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Firehouse
Dog
(2007)
One of the greatest challenges facing filmmakers
has always been to tell a story that adults and children
can equally enjoy. So often, “family friendly” films aren’t
quite as pleasant for parents as they are for kids, and I’ve
heard many mothers and fathers complain that they had to
sit through another bad movie because it’s the only thing
in theaters their children can (or want to) see. The newest
attempt to entertain the entire family is 20th Century Fox’s Firehouse
Dog and while it doesn’t break any new ground in the
genre or provide us anything we haven’t seen in dozens of
kid flicks before, for a run-of-the-mill puff piece it’s
actually pretty good.
For canine Hollywood action star Rexxx, every day is much
the same: a fancy trailer, a suave pompadour hairpiece, and
all the bitches he has time for between takes. But when a
stunt goes awry and he’s presumed dead, Rexxx must make it on his own in the big city. Luckily, Shane (Josh Hutcherson), a local firefighter’s son, adopts Rexxx as the firehouse’s
new mascot. The new addition to the force quickly puts his
star power to work, rescuing the firehouse on the edge of
downsizing and helping end a long string of arsons in the
neighborhood.
As a children’s film, Firehouse Dog is fairly successful;
what kid isn’t going to enjoy a movie that features a skateboarding
dog? At times, though, it focuses too much on
entertainment industry parody and stoops to some pretty low
canine puns which will be lost on younger viewers
and aren’t clever
enough to appeal to their chaperones. Children will enjoy the
character of Maxxx, who is depicted with human-level intelligence,
mannerisms and a full-blown celebrity ego. Again, adults might
find some of the digitally enhanced facial expressions a bit
much, but kids will be rolling over and playing dead when they
see Maxxx’s
eyes widen in reaction to some of the more zany situations
he faces in the film.
I was saddened that Firehouse Dog made me miss the classic days of
animal performances so much. It used to be that a dog like Lassie
or Benji didn’t
need the help of a special effects team to express an emotion or get a laugh.
The movie has a strong enough story, with both an innocent humor and inherent
heart, that it shouldn’t need to resort to CGI for
anything save, perhaps, some of the more dangerous pyrotechnic
effects. As it stands, virtually every gag involving Rexxx has him performing
complex aerial acrobatics or making an all-too human face and
this weakens what would otherwise be an impressive performance
by the animal actors. Adding insult to injury, the effects
team didn’t even bother to make the visuals convincing (as
if a quadruple back-flipping dog ever could be justified with
realistic visuals), and the more astute young audience members
might find it difficult to suspend their disbelief regarding
these segments.
Fortunately, the human performances are just as impressive
as their canine counterparts and aren’t lessened with any weighty
animation. Hutcherson deals with some pretty heavy topics and
emotions for a young actor, and between Firehouse Dog and his last two major roles
(Bridge to Terabithia and Little Manhattan)
he’s showing himself
to be quite a competent performer. It’s not often a fourteen-year-old
headlines (and successfully carries) three films in as many
years. None of the adults in Firehouse Dog stand out
as much as the movie’s young star, though in their supporting roles,
they aren’t half bad. Many of the movie’s most successful
comedic elements are slapstick gags involving the human cast,
as opposed to the dog, and they should be commended for not
letting a computer-enhanced, four-legged beast upstage them
too much.
In all, Firehouse Dog is a better bet for a family
outing than many similar films, and while it won’t blow your mind, it’ll keep the little ones
adequately entertained and might even get a laugh or two out
of mom and dad. Unless we’re talking about the classic days
of Disney, any more than that’s the kind of result we’ll
have to add digitally in post.
-Mark
Moreland
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All contents ©
2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Todd
Holland
Writer: Claire-Dee
Lim & Mike Werb & Michael Colleary
Starring: Josh
Hutcherson, Bruce Greenwood, Bill Nunn, Scotch Ellis Loring Mayte
Garcia, Teddy Sears
Distributor: 20th
Century Fox
Runtime: 111
min
Rating: PG
Release Date: April
4, 200
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