Film review: 'My Dog Skip'
"My Dog Skip" is a story easily understood in just about any culture. This memoir of a boyhood in a Mississippi backwater town during World War II and how one dog changes a boy's life touches on things elemental to all coming-of-age experiences.
But it's unclear if a theatrical market exists anymore for such a movie. Seemingly better suited to cable TV, "My Dog Skip" should at least receive encouraging pats on the head by critics, which will help once it reaches ancillary markets.
The film derives from the 1995 memoir of the same name by Willie Morris, a Rhodes scholar and former editor of Harper's magazine. Written by Gail Gilchriest and directed by Jay Russell, the story that unfolds, at a leisurely pace befitting its rural Southern roots, concerns young Willie (Frankie Muniz), a shy and awkward only child growing up in Yazoo, Miss.
His dad (Kevin Bacon), who lost his leg in the Spanish Civil War, tends to be overprotective of his son, but a knowing mom (Diane Lane) is determined to compensate for her husband's tendencies. So for his ninth birthday, Willie receives Skip, a Jack Russell terrier puppy, from his mom over his dad's protestations. This proves to be the key to unlocking his personality.
As Willie recalls those days (in a superb voice-over narration by Harry Connick Jr.), the dog "teaches" him many lessons in life as they grow up together. Skip brings Willie out of his shell to become one of the guys and gain confidence to speak to girls or to spend a night in the cemetery on a dare.
Most crucially, Skip becomes what this young boy needs most -- a steady, true friend. His first friend, Dink (Luke Wilson), the sports hero who lived next door, has gone overseas to fight Hitler, and many of his male classmates prefer to pick on Willie rather than bring him into their inner circle. But with Skip by his side, the world feels different to Willie. He ventures outside, even crossing into the colored section of Yazoo in those days of segregation, since dogs, "being smarter than people," see no boundaries.
These lessons are touched on lightly in the course of the two pals' adventures. In fact, this light touch while keeping the movie from veering into an "After School Special" also softens and mutes the environment. This is an idealized, hospitable Mississippi where backward attitudes do not exist and no one would dream of using the "N" word in referring to its black citizens.
The main actors -- meaning Muniz and the various canines who play Skip -- are terrific. Willing to take roles that recede into the background from time to time, Bacon and Lane make for well-meaning, good-hearted parents. Wilson's sports hero-turned-war coward gives the film its only darkness, more of which could have been explored.
Production designer David Bomba is blessed in the town of Canton, Ohio, subbing for Yazoo. Here is a place that has changed little since midcentury, and he has the town nicely decked out with old cars and billboards. Cinematographer James Carter films all this so you almost forget the ferocious heat and biting bugs.
This is, of course, a memoir, and as Willie Morris himself notes, memory plays tricks on the mind. A man who grew up to become a top editor could scarcely have not noticed, even at age 9, the ruthless injustices that permeated his society. So things may not have happened this way. They do so in memory.
MY DOG SKIP
Warner Bros.
Alcon Entertainment
Producers:Mark Johnson, John Lee Hancock, Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson
Director:Jay Russell
Writer:Gail Gilchriest
Based on the book by:Willie Morris
Executive producer:Marty Ewing, Jay Russell
Director of photography:James Carter
Production designer:David Bomba
Music:William Ross
Costume designer:Edi Giguere
Editors:Harvey Rosenstock, Gary Winter
Color/stereo
Cast:
Willie Morris:Frankie Muniz
Jack Morris:Kevin Bacon
Ellen Morris:Diane Lane
Dink Jenkins:Luke Wilson
Rivers Applegate:Caitlin Wachs
Big Boy Wilkinson:Bradley Coryell
Henjie Henick:Daylan Honeycutt
Spit McGee:Cody Linley
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
But it's unclear if a theatrical market exists anymore for such a movie. Seemingly better suited to cable TV, "My Dog Skip" should at least receive encouraging pats on the head by critics, which will help once it reaches ancillary markets.
The film derives from the 1995 memoir of the same name by Willie Morris, a Rhodes scholar and former editor of Harper's magazine. Written by Gail Gilchriest and directed by Jay Russell, the story that unfolds, at a leisurely pace befitting its rural Southern roots, concerns young Willie (Frankie Muniz), a shy and awkward only child growing up in Yazoo, Miss.
His dad (Kevin Bacon), who lost his leg in the Spanish Civil War, tends to be overprotective of his son, but a knowing mom (Diane Lane) is determined to compensate for her husband's tendencies. So for his ninth birthday, Willie receives Skip, a Jack Russell terrier puppy, from his mom over his dad's protestations. This proves to be the key to unlocking his personality.
As Willie recalls those days (in a superb voice-over narration by Harry Connick Jr.), the dog "teaches" him many lessons in life as they grow up together. Skip brings Willie out of his shell to become one of the guys and gain confidence to speak to girls or to spend a night in the cemetery on a dare.
Most crucially, Skip becomes what this young boy needs most -- a steady, true friend. His first friend, Dink (Luke Wilson), the sports hero who lived next door, has gone overseas to fight Hitler, and many of his male classmates prefer to pick on Willie rather than bring him into their inner circle. But with Skip by his side, the world feels different to Willie. He ventures outside, even crossing into the colored section of Yazoo in those days of segregation, since dogs, "being smarter than people," see no boundaries.
These lessons are touched on lightly in the course of the two pals' adventures. In fact, this light touch while keeping the movie from veering into an "After School Special" also softens and mutes the environment. This is an idealized, hospitable Mississippi where backward attitudes do not exist and no one would dream of using the "N" word in referring to its black citizens.
The main actors -- meaning Muniz and the various canines who play Skip -- are terrific. Willing to take roles that recede into the background from time to time, Bacon and Lane make for well-meaning, good-hearted parents. Wilson's sports hero-turned-war coward gives the film its only darkness, more of which could have been explored.
Production designer David Bomba is blessed in the town of Canton, Ohio, subbing for Yazoo. Here is a place that has changed little since midcentury, and he has the town nicely decked out with old cars and billboards. Cinematographer James Carter films all this so you almost forget the ferocious heat and biting bugs.
This is, of course, a memoir, and as Willie Morris himself notes, memory plays tricks on the mind. A man who grew up to become a top editor could scarcely have not noticed, even at age 9, the ruthless injustices that permeated his society. So things may not have happened this way. They do so in memory.
MY DOG SKIP
Warner Bros.
Alcon Entertainment
Producers:Mark Johnson, John Lee Hancock, Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson
Director:Jay Russell
Writer:Gail Gilchriest
Based on the book by:Willie Morris
Executive producer:Marty Ewing, Jay Russell
Director of photography:James Carter
Production designer:David Bomba
Music:William Ross
Costume designer:Edi Giguere
Editors:Harvey Rosenstock, Gary Winter
Color/stereo
Cast:
Willie Morris:Frankie Muniz
Jack Morris:Kevin Bacon
Ellen Morris:Diane Lane
Dink Jenkins:Luke Wilson
Rivers Applegate:Caitlin Wachs
Big Boy Wilkinson:Bradley Coryell
Henjie Henick:Daylan Honeycutt
Spit McGee:Cody Linley
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 1/10/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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