SENSITIVE LEAD PERFORMANCE SAVES THIS `SHILOH'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

It's strange that a kids' movie ostensibly about a beagle would bring to mind a stone-cold killer, but the one constant in the trilogy of ``Shiloh'' films made from prolific children's author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's books has been the solid presence of Scott Wilson, who played one of the convicted Clutter murderers (along with Robert Blake) in Richard Brooks' 1967 classic ``In Cold Blood.''

The ``Shiloh'' movies have been made over a 10-year span, which means that different actors have played the kids and even the parents. But Wilson appears in all three as Judd Travers, the quintessential mean old man. ``Saving Shiloh'' might have a dog's name in the title, but it's really Wilson's movie, a story about the possibility of a human heart to change, no matter how late in the game.

The film is pretty syrupy, the kind of heart-on-its-sleeve lesson story that will make for a nice family diversion on the Disney Channel (or some like-minded media outlet) someday. For its first hour, it plays like a Scooby-Doo detective story (given Shiloh's size, maybe Scrappy-Doo?) with young Marty (Jason Dolley) looking to solve the mystery of a vanished man.

Everyone in Marty's West Virginia town of Friendly believes that Judd murdered the guy. Marty, though, believes that Judd has changed and couldn't have done such a dastardly thing.

Given the amount of talk in Marty's classroom and dinner table about the Sixth Amendment, there's not much doubt about Judd's innocence, and the movie wraps up that plot thread in an hour.

``Little did we realize, our problems weren't over,'' Marty then says in a voice-over, which abruptly jerks the film into its ``Saving Shiloh'' segment, which, like an inordinate amount of kids' movies, involves peril and a waterfall.

``Saving Shiloh'' doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's hard to come down too hard on a movie that teaches kids ``if you open your heart, anything is possible.'' What ultimately elevates it above treacle is Wilson, finely conveying the loneliness of a character while still maintaining the required edge of menace - the same trick, more or less, he pulled off nearly 40 years ago with ``In Cold Blood.''

Glenn Whipp, [phone].

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

SAVING SHILOH - Two and one half stars

(PG: peril, mild thematic elements)

Starring: Scott Wilson, Jason Dolley.

Director: Sandy Tung.

Running time: 1 hr. 30 min.

Playing: The Mann Plant in Van Nuys; AMC Media Center 8 in Burbank; Pacific's Galleria 16 in Redondo Beach; AMC Covina 30; AMC Norwalk 20; AMC Ontario Mills 30.

In a nutshell: Syrupy dog movie has its heart in the right place as well as a great central performance from the lead human.