Hounddog

Dakota Fanning......Lewellen

Piper Laurie......Grannie

Robin Wright Penn......Ellen

David Morse......Daddy

Cody Hanford......Buddy

Afemo Omilami......Charles

Written/Directed By:

Deborah Kampmeier

Release Date:

September 19, 2008

Running Time:

102 mins.

I will preface this review by saying that I've always been a fan of Dakota Fanning. She's intelligent, has a good head on her shoulders, and can definitely act. I was skeptical about seeing this because of the rape scene she's involved in, but since it was one of the only movies in her filmography I haven't seen, I decided to watch it.

The story is about a 12 year old girl, Lewellen, who lives with her dad and grandma in the 1950's. Her father loves her, but is an alcoholic and can't provide for her, leaving her strict grandmother to take care of her. Lewellen idolizes Elvis Presley, having all of his recordings and singing his songs throughout the movie, especially Hounddog. Dakota Fanning, as proven in The Runaways, actually has a good voice. I was surprised.

Lewellen is not fond of his dad's girlfriend, Ellen, so she tries to avoid her, until one day she sees her in a car with another man and yells at her.

Lewellen's has two friends: Buddy, a boy her age and Charles, an elderly black man who acts like a mentor to Lewellen.

The rape scene. It was more tame than I thought it was going to be, Thank God, but I still found it disturbing. I'm actually not even going to talk anymore about it.

I can't really say much else without spoiling the movie, so I'll go onto the performances.

I'm gonna go as far as to say that this is Dakota Fanning's best performance in her "child" era. She is able to carry the film by herself while being one of the only child stars in the movie. She is able to portray such deep emotion with just her face, and the aftermath of the rape is truly heartbreaking. Robin Wright Penn is great as always, as is Piper Laurie. The rest of the cast is give or take, in my opinion.

That said, I still recommend this movie, mainly because of Fanning.

Source: Netflix Instant

Rating: Three and a Half Stars