THE SHAGGY DOG

2006, Walt Disney Pictures

Live action

Rating: PG

Approx. 98 mins.

THE STORY:

Dave Douglas (Tim Allen) is a high-powered district attorney whose relationship with his family is strained due to his prioritization of work. This is particularly evident in the fact that the animal rights activist he is currently prosecuting is the idol of his teenage daughter Carly (Zena Grey).

When Carly breaks into an evil animal testing facility, she finds and rescues an old English sheepdog which she then brings home. Little does she know, this is no ordinary dog, but one whose blood holds the secret to immortality. When the dog bites Dave, he starts to experience some strange physical and behavioural changes. Within hours, he has completely transformed into an old English sheepdog that his family mistakes for the original rescue dog. 

Dave spends the next little while morphing between dog and human, watching his career and his role within the family crumble. Eventually, he discovers the number of evil goings on at the pharmaceutical company he is inadvertently defending, and enlists the hybrid animals in the lab to help him stop the head of research (Robert Downey Jr.) and make public the company's wrongdoings. When he embraces his dog side, he not only gains a deeper understanding of the animals around him, but also of his family and of their need for him to listen to them. 

QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE:

• butt
• hate
• Oh my God
• moron

VIOLENCE:

• the animal testing scenes are a bit menacing, including giant needles and a cattle prod
• the bad guy gives a needle (not quite on camera) to another character that sends him into a state of near-vegetation

TEACHING POINTS:

• Could lead to discussions about the pros and cons of animal testing for parents so inclined
• "Just because something seems ridiculous doesn't mean it isn't true. It just means you need more courage to believe it."

THE UPSHOT:

I enjoyed about 8 non-consecutive minutes of this movie. The adults in the room kept asking, "Why do these people do these movies?" (Robert Downey Jr., Jane Curtin). The 5 year-old in the room liked the dog, but got scared during some of the lab scenes. 

One of the major problems I had with The Shaggy Dog is the exact same issue I had with The Santa Clause, Tim Allen's other unsatisfying venture into kids' movies: the protagonist goes through a mind-blowing transformation, and his reaction (as well as that of his family) is about 30 seconds of shock followed by blase acceptance. 

I watched this hot on the heels of Marmaduke, another talking dog movie. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I just didn't believe Tim Allen as a dog as much as I did Owen Wilson. Marmaduke had its failings, but for some reason I completely bought the canine characters. Listening to Tim Allen's rambling soliloquies about the obvious while pretending to be a dog, I never once forgot that I was listening to Tim Allen rambling on about the obvious while pretending to be a dog.    

Also, while this isn't specifically the fault of The Shaggy Dog, I'm getting tired of the 'parent (usually father) works too hard and/ or doesn't listen to his kids' trope that seems to underlie so many kids' movies. Why do movie makers think we are all self-centred ignorers of our kids? How about you guys show some consideration for our kids by making better movies? There is nothing in this film that hasn't been done better elsewhere. Don't waste your time.

1.5/5