L'aventurier du grand nord

Chilly Dogs AKA: Kevin Of The North is about a young travel agent named Kevin Manley (Skeet Ulrich) in Canoga Park who receives an inheritance in Alaska. He promptly quits his job and heads up north to to collect on what, no doubt, will be a large sum and he will no longer have to worry about finances again.

Upon getting to Alaska, he learns of a clause his grandfather put in his will (tired cliché anyone?) and has to participate in the Iditarod Dog Race to prove his is man enough to accept his grandfathers inheritance.

There he meets Clive Thornton (Leslie Nielsen), a beautiful young blond (Natasha Henstridge) and the town bully (Lochlyn Munro). All three have their own reasons for wanting Kevin to fail and, thus, he must overcome many obstacles just to make it to the race itself. I'm not sure why I'm spending so much time on the plot, itself, it's merely there for the jokes but that's the surprise. Lately, Lesley Nielsen movies have been pretty darn unfunny and while this movie is not that good, it is pretty funny. Leslie's character Clive was the funniest with his snide comments that you have to be paying attention to to catch. Easily the funniest character in this movie and much better than his next movie Men With Brooms, which was horrible no matter how you look at it. But don't get me wrong, it's no Naked Gun either- far from it, but it gets the job done.

Natasha Henstridge plays Bonnie Livengood, whom they later find out their grandfathers had a horrible history with one another, which hurts their relationship as well. Natasha plays the lead female here very well and I enjoyed her performance in it.

Skeet Ulrich, as Kevin Manley, reminded me so much of Matthew Broderick with his voice, it was amazing, albeit unintentional I'm positive. However, I have never seen him in the clown role before and I think he did fine, considering Will Ferrell or Jim Carrey probably were not in the budget for this one (It's always been a dream of mine for Carrey and Nielsen to make a movie together).

Lochlyn Munro played Ned Parker, the town jerk. He was all right here but could probably be cast better. He didn't seem like a real threat to Kevin at any point and every time I saw him on screen I couldn't get his scene with Julian (John C. McGinley) taking a bath with him in Wagon's East out of my head.

Given the circumstances and what I was expecting to see (explains why it sat on my DVD rack for almost a year) I was pleasantly surprised. 7/10

In the Canadian film industry, it's rare to come across a Canadian movie made for theaters that wasn't funded by the government, KEVIN OF THE NORTH being one of those. Actually, in this case the movie was *intended* for theaters, but it doesn't seem to have received a theatrical release. And that is the only smart decision made with the making of this movie. It certainly does not look theatrical-quality, with many scenes looking pretty cheap, due to a number of obvious short-cuts on screen. Skeet Ulrich manages to make an utterly obnoxious and stupid character even *more* obnoxious and stupid as it was written in the screenplay. Leslie Nielsen just goes through the motions, and Henstridge doesn't try at all. But the biggest fault of the movie is that it is remarkably unfunny. Oh, there are a couple of gags that made me (slightly) smile, but the rest of the attempts of humor consist of gross gags, people falling and slipping up, and punchlines you'll see coming long before the director reveals them. Not recommended, unless you want to see an example as to why most Canadians wouldn't be caught dead watching a Canadian film.

Who think to watch Leslie Nielsen will have a great surprise in this movie because Rik Mayall is high point of this silly movie, otherwise could be throw away the DVD but he saves the movie in your funny English's accent, some jokes and playing a villain, Nielsen as a bad guy didn't work, Skeet Ulrich is totally lost in bad smell and Natasha Henstridge works with your beauty only, remains a little of this picture, just Rik Mayall and the funny dogs!!

Yes, it is a lot like Snow Dogs but i do not see Chilly Dogs as a ripoff. Chilly Dogs was released in 2001, so it may have even come before Snow Dogs and been put on the backburner simply because it was not produced by a major film studio. I could be wrong, but i find it hard to believe that this film deliberately ripped off another script at the same exact time they were both filmed.

As for the movie itself, i really liked it. There are several excellent actors portraying some very funny roles. There are several truly hilarious dialogue moments which you may not even catch in the first viewing. When i watched it the second time i noticed quite a few things i had previously been unaware of.

Bottom line...if you like Winter Comedies you'll probably like this movie.

without doubt Leslie Neilsens worst movie ever. there were only two of us in the movie theater, which should have deterred us from staying. Its the only movie I have ever wished to get up and leave. The The film was boring, the slapstick is awful, the story line weak, and Leslie Nielsen is most unfunny. There are one or two vulgar pieces, featuring human excrement. A big disappointment. it was shown in Spain as "Esquia como puedas", which followed the format of previous very funny movies from Airport forwards. Nielsen plays a secondary role, and his character is definitely second rate. I shall think twice about going to another Nielsen movie without reading reviews.