Air Buddies

I saw this movie yesterday with my sister and honestly i gave this movie 8 just for the puppies (they were adorable). The plot of the story is nice but it's nothing new. I liked the dubbing in my language (Italian) and the puppies were really gorgeous but at a certain point the film started to tire me and it became a bit obvious.

We're all over 55 in this household and still enjoyed this movie. We rented this because we loved Air Bud. This movie is darling! Voices of the pups and other animals are perfect for each animal. Wallace Shawn as the goat's voice is right on! And Don Knotts for the bloodhound's voice, (Sniffer), is just great! If you're looking for a light movie that contains all the right family values and you think puppies are adorable, you'll want to watch this movie! Clearly, the animals were well trained. And the cameramen and editor did a great job. And the special effects were really good because all the little puppies look like they REALLY were talking! If you can, watch the other "Air Buddies" movies. We've seen two of the others and like them as well.

My 7-year-old daughter loved it, as Disney execs crassly calculated that she would. That's the problem with "Air Buddies." It's a strictly by-the-numbers children's film filled with carefully calculated cuteness, a couple politically correct morals, and enough potty humor to avoid the dreaded G rating. As a parent, or even as a 10-year-old, you've seen it all before, and done better before. Think "101 Dalmatians Meets Home Alone" and you get the general idea. I'm of the opinion that a good children's story is a good story, period. "Air Buddies," which is about as original as recycled paper, fails to meet that standard. It isn't the worst video your child could watch, but there are megatons of better ones.

The movie is cute, and no doubt one the kids will like. As an adult, I found it harmless and watchable. My three children 6-11 enjoyed it a lot. I loved Michael Clark Duncan as a voice talent. I could have listened to him and the character he played all night. Other actors did not seem as polished, allow Wallace Shawn and Debra Jo Rupp were good as expected. There is not as much action with the dogs playing sports, however. The movie (no spoilers) is about Air Buds 5 puppies and how they are kidnapped. The bumbling kidnappers foil everything, but Air Bud and his "Dog Wife" (a subdued Molly Shannon) head out to rescue their pups along with two middle school age boys. The movie seemed to borrow quite heavily from the live action Disney's 101 Dalmatians. All in all, it's still a nice way to have a family night.

We rented this movie (along with Material Girls) for a group of four 9 & 10 year old girls to watch on New Year's eve. They absolutely LOVED it. Surprising to me, 2 of them commented that they liked it much more than the Material Girl (the Hillary Duff movie - and these girls are the age where most are big Hillary Duff fans), It is corny and there were a few parts I didn't care for. I think the part suggesting that the puppy was drunk from swimming in some wine would have been better left out. (Tell me - wine isn't fermented yet at the point he was swimming in it, is it? I'm thinking it was WAY too early in the wine making process.) I also don't care for gas jokes - but the girls laughed.

I have not seen any other air bud movies (guess there have been several?), so I cannot compare - but it was cute and a reasonable safe bet for the pre-teen set.