂里每一个人的。

接着其中一个人说，有一个叫约翰．葛兰的美国人（乔许鲁卡斯饰）后来成为了红狗的主人。约翰是一个公车司机，负责开往哈默斯利钢铁厂的路线，后来他也跟工厂里的秘书萳茜（瑞秋泰勒饰）开始一段浪漫史。在丹皮尔生活两年后，他向萳茜求婚。在求婚那一晚，约翰嘱咐红狗，要它在萳茜的车屋回来之前都要待在家里。

隔天一早，约翰骑着机车从萳茜的车屋返途时，在路上发生了意外。约翰的意外打击了小镇中的每个人，当中也包括萳茜，而他们因而忘了红狗的存在。在葬礼的三天后，他们发现红狗仍然待在约翰要他待着的位子。三周后，红狗决定启程去寻找约翰，它以哈默斯利钢铁厂开始为第一个地点，接着是酒吧及其他约翰可能会去的地方，直到所有丹皮尔的地方都找过了。它接着开始横越包括从柏斯到达尔文的皮尔布拉地区（位于澳洲西北部）。甚至还有传言说红狗也搭上往日本的船，只为了找寻约翰。最后，它感到一阵悲哀，因此它决定回到丹皮尔。一到丹皮尔，它便来到萳茜住的车屋公园，萳茜见到它也喜心若狂。然而，车屋公园的管理员，禁止公园里有任何狗的存在，甚至向萳茜威胁要拿枪射红狗。萳茜和约翰在哈默斯利的朋友们开始在丹皮尔社区为红狗寻求支持，在有几名矿工参与的“文明的对谈”后，公园管理员和他的妻子离开了，但留了他们的猫，红猫（Red Cat）。一场红狗与红猫之间的大战随之而来，而最后，它们化解了存在于它们之间的差异性（狗与猫）而成为朋友。

时间回到现在，矿工乔可（洛汗尼可）将大家聚集在一起并问，为什么他们要一个“人”的雕像（威廉．丹皮尔）坐落在他们的小镇，只因为他是第一个发现这个小镇的人并评价这个地方“有很多苍蝇”呢？并且建议大家应该将雕像换成一个能代表小镇的人物–红狗。在之后的庆祝之后，在没有任何人注意到的情况下，红狗爬了起来并走出酒吧。发现到红狗离开后，小镇的每个人开始动身寻找它，最后发现它躺在约翰的坟前安息了。

一年后，汤玛士带了一只新的小狗，一只新的“红狗”。而小镇也为红狗的雕像揭幕，这个雕像至今仍杵立在这个小镇当中。

原著

这只横越西澳大利亚皮尔布拉地区的知名红狗（Red Dog）是澳洲牧羊犬与黄牛狗的混种狗。而红狗最常往返停留的城镇，丹皮尔，竖立着一座以它的传奇所刻立的雕像。

红狗被认为是在1971年出生在帕拉卜杜（Paraburdoo） ，听过红狗的人说它有过很多不同的名字，包括布雷（Bluey）、哈哈（Tally Ho）以及西北方之犬。 

1979年，在红狗过世后不久，澳洲作家萳茜．吉莱丝皮（Nancy Gillespie）在皮尔布拉地区的几位人士的帮助下，如富康达克特（Beverly Duckett）为红狗下了注语“皮尔布拉流浪者”，写下了有关红狗的传奇轶闻与诗歌。

红狗以及它的雕像吸引了许多人的注意，因而特别到丹皮尔一游，其中包括英国作家路易．德贝尔尼耶（Louis de Bernières），他因此写下了一本以红狗为灵感的书《红狗》 。此外，也有一间四轮驱动车俱乐部以红狗的事迹命为店名。

评语

截至2011年11月17日 the film made more than A$21 million at the Australian box office since opening in August 2011. 
Red Dog is the eighth-highest grossing Australian film of all time. 11 days after opening, Red Dog became the highest grossing Australian film of 2011.
Red Dog was officially released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download on 1 December 2011 in Australia.
The Red Dog DVD is the biggest-selling Australian DVD of all time. The DVD is also the third-highest selling DVD of all time in Australia behind Avatar (first) and Finding Nemo (second).
The red dog actor, Koko the Red, has died at the age of 7 from a heart condition (2012-12-18).
The film has not been as successful overseas as it was in Australia.  
The film opened at #25 in the United Kingdom, earning just £24,727 from 56 screens ( 24–26 February 2012) and opened at #5 at the New Zealand box office, earning NZ$124,447 from 72 screens.  The film has been a DVD only release in territories such as Germany and Argentina but has been acquired by independent distributor Arc Entertainment in a deal for all media in the United States, though there is "no word on a theatrical release date or strategy" in the announcement.
Critical response has also been more mixed overseas than in Australia.  
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw (U.K.) asked "Is it a children's story for adults? Or an adult's story for children?" and stated that the film "comes across like a well-meaning PG-certification of the real world."  The Hollywood Reporter's Megan Lehmann (U.S.A.) called the film "genial but unsophisticated fare, with plenty of hammy acting and broad humor" and that it "borders on naivety, and some of the more roughly drawn characters begin to grate early" though stated that the film "achieves a kind of existential purity. But then the two-legged actors butt in and the moment is lost.
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 86% of critics reviewed the film positively, with an average score of 7.5/10. 
Phillip French of The Guardian said that the film is "guaranteed to bring tears and laughter".
Garry Couzens of The Digital Fix said that, "I saw this film and War Horse within a day of each other, and felt that Red Dog achieved much of what Spielberg's film was aiming at, with much less sentimentality, anthropomorphism and self-importance, more laughs and with an hour's less running time."
Mark Adams of the Sunday Mirror gave Red Dog a three star rating and said, "this canine true story is an engaging, feel-good Australian family drama about a dog." Adams opined that it boasted a strong cast and felt that overall it was "clichéd but charming".
Craig Mathieson of SBS awarded the film three stars out of five, observing that the film "passes through various emotional states without ever being too taxing" and felt that Red Dog was "the most widely appealing Australian film since Bran Nue Dae".

音乐

2012年3月宣布了一项消息，那就是红犬历险记的故事可能会被制作成音乐舞台剧。而这出音乐舞台剧由澳洲剧院制作人约翰．弗斯特及《红犬历险记》制作人尼尔森．伍斯进行规划。