Toon Talk: The Shaggy Dog
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Complications arise when Carly and her boyfriend Trey (Desperate Housewives’ Shawn Pyfrom) rescue a Bearded Collie (played by screen newcomer Cole) from the evil biotech lab; christened “Shaggy�? by the kids, the pooch promptly bites dog-hating Dave, infecting him with a top secret genetic mutation serum that, you got it, transforms him into a dog. (This scene calls forth a Spider-Man-style trip through Dave’s bloodstream, complete with furry Flubber-like micro-organisms taking over his body.) Turns out Shaggy is an ancient, centuries-old canine from Tibet, captured and brought to the US of A by the mad Dr. Kozak (Robert Downey Jr., who really should have better things to do) to ostensibly experiment on to develop a “fountain of youth�? elixir for his dying boss (Philip Baker Hall) - but he, being an evil scientist and all, has more nefarious notions in store for Shaggy … and now Dave.
(c) Disney
Dave spends the rest of the picture changing back and forth, usually at the most inopportune times, into dog-form, whilst also displaying distinct doggie tendencies in human form; this gives us, the lucky viewers, the opportunity to watch Allen mug his way through such tasteless bits as lifting his leg at a urinal. Most stunningly bad of all: while chasing a cat, lumbering along on all fours like an extra in Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes, Dave knocks into a little old lady with a walker, sending her flying. What makes it so bad? The subsequent shot of the granny hanging out of a tree is the most poorly-disguised stunt man since I’m Gonna Get You Sucka (and that was intentional).
Amidst all these shenanigans, Allen’s Dave comes to realize (cue sappy Alan Menken music) the “true meaning of family�?. And if you didn’t see that coming from a mile away, I got a nice little doggie from Mexico for ya …
From the opening low-angle shot of a boxer lifting his leg to the camera to the sorry inclusion of practically every clichéd pop song in the history of modern film (“Beautiful Morning�?, “When a Man Loves a Woman�? and - please no - “Who Let the Dogs Out?�?), director Brian Robbins steers the film through every trite avenue of humor and over every plot hole. With its complete lack of anything original, pleasant or, dare we ask, funny, this Shaggy Dog story earns the dishonorable distinction of being the first film in five years to garner the Toon Talk Rating: F.
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In this ‘Toon Talk’ feature, I will briefly highlight a recommended film or DVD, outside of the Disney universe, of similar interest to the main subject. People + Pets = Peril! One of the most thought provoking and atmospheric of the so-called ‘B-movies’, Cat People (1942, RKO) offers a chilling take on the humans-as-house pets subgenre. The late great Simone Simon (who bears a striking resemblance to a certain recent Oscar-winner) stars as a mysterious woman unable to escape from her cursed lineage. With their limited budget, celebrated producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur find every imaginative way possible to up the thrills, resulting in an old school creep show of the finest order. Cat People, along with its sequel The Curse of the Cat People (1944), can be found with other low budget black and white spook fests of the period in the recent DVD box set “The Val Lewton Horror Collection�?, available from Turner Home Entertainment. |
Coming Soon in Toon Talk:
- The sky is falling - again! Chicken Little comes home to roost on Disney DVD (March 21).
- Scrat is back in Ice Age: The Meltdown (Fox, March 31).
- A pack of NYC Zoo animals goes back to The Wild (Disney, April 14).
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CONGRATULATIONS … … to this year’s Academy Award-winners (well, most of them anyway), including Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Best Makeup), Aardman’s Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Best Animated Feature) and The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, the Best Animated Short directed by animation historian, author and frequent Disney DVD contributor John Canemaker. |
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-- Kirby C. Holt
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Kirby is a lifelong Disney fan and film buff. He is also an avid list maker and chronic ellipsis user ...
Took Talk: Disney Film & Video Reviews by Kirby C. Holt is posted whenever there's something new to review.
The opinions expressed by our Kirby C. Holt, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted March 10, 2006