Finn on the Fly

The story was great, the acting was great (and very funny), the dog was great...I could go on and on. This is a great family film that uses raw talent to get the story across instead of special effects or cheap laughs. Good clean fun. Matthew Knight did an awesome job as usual, I hope to see more from him! He puts so much emotion into every movie he does and this movie was no exception. Ana Gasteyer was perfect for her role too, she came across as a brilliant but somewhat dim-witted scientist helped along by her more intelligent assistant played by Brandon Firla who was perfect for his part as well.

Do yourself a favor and see this movie, ignore the low score, it must be from the people who didn't win an award at the film festival (this movie did!) The side story about the brother from Spain is hilarious as well! The movie was filmed in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan and it appears to be a really beautiful place.

Ben Soledad (Matthew Knight) chases his dog Finn into his neighbor's house. Mad scientist Dr. Madsen (Ana Gasteyer) has an experimental serum which turns Finn (Ryan Belleville) into a human boy.

Finn should not speak at all or at the very least, he can only speak in commands like run, sit, and stay. There's also no reason for him to hear the dog whistle when he turns into a human. Ana Gasteyer is not really the villain scientist type but as the big star of the movie, she gets to pick her own role. That is the most fun role other than Finn. This is fine as a lesser lower tier kiddie movie. It needs less mad doctor and more development with the kiddie Scooby gang.

This film is poorly acted, poorly thought out, poorly directed, and poorly written. It's a real shame, since the concept could be really fun. At times, the film shows its true potential by providing us with catchy one- liners, but this is a potential it never fulfills. The villains are cheesy and cliché, and the sidekicks of the hero are enough to offend anyone that has ever touched an iPod, Game Boy, or Frisbee.

What could have been done to salvage this atrocious piece of film? Well, let's start with the writing. Give less time to the dog acting like a dog and more time to the dog expressing his feelings to his human comrade. As for direction, I don't think it can be helped. The actors could be good if they had interesting lines. Editing is slow paced and could stand a pick-up.

Overall, this is a crappy children's film the wreaks of low budget and exploitation cinema. I wouldn't recommend this film for anyone, no matter how much you love dogs, this film will make you hate them.

At times, the bad acting of one particular adult actress is painful to watch - it makes one appreciative of when great actresses such as Bette Davis and Ann Sothern performed in kids movies - however, the kid actors all perform well, and the movie does make you think about how dogs see the world.

There are some good scenes throughout the movie - and some of the adult actors perform well.

Overall, worth watching, not one of the best kids movies - but I think it would entertain most kids, even if older kids would smirk at the bad acting of one of the "villains" and some of the minor adult roles.