Little Q (2019)

"Let love be your guide!"

I was in the mood for a heartwarming story and the synopsis for Little Q drew me in. That and a beautiful Labrador retriever on the poster was all I needed to watch this film. While it portrayed the value of the guide dog program, it also failed rather spectacularly as well.

Temperamental pastry chef and general all around jerk, Li Bao Ting, is losing his sight which makes him even crankier with everyone around him. At the same time, a family agrees to foster a lab puppy, Little Q, for a or the Hong Kong Seeing Eye Dog Organization. Despite the rules, the little girl largely attempts to undo Little Q’s training so that she will fail the stringent training and Chan Tsz Kiu/Chan Yu Qiao will be allowed to keep her. Q prevails and is paired with Li who wants nothing to do with the dog. When not sitting at home drinking he’s berating his apprentices at his pastry shop. He repeatedly tries to rid himself of the dog until he realizes Q’s value and attempts to get his life back on track.

So far, this general synopsis of the first part of the film plays out like many other redemption stories. The only problem is, Q would never have been given to Li in real life. There are far more people in need of guide dogs than there are guide dogs. Even if he had received one due to his family connections, the minute they discovered his mistreatment of the loyal pup, Q would have gone to a deserving person. For the first 49 minutes of this film, I have never hated a movie character more. Li’s 180 in outlook was enough to give him and me whiplash. There was no gradual buildup, just an unearned personality change. And in the final quarter another action happened that had me spitting nails I was so angry**.

I had a friend in college with a guide dog. Dennis was a beautiful black lab that was all business when my friend and I walked about campus as we shared several classes. But when he was off duty, I was able to pet him and give him treats and play with him. In the film there seemed to be a real concern that guide dogs lead a too serious life. When Dennis wasn’t working, he played with his golden retriever sibling and his human parents just like any other dog. The thought of someone treating one of these highly trained dogs so cavalierly was infuriating, even if it was just a film. Especially with a need greater than a supply of these loyal friends.

Yes, there was a nice little middle with happy, bonding moments with Q, but they were bookended by actions that were reprehensible. I appreciated that the film gave a shout out to the importance of guide dogs as it appeared to be a fairly recent program. Yet I was also appalled that Q was left with someone completely unqualified for receiving such a gift despite movie magic turning him into a loving caring person in a matter of minutes.

As a work of art, the writers worked hard to manipulate the viewer into feeling sorry for the little girl and eventually the owner. Due to the callousness and utter stupidity of the humans, my only concern was for the ever faithful yellow lab. If ever there was a film that showed we don’t deserve dogs, Little Q was it.

10 November 2025

**Spoiler comments below! **











When Li prepares to go to the US, he takes Q off the leash and throws the ball down a city sidewalk for Q to chase to distract her. What? He can’t see where he’s throwing putting Q at risk in an urban environment. Then Q chases his van down the road. The driver and Li’s sister see Q but do NOT stop the car and get Q out of harms way. Only when Q was physically blocked from following did she finally give up. Who would let a dog run down the middle of the street in a city?

Another problem was when Li decided to walk into traffic to commit suicide. He caused a multi-car accident which might have injured drivers and passengers as well as the financial cost. If he had succeeded, a driver would have been traumatized for causing a pedestrian’s death. Somehow, right afterwards he was able to smile-about everything. I’m guessing all those people in the cars weren’t smiling much.

I'm not sure what else they could do to try and gain sympathy for Q as they put her through numerous physical ailments. I love organic moments that create sympathy and even sorrow for characters both two-legged and four-legged alike, but the writers used a sledge hammer with little nuance to try and create emotions.

And the less said about the Dog Meat Festival the better.

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Story:
The story was new to me, as this was the first movie about a guide dog that I’d ever watched. Before I even started, I knew I’d end up crying, and it did not disappoint, lol. There were parts of the movie that I liked and parts that I didn’t.

Let’s start with what I didn’t like. I almost stopped watching after the scene where the dog was left outside in the rain. At that moment, I really wanted to smack the character's head. I also wondered if there were no other people around after they assigned the dog to him. In reality, there should be at least a week of supervision for both the dog and the human. Maybe because it was a movie and they had to fit everything into two hours, but there was no discussion about how to feed Little Q or when to let him out for pee or poop time. It was like the blind man was blindly taking care of his unwanted guide dog! That part felt very unrealistic since these are basic things a trainer must explain to the person taking care of the dog. This was a significant flaw in the portrayal of guide dog training and care.

Now, onto what I did like. I absolutely loved Little Q. He was such a good boy and his acting was spot on, lol! Every scene with Little Q was my favorite, except for the one where he was under a car on a rainy night looking up at his new owner’s window. That was so sad; I’m tearing up just thinking about it.

Acting/cast:
As I mentioned, Little Q's acting was spot on. He was simply great. The main character’s performance was also excellent. There were many times in the first part of the movie when I really wanted to smack him because his acting was so convincing. As they say, you know you’ve done a good job as a villain if the audience hates you for what you did, and I certainly did at first. But when he started to care for Little Q, I also started to like him. He was so relatable when it comes to dogs. He spoils Little Q just like I spoil my dogs.

The rest of the cast also did a good job, especially the little girl. I liked her; she loved Little Q.

Music:
The music was also good. It didn't particularly stand out, but it complemented the scenes well. It enhanced the emotions without being distracting, which is exactly what a good soundtrack should do.

Rewatch Value:
I don’t need to rewatch this movie because its story and some of its scenes will always stay with me. Having just lost a dog, I know that if I rewatch it in the next two or three years, I'll be an emotional wreck.

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