Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, calling it "a remarkably mature and complex story about a boy who loves a dog and cannot bear to see it mistreated" and that "it deals with real moral issues: with property, responsibility and honesty, and with whether there is a higher good that justifies breaking ordinary rules".
Roger Ebert awarded the film 3.5 stars out of 4, characterizing it as a "remarkably mature and complex narrative about a boy who loves a dog and cannot bear to see it treated poorly" and noting that "it tackles significant moral issues: concerning property rights, responsibility, honesty, and whether there is an overriding good that justifies bending ordinary rules".