The snarky, smarty-pants critic in me is a little upset that Good Boy! isn't as bad as its genre and title suggest. Surely I shouldn't have to embarrass myself by praising elements of a talking-dog-from-outer-space movie, should I? Perhaps not, but there's no denying that a certain amount of care went into the making of this particular TDFOS flick, or that it has a gentle feel to it that steels it against the verbal riposting of certain snarky, smarty-pants critics like myself. True, it's not one of those children's films that can be enjoyed by parents, and I can't in good conscience recommend it to adults on their own--but I can say that if it doesn't exactly challenge young minds, it won't corrode them, either.

Owen (Liam Aiken) is a lonely boy who likes dogs. His summer job to give the neighbourhood canines for their daily walks, Owen takes his trade seriously enough to have rigged up a sporty red coverall outfit for just this purpose. Unfortunately, his parents have a habit of moving a lot, making friendships impossible, so he gets himself a dog of his own. The mutt in question--picked out from the local dog pound--turns out to be an emissary from the Dog Star who, after a mishap involving Owen and a transmitter, speaks in the voice of Matthew Broderick. Hubble (as he is named by Owen) is on a mission to assess the dominance of dogs on planet Earth and doesn't like what he sees: the canine population is clearly a bunch of spoiled pets. When this information gets back to the Greater Dane, the whole dog population will be recalled, leaving dog lovers like Owen clearly in the lurch.

I'm not going to try and defend this film on a creative level. It's largely prefab, feel-good doggie love, and while that idea which may fill certain people with cuddly domestic warm fuzzies, I'm enough of a hard-bitten cynic to cringe at the very idea. The sort of people who tie pink bows on their animals and write shaky-metered poems to their pets' glory are the target audience, a demographic sure to thrill to the "personalities" of the supporting dog cast and laugh heartily at the "adorable" poses the trainers have rigged for them. Other than that, there's no real wit to the script, and the visual gags are strictly by the numbers. You have to be obsessed with the idea of pups as funny to tolerate what goes on here--I'm simply not inclined enough towards the way of the dog.

It's on a level of craft that Good Boy! does better than it really has to. There may be nothing to really blot out the sins of the screenplay, but there's no denying that director John Hoffman has a sense of proportion and a gentle touch with his camera and design crew. In the tradition of the late Jim Henson, whose company produced the film, it's a picture without malice--its pleasing if unobtrusive approach to colour brings a gentle smile to your face, while a bright, high-key lighting approach makes all of those hues jump out at you. The casting of the lead is excellent as well: Liam Aiken is a real find, giving a sensitive portrayal where any other tow-headed moppet would have substituted ersatz cuteness. Though none of this exactly makes for a great movie, it does result in a palatable one that should be commended for going the extra mile towards style and warmth.

MGM's Good Boy! disc is very much worthy of a treat. While the image is inexcusably in 1.33:1 full frame, saturation is absurdly vibrant and definition is ridiculously sharp for a film that would be considered an afterthought. There are problems with graininess on blues and scenes of darkness, but they're largely overwhelmed by the brilliance of the daylight shots. Meanwhile, the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is obscenely full, with the surround channels giving full vent to Mark Mothersbaugh's orchestral score and the subwoofer subtly interwoven with the standard speakers. The amount of effort that obviously went into this mix begs the question of how such a low-priority film merited the royal treatment.

The DVD extras are in a similar vein, excruciatingly thorough in ways that better films can only dream of. First up is a commentary track featuring director John Hoffman and actors Liam Aiken and Molly Shannon. If Shannon is virtually silent and Aiken only infrequently pipes up, Hoffmann is very descriptive of his process, detailing colour choices and dishing out the logistics of production in surprisingly cogent ways. All by himself, Hoffmann makes the track, which is actually one of the best I've heard. Next up is a making-of featurette that is similarly detailed, from the origins of the project to the laborious training of the animals. No real artistic information here, though its relatively long length (24 minutes!) gives it an edge over other featurettes of its ilk. Six deleted scenes also grace the disc, with optional commentary (!) from Hoffman elucidating his choice to drop them.

The rest of the extras are largely for amusement's sake. "Pooch Profiles" matches the dog actor with information on his/her breed; "Dog-Walking Duty" links from the dog to minute (and annoying) footage of cast and director decrying their diva-ish behaviour on the set; "Crafty Canines" is a 6-minute demonstration of how to train your dog by the film's main dog trainer; "Q+A with Hubble" is a cumbersome feature that links to five questions and answers for the chief canine; and "Good Boy! Scrapbook" is a two-minute riffle through stills and production photographs. An Easter egg at the top of extra menu two leads to Aiken's audition tape. The film's trailer, and trailers for Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, Hamilton Mattress, Recipe for Disaster, Just 4 Kicks, 5 Senses, Agent Cody Banks 2, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids, and Stella Luna round out the platter, with the latter three playing automatically upon inserting the disc.-Travis Hoover

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DVD VITALS:
Running Time
88 minutes
MPAA
PG
Aspect Ratio(s)
Standard 1.33:1
Languages
English DD 5.1,
French Dolby Surround,
Spanish Dolby Surround
CC
Yes
Subtitles
English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese
DVD-9
Region One
MGM

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Published: April 2, 2004