Little Q Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Little Q Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 12, 2021

Mention the name "James Garfield" to any random group of people, and chances are most everyone will know there was a United States president by that name, even if no one is able to correctly identify his ordinal position (20th) or anything he might have accomplished other than expiring just a few months into his tenure after an assassin's bullet cut him down. If there were any Baby Boomers in that random group of people, however, there might be someone aware of another James Garfield, especially if that Boomer had once had a subscription to the Weekly Reader Book Club and/or Scholastic Book Services, since there was a pretty ubiquitous title in the late fifties and sixties called Follow My Leader by James Garfield (kind of hilariously, James B. Garfield, as opposed to the presidential James A. Garfield) that was almost required reading for kids back in the day. Follow My Leader charted the course of a young boy who was blinded by a firecracker (something that put scores of kids off of July 4th celebrations for years) and who had to then navigate his new sightless world, learning to use a cane, read Braille, and, ultimately, bond with a seeing eye dog. Little Q traffics in somewhat of the same general plot setup, albeit in China this time and with an adult male as the focal blind individual, though the film really wants to go for the gusto in the "heartstring tugging" department not just with regard to a churlish, angry blind guy learning to love his guide dog, but also a linked subplot dealing with the young girl who is tasked with mentoring the dog when it is a puppy, but who of course has to let the dog go when it's ready to assume its "official" duties.

Though this is a Hong Kong production, in doing background research in preparation for writing this review I discovered the perhaps surprising fact that Little Q is culled from a Japanese bestseller that has in fact been previously adapted at least once but possibly twice (from some kind of ambiguous information I was able to glean online) in its native land, including as Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog. The film certainly doesn't shy away from offering hyperbolically emotional moments as it details interactions between Little Q (played by a variety of really adorable dogs) and her first caretaker, Chan Zhiqiao (also played by more than one actress as the character ages, including Jessica Liu and Angela Yuen). Of course the little girl comes to adore what she thinks of as her pet, only to realize Little Q will be moving on. That provides the film with its first of several moments which are admittedly effective even if you can't help but think you're being played for a sap for falling for it all.

A trainer named Simon (Hum Lim) gets Little Q prepared to become the guide dog for angry, embittered and relatively "newly" blind former chef Lee Bo Ting (Simon Yam), who keeps insisting he doesn't need help even as he repeatedly stumbles both figuratively and literally. The bulk of the second half of the film details the predictable course of Little Q slowly but surely softening Lee's hard heart, and again audience waterworks are obviously being aimed for in any number of scenes that may not be subtle (to say the least), but which are going to resonate for any devoted dog lover.

Kind of interestingly, for a film that is more than obviously working overtime to extract lumps in the throat and tears in the eye from as many viewers as possible, Little Q probably provides its most visceral and even affecting moments in what might be described as its "procedural" element, wherein Little Q is taught how to be a guide dog. The underlying story here is supposedly based on fact, and it's this "factual" element in terms of the depictions of guide dog training where things really end up offering both enjoyment and maybe even a bit of education.

Little Q Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Little Q is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists both Red and Sony CineAlta cameras as having been utilized, with a 2K DI. My hunch is the variance in cameras may be chalked up to some "POV" shots from both Little Q's and Lee's vantage points, with the "dog eyed" scenes often looking like they were shot with a fisheye lens, and some of the early material documenting Lee's failing sight having parts of the frame kind of hazy and blanked out. Those stylistic quirks aside, this is a really appealing looking presentation that offers secure detail levels, and with fine detail on things like Little Q's fur rendered with considerable precision. The palette is natural looking for the most part, though there are occasional moments (as seen in screenshot 11) that are either graded or lit kind of moodily. The old style Well Go USA masthead is in attendance with its traditional banding, but I didn't notice any other compression issues.

Little Q Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Little Q features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in the original Cantonese, which may admittedly not offer a ton of "wow" factor in terms of impressive immersive capabilities, but which does establish a nice, spacious accounting of things for the most part. The pitter patter of little puppy feet can traverse the soundstage, and later in the film the kind of large training facility provides more hall ambience that is noticeable. There is a pretty sappy score from Lowell Lo that I would equate to the emotional version of "Mickey Mousing" in terms of letting the audience and/or listener know exactly how emotionally worked up they should be at any given moment. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free presentation. Optional English and Chinese (as they're listed in the Setup Menu) subtitles are available.

Little Q Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:23)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Little Q Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If the cover of this release instantly melts your heart, chances are you'll find more than enough to enjoy in Little Q. The story here is pretty rote, but the dog training sequences are quite interesting. Technical merits are solid for those who are considering a purchase.