Tim Allen's The Shaggy Dog was a Cute Family Friendly Movie
Written: Mar 22 '06 (Updated Aug 01 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good cast. Cute, entertaining movie.
Cons: Will be too silly for some people. There was a snake in the movie.
The Bottom Line: The Shaggy Dog was a bit silly in places, but it is an entertaining family movie. Fans of Tim Allen may enjoy it.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: The Shaggy Dog |
Disney has made many family friendly non animated movies over the years that have been very popular. In the last few years, some of those movies have been remade. I’ve seen and enjoyed some of those remakes. They can be entertaining movies. The first time I saw the preview for the new version of The Shaggy Dog, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to see it. I ended up deciding to go see it when I had the chance and I did enjoy it.
Dave Douglas was a very busy assistant district attorney that had lost touch with his family. He just took over a case prosecuting Justin Forrester, a teacher accused of breaking into a company’s lab and setting a fire. Justin believed that the company was doing strange experiments on animals. Dave’s daughter, Carly, and her boyfriend Trey supported Justin. Carly and Trey were at a demonstration at the company and found a sheepdog that they took home and named him Shaggy. Dave wasn’t happy to see the dog in the house and put him in the garage where the dog bit him. The next day, Dave started acting very strange in court, including growling at the other lawyer and the judge before turning into a sheepdog himself. The next morning he was human again. He had to figure out how to explain what was going on to his family. When he was in dog form, he did learn something about his son Josh that he’d been unaware of. Dave realized that Dr. Kozak and the scientists at the lab were experimenting on animals and set out to try to prove it to Ken Hollister, the district attorney.
I believe that The Shaggy Dog was aimed more at children than adults. Because of that there were several things that happened in the movie that were very silly. I expected that going in to seeing the movie, so I wasn’t bothered by the silliness. The movie was about a man that turned into a sheepdog, so it was bound to be silly. People shouldn’t go into this movie expecting something serious. There was a message added in, which seems to be normal for movies made by Disney. I didn’t think that aspect was too overbearing like has happened in some other movies. I was entertained by the movie and thought it was cute. It is a good family movie that I think adults can be entertained by too if they keep in mind that it will have some silliness in it. The movie made me laugh many times throughout the movie. Several of the things done for humor, like when Dave first started to act like a dog before actually transforming, were a bit silly but they still made me laugh. The experiments being done resulted in some very strange side effects in the animals. Those animals acted in ways that also made me laugh. I thought that the movie was very entertaining even though it really wasn’t realistic.
Dave changed into a dog and then back into a human more than once during The Shaggy Dog. Most of the transformations weren’t actually shown. For a few of them, one part of his body was shown changing, like this feet. I believe that what was shown of the transformations were done with special effects of some kind. The animals that had the strange side effects at the lab had to have at least some special effects used as well. One of the animals was a snake which I really could have done without seeing. The snake was shown in the trailer and the first time I saw it, I did freak a little bit. After I had seen the trailer a few times, the snake didn’t really bother me. I didn’t freak out about the snake in the movie, though I still didn’t like seeing it and did have to look away once or twice even though I knew the thing was done with CGI. I think the effects were well done.
None of the characters were developed that much. I really didn’t expect a lot of character development since this was a family movie. Most of The Shaggy Dog focused on David and how he dealt with turning into a dog. He was successful in his job and was already thinking of running for district attorney when his boss retired. David worked a lot of long hours so he had lost touch with his family. He didn’t know what was going on with his children. I thought that Tim Allen was very good in the part. He did some wacky things, especially when he was exhibiting dog traits. His character was a bit different from the one he played in Christmas with the Kranks. David’s wife Rebecca was getting annoyed with his work habits and the fact that he didn’t really know what was going on in the lives of his children. The kids went to see her once when she was at work and it looked like she was some kind of interior designer, but it was never really said for sure. Kristin Davis was fine in the part, though she didn’t have that much to do. She is probably best known for playing Charlotte on Sex in the City.
Carly felt like her dad didn’t care about them anymore. She was supporting the teacher her father was prosecuting. Josh was on the football team even though he’d rather be auditioning for the musical because he didn’t know how to tell David he didn’t want to play football. Zena Grey and Spencer Breslin were fine in the parts. Carly’s boyfriend Trey was around for a few scenes. Shawn Pyfrom was good in the part. Some people may recognize him as Andrew Van De Kamp on the television show Desperate Housewives. Justin Forrester was one of Carly’s teachers. He was accused of setting a fire inside a company’s lab. Justin said he had only been there looking for proof that animal testing was going on. It looked like all of his students supported him. Joshua Leonard really didn’t have much to do in the part. Most of his scenes had him sitting in court during the trial.
Ken Hollister was the district attorney that was planing to retire soon. He was keeping a close eye on Justin’s trial because it involved a big name company and was receiving a lot of publicity. Danny Glover was fine in the small part. Dr. Kozak was in charge at the lab and had the other scientists doing all sorts of illegal things. Kozak wanted to become famous for creating a certain type of drug and he was willing to do anything for that to happen. He acted a bit weird at times, but it worked for the character. Robert Downy Jr. was really good in the part. I also liked him in Gothika and Bowfinger. Two people were the main ones shown involved with Dr. Kozak’s plans. Larry and Dr. Gwen Lichtman were not nice characters. Jarrad Paul and Bess Wohl were fine in the parts. Jane Curtain had a small part as Judge Claire Whittaker. Justin’s attorney was played by Annabelle Gurwitch. The character didn’t even have a name. Lance Strictland, the owner of the company, was only briefly shown in a few scenes.
Main Cast
Tim Allen - David Douglas
Spencer Breslin - Josh Douglas
Jane Curtain - Judge Claire Whittaker
Kristin Davis - Rebecca Douglas
Robert Downey Jr. - Dr. Kozak
Danny Glover - Ken Hollister
Zena Grey - Carly Douglas
Annabelle Gurwitch - Justin’s attorney
Philip Baker Hall - Lance Strictland
Joshua Leonard - Justin Forrester
Jarrad Paul - Larry
Shawn Pyfrom - Trey
Bess Wohl - Dr. Gwen Lichtman
Brian Robbins - Director
The Shaggy Dog was a good family friendly movie. I thought it was still really entertaining even though it did get silly in places. People should remember that the movie is aimed at children and not expect too much from the movie. It is a remake of an older Disney movie which could bother some viewers. I only barely remember seeing the original on television when I was a child. I really don’t remember anything other than the fact that a man turned into a dog, so I don’t know how much it was changed for this version.
This is another movie that I would have given three and a half stars if I had the option. Since I don't, I rounded up to four.
Family Movie Reviews
Freaky Friday ~ The Haunted Mansion ~ Around the World in 80 Days ~ The Princess Diaries ~ The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement ~ Herbie: Fully Loaded ~ The Cat in the Hat ~ Garfield ~ Casper ~ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe ~ Nanny McPhee ~ The Muppet Show - Season One ~ The Muppet Movie ~ The Great Muppet Caper ~ The Muppet Christmas Carol ~
Recommended:
Yes
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