Spot

This is a wonderfully funny dog film. But the difference this time is that the star is not a cute lovable pooch who wants to lick you all over, but a stony-faced, not to say also squash-faced, dog who is truly a dog of few words and of even fewer expressions. What is more, as an FBI dog, he has been trained NOT to play! So if you throw a ball, he just sits there and looks at you as if you are a child, which if you are a child, is true, of course. So this is a new approach to dog films, what you might call the Holden Caulfield Phase perhaps, since the lead role is now played by a kind of canine anti-hero. Is this a sign that dog films have matured? Or are they entering a period of decadence? Is the integrity of dog films threatened by this emergence of an unsmiling dog hero? But we must not think of this dog as an anti-hero in the sense of being a weakling or a cop-out. In fact, so far from being a cop-out, this dog is actually a cop. He is known officially as Agent 11, and is renowned as the FBI's smartest anti-crime dog. He can sniff a criminal a mile off, and he always keeps a sharp nose out at all times, because he knows perfectly well that in the human community, danger and crime are everywhere. So why is the film called SEE SPOT RUN? Well, you see, it's like this. Agent 11 has alienated a very dangerous Mafioso because in nabbing him he has bitten him in a man's most sensitive place (no, not his wallet, silly, you know what I mean!) And that guy orders two hapless hit men to go and kill Agent 11 at all costs. There are many comic moments when the two hit men (the only two creatures in the film uglier than Agent 11) bicker amongst themselves about this assignment which is beneath their dignity, and worry that if their friends ever find out they will never live it down and will be humiliated for the rest of their lives. On the other hand, if they do not carry out the assignment successfully, their Mafioso boss has made it clear that there will be no 'rest of their lives'. They keep nearly succeeding and in the confusion, Agent 11 escapes and goes underground, lying doggo as it were. He hides in the home of an excited little boy who wants a dog, and who chooses to call Agent 11 by the name of Spot, precisely because he has no spots, just as at that age I called my dog Rusty because she was black and white. We little kids when we are little can be really difficult and non-conformist, and some of us remain that way (those of us who are resistant to peer-pressure, that is). The casting of the little boy is very clever, because he too is not the cute cuddly little boy you would expect, any more than the pooch is. In fact, he is the kind of little boy you have to get used to because he is NOT immediately endearing. But he grows on you. He has a hysterical, shrieking, narcissistic single mother in a tight skirt. She is the only stock character in the film, the usual one without which no American movie is ever complete: the embittered and angry ex-wife or ex non-wife, or whatever she is, but anyway she is angry and embittered. Have you seen an American film without one of these harpies in the past twenty years? Hopelessly in love with her (which shows such appalling lack of taste) is the highly amusing David Arquette, who has the advantage of having a touch of that attractive wistful look of his sister Rosanna. Arquette is a wildly wacky, hopelessly disorganised young free spirit who lives in a pig-sty, and has little in the way of financial prospects. The girl in the tight skirt has to go away for a few hours and leaves her little boy with Arquette, with the greatest trepidation because she considers him irresponsible, but she will be back soon enough and she risks it. However, Fate intervenes and she is delayed for days. It is during that time that Agent 11, alias Spot, becomes a family member. And then of course the hit men discover Agent 11's whereabouts and if the girl in the tight skirt had known about what was really going on she would really have freaked out, but she is too busy being stuck in the middle of nowhere through multiple mishaps, and her cellphone falls into a puddle as well, and oh yes, she is splattered with mud and you name it, it happens to her. (But she deserves it, because she is angry and embittered and narcissistic and she shrieks.) Well, what do you think? Do the bad guys get their way? Come on, this is a dog film. There are lots of laughs and lots of woofs. But no power on earth can persuade me to give away the secret of the ending, for a dog's word is his 007.

This is a very simple plot that even young children can follow. This film breaks the rule for many actors in not working with young kids or animals. My family and I really enjoyed it. If you are looking for something deep and meaningful then look elsewhere but if you want slapstick then this is for you. There is a very funny scene involving Spot's output and the catastrophe's that happen to the kid's mum (the gorgeous Leslie Bibb) who is also the love object for David Arquette, are very amusing. I think that the actors in this film must have enjoyed playing their parts and didn't take themselves too seriously. Overall this is not a demanding movie but just some good light-hearted fun and you will be crying with laughter.

Apparently a lot of people like to watch little kid's movies and then complain because they aren't cinematic masterpieces. How ridiculous. This is a film that was made to entertain young kids, and it's entertaining enough for parents to watch along with them. My little boy enjoyed it, but then he isn't much of an intellectual, since he's only six! Anything that makes him laugh is okay with me, though.

Also, I have to say that people are WAY too hard on David Arquette. I'm not a serious fan of his, or anything, but I feel bad for the guy when people trash him. I have noticed that it's mainly men who are so down on him. Gee, I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that he's married to one of TV's most popular, attractive, and highly-paid stars? He seems like a perfectly sweet, charming man who is having fun with his life and enjoys making silly films. He doesn't seem to take himself seriously, so why do so many people hate him? It's ridiculous.

Oh, and just to let you know, he doesn't get film roles because of his wife. He was acting before he married Courtney Cox, and he is actually quite a talented actor. If you don't believe me, check out a little gem of an indie film called Dream with the Fishes. He gives quite an engaging and touching performance as a man on the verge of suicide whose life is changed when he befriends a terminally ill man, proving that he CAN do serious dramatic work. He just chooses not to. So why don't you people lay off of him? Not that he cares either way, I'm sure. He is having the time of his life. You go David!

"Apparently a lot of people like to watch little kid's movies and then complain because they aren't cinematic masterpieces. How ridiculous. This is a film that was made to entertain young kids,"

I couldn't agree more with one of the previous commenters that I quoted above. It is not the first time I've read reviews putting down a film because it is not Masterpiece Theatre (or Sesame Street). My little one had fun watching this. Sometimes that is all that matters.

It like teletubbies. Adults (most anyway) just don't get it, except for the producers of it. I can't tell you how excited my little girl was (at age 2) the first time she saw the teletubbies. She couldn't stop singing "teletubbie bye bye" in her broken English for hours that night.

This was a very pleasant surprise; a very good comedy filled with a lot of laughs and - more surprise - not much raunch and profanity. Wow, that's unusual for today. Some people say this was strictly made for kids. Well, I am hardly a kid and I loved it.

All the characters in here are just that: characters from goofy David Arquette's "Gordon"- to the cute kid, Angus T. Jones ("James" - to big Michael Clarke Duncan ("Murdoch") - to pretty Leslie Bibb ("Stephanie") - to Joe Viterelli ("Gino") - to Anthony Anderson ("Bennie") - to Paul Sorvino ("Sonny Talia"). Yeah, the last guy is the only one with a last name. I especially liked Viterelli and Duncan.

The film gets too silly in one spot - at the store, where the slapstick goes on way too long, but otherwise this is a funny movie. As the cliché goes, fun for all ages, but let me add.....not just the kids.