Good Boy Review
by Karina Montgomery (karina AT cinerina DOT com)October 20th, 2003
Good Boy!
Rental with Snacks
If you have a fondness for talking animal movies (and I know some of you do) then you won't do wrong by checking out Good Boy!. It's no Babe, but then, nothing is. Liam Aiken is a lonely boy whose parents move all the time, leaving him friendless and walking dogs for money. He obtains a Benji doppleganger who he names Hubble (voiced by Matthew Broderick, the only blatant voice actor in the film) and through a series of kiddie movie science fiction mishaps, manages to be able to talk to dogs, screw up the whole species plan for world domination, and remind all of us (even us cat people) why we love dogs in the first place.
Yeah, I know, it sounds goofy. You have to suspend disbelief for a cute, gimmicky concept like this, but sometimes it's really worth the trip just to see what they do with it. Based on the book "The Dog From Outer Space," you can see where a lot of this is going. Of course, the Earth dogs have some business with Hubble, their ad hoc leader while they are in exile here on earth. What really works in this film is the truly excellent, I mean EXCELLENT voice casting for the various breeds who are part of Aiken's dogwalking service. I won't spoil it for you - it's such a treat to find out in the credits. Also, you can't do a movie like this unless you have some very well trained pooches, and all of these dogs effuse their unique breeds of comedy beautifully. Hubble in particular is a very talented dog actor (no doubt a native intelligence of that flavor of terrier, if Benji is any example). Combine good dogs with great voice talent and the movie writes itself. Right?
Nope. Little Liam still has to hold the movie together effectively by himself. He gains a little friend later, and ineffectual parents, but the burden is his and his alone to make us believe that these dogs are talking and to care about what they have to say. Many of the Earth dog's lines are one-liners and jokes, save for Hubble of course, so this kid, acting up against pups looking off camera at trainers and all this on-set hullabaloo, has triple duty to keep up the emotional reality of the story. Does he do it? Heck yeah. I even got all teary eyed. And let me tell you, it was not the least predictable movie ever made, far from it, but that was not the point at all. It is the journey. Aiken's heartfelt loneliness and need for Hubble in his life is tactile. He has a fantastic face and he carries this movie on his little 13 year old shoulders with aplomb.
Intelligently, his parents (Molly Shannon and Kevin Nealon) are written neither as buffoons, nor are they overtly involved in the story, which is as it should be in a good kid's movie. And this really is a good kid's movie, if maybe a little poky in the middle. There's no preachy message, except showing how different people love their dogs and how valuable that relationship really is (I get misty just thinking of Nellie, my favorite dog, and her sweet elderly human). It's just a fun little movie with funny dogs and a big, big heart. Just wait til you get a load of the Greater Dane. That dog is the Glenn Close of the canine world. Check it out.
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These reviews (c) 2003 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource
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