New Lassie not a descendant of original Lassie

We're just glad to see Lassie return to the big screen after such a long absence, but some die-hard Lassie fans aren't so sure about the new movie version of Lassie. The original movie (starring Elizabeth Taylor) was made 62 years ago with an American dog named Pal. Since then, every Lassie movie has featured a direct descendant of the original Lassie, who was owned and trained by Rudd Weatherwax. Eight generations of his offspring have played Lassie in two TV series and around 10 movies.

But the makers of this year's Lassie, which was made in the UK, decided to use collies supplied by a UK firm. They claim this was due to the UK's strict anti-rabies laws: "A Lassie descendant was our first choice. There are only a few bloodline Lassies that are trained sufficiently to star in a major motion picture and, unfortunately, none of these dogs had the necessary paperwork - a pet passport - to travel and work internationally."

Some Lassie fans are up in arms. For example, one fan posted to an Internet chat room, "I don't think I will see the movie if a relative of the original Lassie isn't going to be in it. I think this is a horrible mistake."

Click here to visit Mirror.co.uk to read more about the Lassie controversy and to learn what happened when Animal Planet tried to use a non-descendant for their 1997 series.