"Son of Lassie" is a sequel to "Lassie Come Home", the first Lassie movie. The same characters return but time has past and the two leading children in the first movie (Elizabeth Taylor and Roddy McDowell) are recast with adult actors (June Lockhart and Peter Lawford).
As I mentioned, time has passed and it is now during WWII. Lassie is older and spends her time chilling at home. Her/his son, Laddie (played by Pal...who is the dog who played Lassie in the films) is young and adores his owner, Joe (Lawford). However, when they try to make him a war dog, he's a total washout in camp. In fact, for much of the film he can't seem to do anything right.
Later, when Joe is in the Royal Air Force, Laddie does what his mother/father did in the first film....he goes on a cross country trek to find Joe. Amazingly, he does and the dog spends some time at the air base where Joe is stationed. Instead of going back home, however, Laddie stows away in Joe's plane...and they end up getting shot down over Norway. Most of the film consists of Laddie and Joe trying to find their way home.
Much of the time Laddie is in Norway, he's looking for Joe because they became separated. Again and again, Laddie alerts the Nazis and helps them catch Joe! So even though later Laddie proves himself, it's only after this dog nearly gets Joe killed!! Not exactly a great dog!
So is this entertaining? Yes. Even though I think the story could have been a lot better (making Pal not so stupid would have been a good start), it is enjoyable.
