Rating: 
Summary: Superb Sleeper
Review: I am very pleased and quite proud to include my own
heartfelt recommendation of this wonderful film here.
It is particularly gratifying to know there are so
many others who were similarly inspired by FLUKE to
give it such a well-deserved approval rating
with Amazon.com. The best audience is one which, in
spite of the opinion of "experts", recognizes excellence
all on its own. It makes the appreciation even deeper.
Here is a movie cult I am happy to be a member of
(though I do wish my friends, in their enthusiam,
had not given away so much of the story to those
of you who have not yet discovered it for yourselves yet!)
Excellent cinematography, sensitive score, nicely modulated
acting, judiciously paced for children and adults alike.
This is that rare "family" film that rewards everyone, and
can be viewed many times without inspiring boredom.
FLUKE earns its emotions honestly. I admire and respect
every animal - and person - involved in making this story work
as well as it does. It haunts the memory with a mixture of
feelings - most of all, that of great fondness for the
purity of its moral.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most touching movies I've ever seen...
Review: I first saw this movie about 3 years ago when my older sister brought over the video to my house after she saw it and told me that I had to watch it because we were such dog lovers -- my family that is. All I have to say is that this movie just about made me bawl so hard that I needed tons of tissues. It is just such a touching story about family. Added to this is the cute factor of the animals that acted in there and the comic relief. The actors also did a great job as well. Even IF you don't believe in reincarnation, don't write it off and overlook the rest of the story because of that. While it may not be for some young children or some older children and even some adults as well for we all have our own tastes, it is indeed a treasure for me, now 28 years old, as a movie that is sincere and one of the best movies I've ever seen and would be proud to have in my dvd collection and show to my future children.
Rating:
Summary: I Love and Adore This Movie
Review: I only wish they had put it out in widescreen. It really is an adults film and I don't even think young children should watch this overly morbid but wonderful film.
Rating:
Summary: Life, Death and a Ginger coloured puppy
Review: I recently watch this movie on Television, and I thought it was superb. The puppyhood of Fluke, particulary with Bella was espicially touching. I thought that the conclusion to the film summed it up very well, but I found his overall violent behavior sort of disturbing. My favourite scene was When Rumbo the dog returns as a squirrel and throws acorns at Fluke. In the end, great movie. Loved it! ^-^
Rating:
Summary: Not just a "Fluke"
Review: I remember this movie was out in theaters for what seemed to be a short time. The trailer made the movie look like it was simply a movie for children about a man who died and came back as a dog and found his way home. I wasn't really interested. One day I was watching TV and I caught the movie almost near the end - I was captivated. And I realized the movie was about way more than simply a lost puppy. This movie is something that you won't expect - it leaves you thinking one thing until the end. (Much like a Sixth Sense fashion). "Fluke" begins with a man named Tom. We only see glimpses of Tom and another man driving on the road, and suddenly he swerves out of the way of a truck and is killed. The next scene we see is an ADORABLE puppy - Tom was reborn as the puppy! The movie follows the puppy through the beginnings of life (and although some parts of the movie are a bit cheesey- the animal acting is magnificant.. especially Comet aka Fluke's performance.. near the end he fakes a limp.. and I was so impressed.. I think the animal actors did better than the actor that played Tom's son!) The puppy grows up and keeps having flashes of his life before, of his wedding as a man, his wife, his son. So Fluke, as he's called - decides to find his long lost family. He meets a lot of friends along the way - such as Rombo a lovable dog that teaches him the ropes. There are some sad parts in the movie, but once you see the end it all makes sense. Fluke (aka Tom) comes to realize once he finds his family that he didn't have time for so many things as a man - time to be with his family. And again, the ending is a bit of a surprise.. and it really made me think. I thought this movie was simply for kids, it isn't! I don't know if I did a fantastic job of explaining the movie without giving anything away - but as Tom/Fluke states in the beginning- for a moment put away everything you believe in and listen to his story.
Rating:
Summary: Not your average dog movie.
Review: I was shocked when I saw this movie; it was not what I expected. I thought I'd hate it, but I trusted Eric Stoltz's integrity with chosing projects so I watched it. The movie was remarkable and the script was very well done. Clever use of a dog to get the viewer to sympathize with the bad guy.
Rating: 
Summary: Fluke... more like Puke
Review: If not for Samual Jackson's riviting performance as a squirrel I would have given this movie one star. Normally I trust Libby Whittemore's integrity in choosing projects (That Darn Cat; Wife, Mother, Murderer) but here she was barking up the wrong tree. Bad man returns as bad dog to torture his inocent family and best friend nearly killing two of them. I also thought the shower scene was in bad taste. Definitily not for children.
Rating:
Summary: I'm touched by this film deeply....
Review: In the end of this movie when Fluke leaves his family lonely and his wife senses that she knows who the dog may be; my tears blow out!
Rating:
Summary: this movie is certainly a beautiful fluke!!!
Review: it really is unfortunate that this movie had so little publicity, because it is one of the few movies that truly moved me....and the ONLY other movie besides White Fang and the Little Mermaid that I have watched about a million times!! Oh, and I'm now a cynical college student...but I still love those three movies, so that tells you something about the depth and value of Fluke! It was actually a fluke that I even got to see this movie, which was about 9 years ago? My mom and I had bought tickets to go see "Gordy" (forgettable but pleasant pig movie) and we were early so we snuck in to watch a little bit of Fluke. I was so concerned about what would happen to FLUKE (it's the name of the dog) that after "Gordy" was over, my mom and I went back to see Fluke from start to beginning! Fluke is no masterpiece oscar-winning movie--in a way, this is exactly kind of movie that I expect to be obscure. And there ARE some major flaws in the movie--for instance its lack of believability. Still, there is SOMETHING about the movie that resonated deeply with me--no other movie has touched my heart like Fluke. I believe I cried more in this movie than in all other movies combined!! So, if you are looking for a family movie that is sad but heartwarming, then buy fluke!! It is apparent from the other reviews that this movie is a rare treasure.
Rating:
Summary: fluke, again
Review: just did some searching over the internet b/c i wondered why fluke was so little-known....turns out it received lots of scathing reviews either condemning it as too morbid and depressing for little kids OR mocking it as being a stupid, unbelievable movie for overly-sentimental dog lovers. While I don't think this film is too disturbing for older children (I was 10 when I watched it), I can understand why those people who enjoy "thinking," deep, or action movies (i.e. American Beauty, Memento, Matrix) may be bored to tears or find this movie too sentimental. Thus I do not recommend this movie for everyone. To help you if you're undecided, check out a review I felt was fair to the movie... (written by Richard Scheib) Fluke (1977) is the most atypical of James Herbert's novels. It's a fantasy about a dog that thinks he is a man, quite different to Herbert's usual run of horror novels, which revel in extreme gore-letting. And a story where the central characters are canines, not humans, it is certainly an unusual choice for a film property. There is the sense that the film has been packaged as a high concept film - sort of Ghost (1990) meets Benji (1974), or a straight version of Oh Heavenly Dog (1980). And such a choice may well have been born out by Fluke's commercial reception - it doing no business at all in theatres and being released straight onto video in most countries. Which is a shame as Fluke is quite a beautiful film and undeservous of such a poor reception. It evokes that same sense of fairy-tale caught between warmth and heartfelt tragedy that E.T.- The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and all the great Disney films do. Every shot is beautifully photographed. (Considering the difficulty of shooting with animals, the amount of effort required to get such exquisite shots must have been incredibly effort intensive). Director Carlo Carlei invests real warmth in the scenes between Fluke and Rumbo and Fluke frolicking with the young Max Pomeranc. The opening scenes with Fluke being born, the capture of he and his family by the dog pound, the escape from the pound, all shot down at floor level, are conducted completely wordlessly and do a wonderful job in showing things from a dog's point-of-view. And of course the ending is genuinely touching. The only scene that does not work is the breakout from the laboratory which involves animals conducting very un-animal-like behaviour - Rumbo willfully smashing through a window, having the intelligence to hit a release button, and the rest of the laboratory animals conducting such collective behaviour as fleeing toward the window and carrying other animals out with them. Herbert's book has been changed somewhat - the location moved from the UK to the US, the names of the characters changed, and the hero's daughter in the book becoming the hero's son in the film. Nevertheless the film works quite beautifully. Copyright Richard Scheib 1996
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