Karate Dog

The actors doing the voices for the dogs--especially Chevy Chase--seem to be the most talented here. Also Nicollette Sheridan as a white cat who provides valuable help getting things done. And Lori Petty is quite good as Fowler's version of Siri.

The dogs, and the cat, are also talented musicians. Or appear to be.

The animals can't be that talented, but CGI helps. It's realistic only in the sense that if dogs could move like this, they would look this way.

The movie's title is misleading in that karate is rarely used, but it is used. Cho Cho and Cage also breakdance. You KNOW that's not Jon Voight doing most of it.

And what about Jon Voight? Isn't he a respected actor? What is he doing here? He's not that good, although you could blame the drugs. Still, it is possible for an actor to show talent as someone going senile, even comically. I'm just not sure that's what's happening here.

Jaime Pressly hadn't won any of her Emmys yet, but she does show promise here. Ashley is sweet and intelligent, and of course beautiful.

Fowler is interested in Ashley romantically. This leads to a hilarious Cyrano de Bergerac scene in a restaurant.

It's a kid's fantasy, though a little on the violent side for young kids. But I can't see this appealing to that many adults.

Still, it made me relatively happy.

This movie is a great family film. Looking for something clean, fun and entertaining for the whole family, this movie will serve the purpose. It is by no means a riveting drama or a hilarious comedy. However, it will be fun for the kids and mildly entertaining for adults. Just by the tittle you should get the idea that the movie is not a serious one. The dog in this movie who talks and does karate is bent on helping a cop find the killer of his previous owner. The cop gets himself into all kinds of trouble as he struggles to produce evidence. Of course a minor plot is his relationship with a female cop who he infatuated with. The dog of course tries to help him with this as well. I guess you will have to watch to see how everything turns out.

Sure, when I sat down to watch the 2005 movie "The Karate Dog" here in 2025, it as my first time ever to watch it. And I have to admit that I didn't exactly harbor the biggest of expectations to the movie. But I still opted to give the movie a fair chance, as it was a movie that I hadn't already seen.

The storyline in the movie actually proved to be entertaining. Sure, it is silly and for a family audience, but it actually proved to be a nice enough story and entertaining for the campy story that it was. As such, then writers Gregory Poppen and Steven Paul actually accomplished putting together a wholesome script for director Bob Clark to bring to the screen.

"The Karate Dog" does have some familiar faces and voices on the cast list, with the likes of Jon Voight, Simon Rex, Jaime Pressly, Pat Morita, Thomas Kretschmann, Ron Lester, Nicollette Sheridan, Garry Chalk and the voice of Chevy Chase. The acting performances in the movie were good.

This movie is actually a wholesome movie to sit down if you're looking for a family movie that has both action, comedy and some crime elements to it. It is a movie that is suitable for a younger audience.

My rating of director Bob Clark's 2005 movie "The Karate Dog" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Not even worth watching for free...that is about the best way to put it after watching this mess on TV for free. I know Simon Rex is NOT an actor...so why was he cast as a lead in anything? We are suppose to believe he is a detective? But the plot gets even BETTER!! He becomes the owner of a dog who was a witness to a murder...and that dog can TALK!!! OMG...it gets even crazier! The dog lets tt he cop in on the fact that ALL animals can talk..in their own language, of course..but us humans just can't hear it. The detective decides to help this dog solve his masters' murder..and goes bumbling around doing various stupid things in an attempt add some humor to the mix. He meets a patrol cop who has plans to be detective some day too..and of course she jumps right in to help him out. Jamie Priestly is the eye candy for this film...and that is about all she is good for here I am not sure if she is really a talented actress at all. Seeing an accomplished actor like Jon Voight lower his standards to do this was almost a sad thing. He was suppose to be some amazing karate master? His moves were stiff and anything but realistic. Even his attempts at being tough was lame. Taking a concept that has been done before...a talking dog in a movie..was fine..but doing it on what must have been a low budget was not a good plan. Even the actors playing the children of Jon Voights' character were bad choices..they looked too old to be believable. Someone who was as skilled in martial arts as he was would have also taught his children the skills too at some point...in reality anyway. Not much was realistic or believable here...and I think even kids would become bored after a while. Seeing dogs dancing, playing music and spinning records was just way too much. I felt sorry for the real dogs in this and I hope they were paid well in top quality kibble...but I doubt the director had that kind of money to spare...obviously he had to know it would not make him any cash as a completed film either. Low budget stuff can be fun....but this one was more of a mess than anything.

SFPD Computer Expert Peter Flower (Simon Rex) investigates the murder of an man (The late Pat Morita), what seems to be a murder/robbery case. But Peter discover that the man, who recently murder has an dog named Cho Cho (Voiced by Chevy Chase). Which Cho Cho could actually talk to Humans and he's the only witness to the crime. Cho Cho feels that his master was up to something and Peter tries to help Cho Cho to solve it. So Cho Cho could avenged his master's murderer. But Cho Cho and Peter finds themselves an strange case that involves Dogs on the race track and an millionaire (Jon Voight), who thinks who found the fountain of young by using Drugs and Dog DNA!

Directed by the late Bob Clark (Black Christmas, A Christmas Story, Porky's) made an silly comedy that aimed at Kids. Although the low-budget of the film is hurt by most of the CGI effects on the film. An bigger budgeted was certainly needed in this film as well. But it's Chase as the voice of "Cho Cho" makes it bearable. Chase certainly gives most of the laughs in this one. Rex is likable enough in the movie and he has an hilarious sequence with Jaime Pressly in the restaurant scene. Only Voight seems to be embarrassed with his film and he gets goofier by the minute with his bizarre performance. Which Voight must paid well to be in this movie and he got to work with Clark again on the "Baby Geniuses 2"!

The Canadian DVD has an fine Pan & Scan (1.33:1) transfer and an decent Dolby 2.0 Surround Sound. The movie works best during the first half and This is certainly not the best work of Clark's or his worst. But it's decent enough and it is certainly better than "Baby Geniuses". Voight reunited with his co-star Ron Lester from "Varsity Blues" Voight even executive produced this oddball movie. (** ½/*****).