'3 Black Chicks Review...'
My Dog Skip (2000) Rated PG; running time 95 minutes Genre: Family Drama IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0156812 Official site: http://www.mydogskip.com/ Written by: Gail Gilchriest (based on the book by Willie Morris) Directed by: Jay Russell Starring: Frankie Muniz, Diane Lane, Luke Wilson, Kevin Bacon, Caitlin Wachs, Bradley Coryell, Daylan Honeycutt, Cody Linley
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamsmydogskip.html
"Beyond The Mat" was the only movie I had planned on seeing this weekend; Diva had already reviewed "Erin Brockovich" (and I had no desire to see that one), I thought "Final Destination" would be too scary for me (ObHa: Ha!), and I had seen most of the other flicks showing at my local cineplex. But because a friend suggested I go see it when I get a chance, and because I got to the theater too early for "Beyond", I found myself watching "My Dog Skip" in the interim. I think I'll go back to sleeping in late on the weekend.
The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**): Willie Morris (Frankie Muniz), a young boy growing up in Yazoo, Mississippi in the 1940s, was the only child of Jack (Kevin Bacon) and Ellen Morris (Diane Lane); befriended only by an adult neighbor, Dink Jenkins (Luke Wilson), and picked-on by Big Boy Wilkinson (Bradley Coryell), Henjie Henick (Daylan Honeycutt) and Spit McGee (Cody Linley), Will was a very lonely boy once Dink went off to the Army during World War II--until Skip (Moose), a Jack Russell Terrier, came into his life.
The Upshot: Some books just don't translate well into movies; this one, like "Wonder Boys" before it, is one of those movies. The evidence that "proves" "My Dog Skip" is a piece meant to be read more than watched, comes from the necessity of the narration by Harry Connick Jr.; as written, if it weren't for that narration, the viewer wouldn't have the foggiest about what was going on. Far too many times, we were told, not shown, the motivations and actions of the characters; while this is to be expected of the dog--after all, he couldn't speak for himself--hearing Connick (as Adult Will) tell us over and over again that "Skip made me what I am! He helped me Grow! and Learn! and I kept Learning!" quickly got on my last nerve.
It didn't help that bits and pieces of this movie (based on a true story) felt like deja vu. We've seen the Picked-On Boy Battling Neighborhood Bullies ("The Boy Who Could Fly"), The Picked-On Boy Getting The Girl ("Forrest Gump"), the Picked-On Boy Getting Over On Adult Bad Guys ("Home Alone")--you get the picture. And the adult situations that we've not seen dealt with maturely before in a children's story--mainly, how returning vets deal with the effects of war--were given such short shrift in lieu of the dog's story [yes, I've seen the title. Still.], they may as well have not been addressed at all. True story or not, if the filming of this story had improved on those things we've already seen, or given a new twist to them, it wouldn't have been nearly the issue it was with me; but this treatment just left me bored, waiting for something to Happen. It never did.
The movie did have its charms, though. Muniz looked like he stepped right out of a Norman Rockwell painting, and his Southern accent was one of the few that stuck around throughout the entire flick; as Rivers Applewhite (what a name!), Caitlin Wachs was a very cute partner to Muniz; and the "Show And Tell" scene brought back fond grade school memories for me. Oh, I did so love show and tell...sigh
The one thing that didn't work in its favor was the dog itself. The "actor", Moose, is a regular on the TV series "Frasier"; I love the series, but don't care for the dog nor his character there, "Eddie". Likewise here in the movie, his "cute" factor quickly wore off, and all the poor kiddies drawn in by the cute commercials and trailers, saw everything that might possibly get their attention happen in the first 20 minutes or so; the rest was a rather trite trip down Nostalgia Lane for the oldsters amongst us.
I'd hate to think that, for a movie revolving around an animal to be any good, said animal would need to be either animated or voiced by a human; scoff if you will, but Harry Connick's narration in the place of Danny DeVito's voiceover as a dog in "Look Who's Talking Now", isn't much of a bargain. Uh, on second thought...
The "Black Factor" [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith]: A truly missed opportunity for this movie the came with handling the issue--hinted at in the film, but not really addressed--of segregation. We saw images on screen of Blacks being made to sit in the balcony at the local movie house, and Blacks playing ball separately from Whites, but other than a few "Colored people can't do so and so"'s here and there, it was as if the viewer was supposed to infer, from past knowledge, that there were racial problems in Will's life that he probably eventually came to grips with. But perhaps that's best, after all; I guess I should be happy that he wasn't made out to be the Civil Rights Crusader like his counterpart in "Crazy In Alabama", but, still. But boyo, Will sure did Learn from that dog of his, yessiree bob!
Bammer's Bottom Line: I'm sure this was a pretty sweet book. But as a movie, it just doesn't cut it; the kids in the audience were bored after the puppy grew up--and most of the adults had already fallen asleep well before then. "A dog" pretty much sums it up.
"My Dog Skip" (rating: yellowlight): In dog years, that's seven yellowlights.
3 Black Chicks...Movie Reviews With Flava! /~\ Rose "Bams" Cooper /','\ 3BlackChicks Enterprises /','`'\ Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 /',',','/`, EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com ICQ: 7760005 `~-._'c / http://www.3blackchicks.com/ `\ ( http://www.dealpilot.com/?partner=1987 /====\
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