10 Promises To My Dog

Genre : Animal | Romance
Plot : A story about the loyalty of a dog attached to its owner.

10 Promises To My Dog, 2008

The 10 Promises

#1 Listen to me patiently on what i have to say.

#2 Trust me, I’m always by your side.

#3 Play with me alot.

#4 Don’t forget, i have feelings too.

#5 Let’s never fight.

#6 If i don’t obey you, i have a good reason not to.

#7 You have school and friends but i only have you.

#8 Stay my best friend, we must get along no matter what.

#9 I will only live for about 10 years so make every moment count.

#10 Never forget our life together and please be there when my time comes.

I have never heard of this movie before until that day when my girlfriend and i went on a movie date in Midvalley and we saw this poster, showing a very cute Golden Retriever with its right paw colored in white. We almost wanted to watch that movie but because the lady at the counter told us it’s Japanese and we didn’t see any trailers, we decided not to take that chance and watched My Best Friend’s Girl instead but it wasn’t a bad choice at all. Not a bad choice in the sense that we both saved ourself from the embarrassment of crying =)

The story begins with a girl (Akari) who has always wanted a pet dog but because her dad was afraid of dogs, they never did adopted one until one fine day that her mother was diagnosed with a fatal disease, she decided to grant her daughter’s wish. She bought her a Golden Retriever puppy and named her “Socks” because of her distinct white patch on her right paw. Her mother made the daughter promised her 10 things if she wanted to keep the puppy and she agreed. After her mother passed away, everything was quite normal except that the house was in a mess but nonetheless, life was good. Her father got promoted and was subsequently transferred hence they had to move. Socks was left behind with Akari’s best friend, Hoshi until Akari’s dad can find a house in the new town.

For a good few months, Socks stayed with Hoshi. One day, Socks broke free and went back to Akari’s house but nobody was there and so she took the same train that Akari took when they left town. The train conductor contacted Akari’s dad asking them to collect Socks. Akari’s dad resigned and went back to their old home and he renovated the house making it into a clinic. 10 years gone by and Hoshi returned from Paris, famous and had his own personal concerto. They both met up and showed interests in each other. Hoshi invited Akari to go to Tokyo to see his recordings but she couldn’t because nobody will be at home looking after Socks, she felt confined and that Socks is a burden. She started to ignore, neglect and treat Socks badly.

Hoshi met with an accident leaving his motor functions impaired and Akari believed it was psychological. She left Socks with Hoshi for a few days and Hoshi recovered. Akari then brought Socks home only to realized that Socks is getting weaker. One evening, Hoshi send Akari a message congratulating her for their 10 years friendship, she remembered that Socks is already 10 years old and so she called back home asking her dad to put Socks on the line, as she yelled out Socks’ name, Socks shows no response. Akari promised Socks that she will be back soon to see her but she was too caught up with her work she didn’t showed up in the end.

Akari’s dad called her and told her that Socks’ condition is getting worser and she can no longer stand on her feet anymore, Akari did not go home until her superior asked her to. When she reached home she saw Socks lying down on the floor without any motion and Akari’s dad took out the book her mom made for her in relation to the 10 promises. As she flipped through each page with the promises on, she noticed that she didn’t kept majority of her promises. Socks’ dies as soon as she read the 10th promise.

It is a very touching movie as it shows how loyal a dog is towards her owner until the very last breathe and the fact that those are real characteristics of a dog somehow gave it much more impact, something like a movie made on the basis of “based on a true story”. This movie focus more on the viewpoint of the dog, it expresses beautifully and clearly a dog’s feelings be it sad, disappointed or happy. I don’t know what else i can say about this movie but it makes you realized how much that you have neglected your dog, if you have one and i know it did to me because i have 3 dogs. Sometimes it’s the small things that matters, what a dog wants is very simple, all they need is some form of recognition in your life. A small pat and hug when you came back home from work will make them very happy.

I teared watching this movie at different junctures and not only the part where Socks passed away but i got to admit i teared the most there. After watching this movie, i find it the very character of Akari reflects all human beings who owns a pet dog, when they were puppies you treat them as if they are the world to you and you made all sorts of promises of not leaving them but as they grew older and bigger, you start to find them as a nuisance and a burden, more like an obstacle preventing you from doing many things in life and to the extreme wanted to get rid of them but at the moment when they are about to lose them, everything starts to change. Many might not agree with me but try to imagine if you are the dog when you are watching this movie. It will make more sense.

I will definitely recommend to everyone to watch this movie but i won’t for the 2nd time because i couldn’t stand tearing again =( Many say it was a happy ending show because Akari got married with Hoshi but to me, it was a sad ending.

My rating : 4.5/5 (A MUST WATCH!)