MONGOLIA'S BEAUTY CAPTURED IN GENTLE `YELLOW DOG'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

There's an adorable kid, a cute dog named Zochor (translation: ``Spot''-- what else?), gorgeous photography and some organic ruminations on a vanishing way of life in ``The Cave of the Yellow Dog,'' Byambasuren Davaa's follow-up to her 2004 film, ``The Story of the Weeping Camel.''

In fact, Davaa follows the template of ``Weeping Camel'' so closely that you could be forgiven for looking at ``Yellow Dog'' as something of a sequel 7/8 with the usual diminishing returns. Davaa can beautifully capture a setting, but she hasn't managed to come up with much of a dramatic story this time around. Unless you're an absolute sucker for puppy dogs and precocious girls, you might find your attention wandering.

The Mongolia-born Davaa focuses again on the daily routines and cultural predicament of her native country's nomads, most of whom are leaving the grasslands and moving to cities. The real sheep-herding family featured in this docudrama still goes about life the old way, but change is in the air. Dad does drive a motorcycle, after all.

The central conflict comes when the oldest daughter, Nansal, finds a dog (yes, in a cave) and brings it home. The father wants the animal banished, believing it attacked some of his sheep, which is strange since this little stray seems more like a face-licker than a sheep-grabber. Will the daughter defy her father? Will Zochor meet a fate similar to his forerunner, Old Yeller?

Of course, given all the talk of reincarnation here, there's the possibility that Old Yeller is alive and well and living among us in human form. Those who believe that dogs are a more highly evolved form of life might dispute that (D-O-G spelled backward, after all, is ... ), but the family in ``Yellow Dog'' sees little difference, as they respect the land and every form of life that inhabits it.

Davaa has captured the beauty of that attitude as well as a way of life that will soon be gone.

Glenn Whipp, [phone].

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THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG - Two and one half stars

(Not rated: suitable for families)

Director: Byambasuren Davaa.

Running time: 1 hr. 34 min.

Playing: Laemmle's One Colorado in Pasadena; Landmark's NuWilshire in Santa Monica.

In a nutshell: Precocious girl must part ways with the dog she loves in this docudrama follow-up to ``The Story of the Weeping Camel.'' Beautiful setting, slight story. In Mongolian with English subtitles.