My Dog Skip (2000) Frankie Muniz, Diane Lane, Luke Wilson, Kevin Bacon, Caitlin Wachs, Bradley Coryell, Daylan Honeycutt, Cody Linley and Harry Connick Jr. Written by Gail Gilchriest, based on the book by Willie Morris. Directed by Jay Russell. 95 minutes PG, 2.5 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo.com Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/ReviewsBy?Edward+Johnson-Ott To receive reviews by e-mail at no charge, send subscription requests to ejohnsonott@prodigy.net or e-mail ejohnsonott-subscribe@onelist.com with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
At one point in "My Dog Skip," the narrator states that his beloved pet appeared to be "possessed of a wisdom as old as time itself." A wisdom as old as time itself? Excuse me, but aren't we talking about an animal known for licking its balls (not that there's anything wrong with that) and eating poo? Hey, if Skip is so damn smart, why didn't he write his own life story? The lack of opposable thumbs may have been a factor, but I suspect the main reason was because the pooch was busy learning to balance just right so that he could drink out of the toilet.
"My Dog Skip" is a classic example of Hollywood overkill. Based on Willie Morris' memoir of growing up in Yazoo City, Mississippi during World War II, the film takes a series of nostalgic vignettes and trusses them up in schmaltzy music and overwrought drama. As if that wasn't enough, we must suffer though a cheesy voice-over narrative that adds absolutely nothing to the production, although it does occasionally provide a few unintended laughs.
For example, as we watch the dog trotting through various neighborhoods in the segregated town, the narrator informs us that Skip was "colorblind" and above the overt racism of the era. Oh, give me a break. He was foraging for food, pure and simple. Taking a dog that views his town as a giant buffet and painting him as a four-legged ambassador for the Rainbow Coalition is just plain stupid.
There is a nice little "boy and his dog" story beneath all the bullshit, anchored by two appealing performers. "Malcolm in the Middle" star Frankie Muniz plays Willie Morris and the young actor is as unaffected and genuine here as he is on TV. Moose, the terrier best known as Eddie on "Frasier," is one of several dogs portraying the adorable Skip. Together, they serve as a welcome antidote to the more turgid elements of the production.
What's odd and annoying about "My Dog Skip" is how the filmmakers take a can't-miss premise and gunk it up. As anyone who has ever seen "Frasier" will attest, Moose can do every trick in the book. That's all well and good, but the mixture of bittersweet realism and a dog who is more physically adroit than most of the cast members doesn't really gel. It's hard to focus on painful truths when poochie is leaping around like one of the Flying Wallendas.
Most of the pathos, incidentally, is not contained in Morris' book. A subplot about Willie's next door neighbor, Dink Jenkins (Luke Wilson), a popular jock disgraced during his military service, is made up, as is the business about Willie's father, Jack (Kevin Bacon), being embittered over losing a leg in the Spanish Civil War.
While the period details are dead on, attempts to make everything look like an animated Norman Rockwell painting get a bit strained, with most of the children resembling extras from an "Our Gang" comedy. Check out the smallest of the three neighborhood bullies in the film. The powers that be decided he would look cuter, or more authentic, or something, with dirt on his face, so the poor kid spends the entire movie with various smudges around his mouth, while his pals remain relatively clean. Weird. Very weird.
But the most maddening part of the film is unquestionably the narrative. In the weighty observations of the full-grown Willie (Harry Connick Jr.), everything is poignant and each incident marks another step in his ridiculously measured coming of age. "At that moment I stopped being a child and became a boy," he intones. What? At the moment I heard that, I stopped being a critic and became an irritated man checking his watch.
Despite its many problems, I still enjoyed "My Dog Skip," thanks almost completely to the considerable charm of Frankie Muniz and the various canines playing Skip. But oh, how much better this film could have been if Gail Gilchriest, the writer who adapted Morris' memoir, had shown up for work and said, "Folks, I'm afraid we're going to have to stick to the book after all. Why? Well, because my dog ate the screenplay."
© 2000 Ed Johnson-Ott
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