Movie Review: "The Shaggy Dog"

The second movie we watched this weekend was "The Shaggy Dog," a Disney film starring Tim Allen. I remember being taken to see the original "Shaggy Dog" movie when I was about 4 or 5 years old (I think it was at a movie theatre showing older films; I'm not sure what year the movie came out). My aunt took me to see it, but when we got to the theatre, the tickets were all sold out, so we couldn't see it.

In the movie, Tim Allen plays an assistant district attorney working on a very important case. The case could make or break his career, and possibly a future election to district attorney. But as with Sandler's character in "Click," Allen is spending too much time at work to the detriment of his family life.

He hardly knows his children; his relationship with his wife is becoming distant. The case is whether a social studies teacher set fire to a laboratory because the lab was experimenting on animals. However, no one believes the teacher that animals are undergoing experimentation. The bad guy, Kozak (Robert Downey Jr.), denies that there are any animals in the lab.

But Kozak has acquired a seemingly magical dog, a dog that is purported to be over 300 years old, from Tibet (a Tibetan spaniel, but in the movie, they say it's a sheepdog). He and his assistants are trying to isolate the genetic mutation that is causing the dog's long life, supposedly at the behest of his boss.

The dog breaks free of the lab, and the daughter in the movie, Carly, just happens to be outside the lab when the dog escapes, and she takes it home. She has no way of proving that the dog was in the lab, though. Allen, meanwhile, has made it abundantly clear that he hates dogs, so when he arrives home and sees the dog sitting in the kitchen, he goes ballistic. Carly tries to explain that the dog is from the lab, but he won't listen. The dog brings him yesterday's paper, and Allen just won't believe that the dog is sentient. So, the dog bites him.

His genes begin to mutate, and afraid the dog might have rabies, Allen has animal control officers pick it up, to wait out the rabies quarantine.

A day or so later, Allen turns into a Tibetan spaniel. He does so when his heart speeds up. When it slows down, like when he's asleep, he returns to human form.

So as a dog, he learns much about his children--things they wouldn't share with him because they were afraid of his wrath. For instance, his son wants to be in musicals, but Allen wants him to play football, "just like the old man," even though he hasn't been able to attend any of the football games because he's too busy at work. In fact, he was supposed to attend a parent-teacher conference, and missed it because of work.

So, in the end, he discovers that Kozak is planning to take over the lab by incapacitating his boss. Kozak discovers that Allen can turn into a dog and captures him. But by this time, Allen has convinced his children that he's their dad, not the dog.

So a mass lab breakout ensues. Kozak gets bitten. Somehow, Allen manages to make it to the courthouse in time to tell the judge that Kozak was the real villain all along.

Then they all live happily ever after, taking a vacation to Oahu.

My only problem with this movie was there were a few scenes that were obviously fakey-like at the end when the dog is hanging ten on a surfboard in the ocean. CGI animation can only do so much. The dogs in the movie were gorgeous, but I wouldn't want to have to maintain their coats. All that long hair probably had to be brushed constantly.

I think that most families would enjoy this film. I would say it was all right; however, I don't know if I would want to pay $19.99 to own it. DD enjoyed it, although she was tired and couldn't stay up to watch it all. (She's 6 years old, for the record.) For older kids, they might think it's boring. I thought Tim Allen did a fine job of finding the right doggy mannerisms. Robert Downey, Jr. was good, but he's good in just about every movie he's in. Danny Glover's part as Allen's boss was so small that he was wasted in the film, and so was Jane Curtin as the trial judge.

Rent it if you have nothing better to do on a Sunday night.