The horrors of combat are handed the family film treatment in 1984's "The Dog Who Stopped the War." A Canadian production, the picture looks to understand the strange ways of childhood as neighborhood kids gather to battle one another in a grand scheme of conflict, with snowballs replacing more violent weapons. Director Andre Melancon has the unenviable task of corralling a large group of child actors to help realize this study of playful aggression, and he manages to extract some impressive performances for the feature, which goes from comedic events to a sobering conclusion. "The Dog Who Stopped the War" miraculously holds together during its run time, with Melancon finding a way to preserve the material's messages on the end of innocence while maintaining a heightened reality with this community of reluctant combatants. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com