MOVIE REVIEW

Good Boy!  (2003)

Starring: Liam Aiken, Kevin Nealon, Molly Shannon
Director: John Robert Hoffman

Rating: PG

Studio: MGM

Release Date: 10.10.03

Review Posted: 10.10.03

Spoilers: Minor

By Sara M. Fetters

"Good Boy!" a Fetching Surprise

Somehow, the second half of the year turned into a pretty decent time for family movies. Usually the bane of an adult’s existence, movies engineered for the smaller set have taken a rather drastic downturn in recent years. Superficial and sloppily constructed, most go the “Daddy Day Care” route of least resistance, filling their running times with flatulence jokes and a lowest common denominator mentality that borders on insulting.

But starting with  “Holes” and then culminating this summer with the sublime trifecta of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Freaky Friday” and the magnificent “Finding Nemo,” Disney Studios has seemingly cornered the market on crafting high-quality family entertainment that remembers keeping parents entertained is almost near as important as making their children smile. Now Jim Henson’s production studio gets in on the act with the paw-y adventure “Good Boy.” What on the surface appears to be nothing more than a half-baked take on 2001’s “Cats & Dogs,” leave it to the home of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy to make a sweetly sensitive and intelligent motion picture that’s sure to delight kids of all ages. In fact, not since 2000’s “My Dog Skip” has a movie so delicately captured the bond between a boy and his dog. While this movie is nowhere near as excellent as that sure-to-be classic, it’s nothing to bark at in anger either, “Good Boy!” a robustly entertaining movie.

Based on the story “Dogs From Outer Space” by Zeke Richardson and working from a screenplay by the author and fledgling director John Robert Hoffman, “Good Boy!” surmises that all canine life on Earth is descended from a race of intergalactic doggies bent on bending the universe to their four-legged will. Sent to the third planet to investigate what’s been going on since colonization and assess the doggie takeover is a cute Border Terrier named Canid 3942 (voiced by Matthew Broderick). He’s here to decide if the dogs of Earth are really in control. If they’re not, he’ll authorize a full de-colonization of the planet, proving that all dogs don’t really go to heaven – it is just outer space they’re fond of. But before he can begin his assessment, the terrier is unceremoniously scooped up by the local dogcatcher and sent to the pound, any chance of escape looking perilously remote.

Enter Owen Baker (Liam Aiken, “Road to Perdition”). He’s been begging his folks to let him get a dog, and after weeks walking and taking care of the neighborhood’s canine community he’s more than proven his metal. Once at the pound, he unknowingly selects the strange and mischievous visitor from outer space. Re-naming him Hubble, Owen is quite perplexed by some of his new dog’s more peculiar tendencies, especially when he wakes up to find him sneaking out of the house more like a seasoned espionage agent than a mangy-eared mongrel.

Suddenly and much to Hubble’s mortification, a strange series of events gives Owen the power to understand and speak with dogs. Forced to rely upon the human in order to bring success to his mission, Hubble reveals to Owen why exactly he’s come to Earth and where it is exactly all dogs descend from At first, the thought of a planet ruled by dogs strikes the boy as more than a little insane. But after seeing Hubble’s spacecraft, all Owen can mutter with a slightly shocked shrug is, “works for me,” quickly moving on to help his new furry compatriot learn the ways of Earth and introduce him to the neighborhood’s other animals.

This is a sweet and undemanding movie told with a delicate hand. The special effects giving the animals the illusion of speaking is, even after so many other talking animal movies, quite astonishing in their believable simplicity. But Hoffman never overdoes it, allowing the friendship blossoming between Hubble and Owen to develop with realistic ease, assuming the youngsters in the audience can more than tolerate a movie that doesn’t feature a lot of heavy shrieking and moronic mayhem. There is a grand eloquence to the screenplay that elevates “Good Boy!” to something special and endearing, and much like “Holes” there is a literary intelligence to it all that’s sprightly refreshing.

The vocal work by all is quite good, Broderick bring just the right amount of trepidacious excitement to his inflections as he and Own start to embark on friendship. Brittany Murphy (Nelly, the Italian Greyhound), Donald Faison (Wilson, a Boxer) and Carl Reiner (Shep, a Bernese Mountain Dog) also make standout contributions, while a near unrecognizable Delta Burke steals the show as a pretentious Standard Poodle named Barbara Ann. Not lost in the shuffle of technical wonderment is young Aiken, turning in a wonderfully nuanced performance full of childish wonderment and growth. He more than holds his own amongst his canine costars, sharing a delicate chemistry with Broderick and the wee dog playing Hubble that’s sparklingly authentic. I also loved how each dog and owner had his or her own distinct style, a vivid visual connection that immediately linked one to the other.

Less successful are the other human actors. Both Molly Shannon and Kevin Nealon are given little to no screen time to make an impression, neither actor strong enough to elevate their one-dimensional parental figures into something even remotely memorable. Worse off are Hunter Elliott and Mikhael Speidel. The young duo are stuck playing two bullies more suited to a “Little Rascals” adventure than they are here, each time their presence onscreen grinding the feature to a unceremonious halt. Also, even at a brisk 87 minutes the movie feels too long, coming just this close to overstaying its welcome by the time the end credits start to make their crawl.

Still, this is a fine family feature almost guaranteed to please parents nearly as much as their kids. “Good Boy!” is a strong film, buoyed by steady direction and strong lead performances. In the end, when the movie started to bring a hint of tears to my eyes and a smile went across my face, there wasn’t much left to say. “Good Boy!” wants nothing more than to just make you feel good, and goodness knows it succeeds.

Works for me.

Rating: êêê  (out of 4)

TOP