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Good Boy!

2003, Movie, PG, 100 mins

Good Boy!: Review

GOOD BOY!
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This harmless family comedy, based on a story called "The Dogs From Outer Space," packs a lot of bark but not much bite. Twelve-year-old professional dog walker Owen Baker (Liam Aiken) yearns for a mutt to call his own. But his parents (Molly Shannon, Kevin Nealon) are less-than-thrilled by the idea and insist that he demonstrate responsibility by holding down his job for at least three months before they'll take him to the pound to adopt a pup. Three months to the day, a stray border terrier appears in the neighborhood, riles up Owen's charges and gets snagged by the dogcatcher. Sure enough, the lonely young lad is attracted to the canine stranger and takes him home, only to find that his new pet, whom he dubs Hubble (voiced by Matthew Broderick), doesn't want to be his friend. Owen follows Hubble out of the house late one evening and gets hit by a laser beam that lets him talk to the animals. To Owen's surprise, Hubble is actually Canid 3942, sent from the Dog Star Sirius to report on the status of a historic mission: Earth dogs were supposed to take over the world. And after rendezvousing with a pack of pampered neighborhood pets, Hubble is not impressed with their progress — they don't even remember that they're supposed to be doing something other than eating Snausages and going for walkies. Hubble tries desperately to whip them into shape before the arrival of the Greater Dane (voiced by Vanessa Redgrave), who's threatened to remove all dogs from Earth if they've proved incapable of fulfilling their destiny. Meanwhile, Owen tries to teach the extraterrestrial canine the importance of friendship between a boy and his dog. While Aiken couldn't be cuter or more-well suited for his earnest role, the script is utterly predictable and often falls into the saccharine trap. The pooches add a little life to this otherwise lackluster effort, especially when Hubble tries to act like a regular dog, making an overly dramatic attempt to play dead and failing dismally to fetch a ball. Actors Donald Faison and Brittany Murphy (respectively the voices of an oafish boxer and a skittish Italian greyhound) embrace their characters and supply many of the film's laughs, which are nevertheless too few and far between. leave a comment --Angel Cohn
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