Psycho's Movie Reviews #137: Good Boy! (1993)

Good Boy! is a 2003 American science fiction comedy film directed by John Hoffman, based on the book Dogs from Outer Space by Zeke Richardson; Hoffman and Richardson collaborated on the screen story, while Hoffman wrote the screenplay. The film stars Liam Aiken as Owen Baker, as well as the voices of Matthew Broderick, Delta Burke, Donald Faison, Brittany Murphy, Carl Reiner, Vanessa Redgrave, and Cheech Marin as the abundant dog characters in the film.

Plot

Owen Baker (Liam Aiken) is a 12-year-old who has been working as the neighbourhood dog-walker so he can earn the privilege of getting a dog of his own. Owen's hard work pays off when his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Baker (Kevin Nealon and Molly Shannon), let Owen adopt a scruffy Border Terrier that he names Hubble (voice of Matthew Broderick). Owen has little time to make lasting friends, due to his parents' renovation and reselling of houses, so he hopes Hubble will be his best friend.

Owen does have a friend named Connie Flemming (Brittany Moldowan), a girl his age who lives in the neighbourhood, but he is also bullied by two boys named Frankie (Hunter Elliott) and Fred (Mikhael Speidel). Soon after the adoption of Hubble, Owen finds out that his new abnormally intelligent dog actually came from outer space. Owen wakes up the next morning to discover that he can now understand every word Hubble says—including the ominous phrase: "Take me to your leaders."

Owen learns that dogs came to Earth thousands of years ago to colonize and dominate the planet. Hubble, who is really named Canid 3942, has been sent by the powerful Greater Dane (voice of Vanessa Redgrave) on a mission from the Dog Star Sirius 7 to make sure dogs have fulfilled this destiny.

The dogs Owen walks include pampered Poodle Barbara Ann (voiced by Delta Burke), rambunctious Boxer Wilson (voiced by Donald Faison), nervous Italian Greyhound Nelly (voiced by Brittany Murphy) and Connie's gassy Bernese Mountain Dog Shep (voiced by Carl Reiner).

Despite the best efforts of Owen and this rag-tag group of neighbourhood dogs to convince Hubble that everything is fine with Earth's dogs, Hubble soon discovers the awful truth about Earth dogs: "You're all pets!" Things get worse when Hubble learns that the Greater Dane is headed for Earth to do her own inspection. If things don't look right, all dogs on Earth will be recalled to Sirius.

Owen and Hubble have to work together to prepare the neighborhood dogs for a visit from the Greater Dane and her Chinese Crested Dog henchman (voiced by Cheech Marin). Owen, Hubble, Connie, and their canine pals set out to whip the other dogs into shape so that they can pass muster.

Owen's efforts fail and the Greater Dane recalls all dogs from Earth. Upset, Owen repairs Hubble's communicator and sends him a message declaring how much he loves him. The Greater Dane hears the message and is left curious by it so she approaches Hubble for his opinion on why the dogs on Earth are subservient to humanity when they should be ruling it. Hubble believes that the dogs and humans have formed a bond of love and loyalty. When asked where his own loyalty lies, Hubble asks the Greater Dane to refer to him as Hubble rather than Canid 3942, showing his bond with Owen. As a result, the Greater Dane sends the Earth dogs back and declares them a separate species. Hubble is allowed to return as well, but on the condition that he removes Owen's ability to communicate with dogs. Owen's parents choose to remain in town for once and Hubble starts to fit in as an Earth dog.

Production

In June 2002, it was announced MGM had greenlit Good Boy, a co-production with the Jim Henson Company about an alien dog coming to Earth from Sirius, the Dog Star, to investigate interstellar reports that his fellow canines have abandoned their original plan to take over the planet. During the announcement, both MGM and Henson representatives expressed intentions for the film to serve as a franchise with similar expansion to series such as Beethoven, Air Bud, and Balto.

Special effects

The bulk of the digital effects in Good Boy! involved digitally altering the facial features of the dogs so that in the film, they appear to be talking or expressing a different emotion (sometimes called CG muzzle replacement). These effects were produced by Rainmaker Studios.

Released/Reception/Box Office

The film's domestic total gross was around $37 million, with a worldwide gross of around $45 million. Good Boy! received mixed reviews from critics, earning a 44% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 87 reviews.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times criticized the film's special effects, saying "Sometimes it works to show their lips moving (it certainly did in Babe), but in Good Boy! the jaw movements are so mechanical it doesn't look like speech, it looks like a film loop. Look at Babe again and you'll appreciate the superior way in which the head movements and body language of the animals supplement their speech."

A stop-motion short film animated by the BBC, Hamilton Mattress, accompanied the film's theatrical release.

Good Boy! was released on DVD and VHS on March 2, 2004.

Budget $18 million

Box office $45.3 million

My Review

Based on the premise that dogs as we know them are descended from an ancient alien race that was originally meant to take over the planet but somehow got waylaid in its mission (possibly by one too many Milk Bones and scratches behind the ears), "Good Boy!" works not because it features talking dogs (though it does, thanks to Matthew Broderick and a handful of other actors not particularly known for their vocal talent) but because people wuv their widdle puppies.

It's a simple but extremely effective formula. Present a cute boy (Liam Aiken) and his even cuter dog (the aforementioned Broderick, playing the verbally advanced canine scout from another planet who has come to check up on his four-legged front line, but is temporarily detained when he is taken in as a pet). Now take the dog away from the boy -- in this case because the dog planet's supreme leader (Vanessa Redgrave as the "Greater" Dane) has decided that their mission has been an utter failure -- and step back and watch the waterworks flow. It's "Old Yeller" meets "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

I don't mean to be cynical about it either. I wasn't exactly dry-eyed myself when it looked like little Owen (Aiken) and his dog Hubble (as in the telescope, get it?) were going to be apart forever, thanks to the all-too-cozy relationships that have developed between masters (or mistresses) and mutts everywhere.

The genial humor, such as it is, is largely of the excretory variety. At a recent Saturday morning screening, frequent episodes of canine flatulence, bowel evacuation and sniggering references to Uranus, cockapoos and Shih Tzus made for the kind of laughs that can only come when you have a roomful of children watching dogs discuss their own poo-poo.

And what's the harm, really? Sure, part of me wishes the voice talent (which includes Brittany Murphy, Delta Burke, Rob Reiner and Donald Faison) had a little more, I don't know, edge. And whose idea was it to cast Molly Shannon and Kevin Nealon, playing Owen's nerd-ball parents, in the role of straight men?

Still, "Good Boy!" isn't trying to be another "Dr. Dolittle." Heck, it isn't even trying to be another "Dogs and Cats." When it comes right down to it, the talking animal thing is sort of secondary to what is, at heart, just a simple but perfectly satisfying little story about a boy who wants to keep his dog.

Overall, I do recommend you give this movie a watch just don't pay attention to other reviews, make your mind up on your own opinion. 6.8/10