My Dog Skip (Keepcase packaging)
by Jay Russell
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DVD Cover Information
Author: Willie MorrisActor: Diane Lane, Frankie Muniz, Kevin Bacon, Luke Wilson
Director: Jay Russell
Brand: Warner Brothers
Producer: Jay Russell
Producer: Mark Johnson
Producer: John Lee Hancock
Producer: Broderick Johnson
Producer: Andrew A. Kosove
Producer: Marty Ewing
Writer: Gail Gilchriest
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-08-01
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 76583
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of My Dog Skip (Keepcase packaging)
Movie Review: A gentle, happy, and intelligent movie for the entire family (finally).
Summary: 5 Stars
MY DOG SKIP takes place in Yazoo, Mississippi during World War II. The characters include a boy, Kevin Bacon (famous movie star) as the boy's father, the boy's mother, Luke Wilson (Reese Witherspoon's lawyer boyfriend in LEGALLY BLONDE), three boys who are bullies, and two moonshiners (the evil element). One of the moonshiners is Clint Howard (brother of Ronnie Howard -- former boy actor from THE MUSIC MAN and THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW). Also, the characters include Skip (a dog), played by a young dog and an old dog.
The story is episodic and has no real plot except for the fact that the story takes place on the stage of life. If there is any real plot, it is the fact that the boy is initially a sissy and is picked on by a trio of three bullies (a fat boy, a dirty-faced boy, and a blank-expressioned boy). But the birthday gift of a dog has the effect of making the boy somewhat more popular. The boy is initiated as a friend with the three bullies. The intiation takes the form of an evening spent in the town graveyard. Thereafter, the four boys become friends, and play baseball together. Eventually, when Skip (the dog) runs away from home, the three bullies (formerly bullies, now friends) help to look for the dog.
Skip the dog serves as a common theme for the movie, which helps overcome the fact that the film consists of a bunch of "situations" or "episodes." These situations, many of which are bittersweet, include the following:
(1) Kevin Bacon is a sour-pussed father and initially threatens to get rid of the dog, a gift for the boy's birthday. The father warns that the family should not have a dog, because dogs eventually die and cause grief in children. But the mom refuses to get rid of the dog, whisks the father's cigar from his mouth, and puts the cigar in her own mouth, in an act of defiance. The dog is kept in the family.
(2) Two bad men (moonshiners) go about their business by hiding bottles of liquor in a stone building in the town graveyard. This adds suspense and scariness to the movie. The bad men are too scary for children of the age of six and below. But children of seven or above might find them intriguing and not too scary. Ron Howard's brother Clint is instantly recognizable, because of his ugliness. Towards the end of the movie, one of the bad men whacks the dog with a shovel. The dog appears near death. But with the help of a veterinarian, the dog is revived.
(3) The older boy living next door (Luke Wilson) is initially the town hero, at least among children, because he is good at high school sports. However, upon joining the war effort, he proves to be a coward on the battlefield in Europe. When he returns home, the film discloses that he has become an alcoholic.
(4) Skip is a popular dog in the town of Yazoo, and the butcher provides him with scraps of meat, and the townsfolk wave to him as he trots up and down the sidewalks of Yazoo.
(5) The boy tries to enroll Skip as an army dog. But at the recruiting office, Skip flunks the obedience test. When asked to sit the dog lies down. When asked to roll over, the dog chases his own tail.
MY DOG SKIP is notable for the intelligent writing of its episodes. MY DOG SKIP is also to be commended for the skillful acting. One can easily name a half dozen children's movies that are contrived, stupid, or acted with the subtlety of THE THREE STOOGES. In contrast, MY DOG SKIP is a welcome breath of thespian fresh air.
In passing, I might name another finely acted movie about a child (a little boy) that deals with separation of a boy from his mother, and eventual re-joinder. This fine movie is: UNDER THE SAME MOON, featuring, Eugenio Derbez, Kate del Castillo, Adrian Alonso, and Maya Zapata.
Summary of My Dog Skip (Keepcase packaging)
MY DOG SKIP - DVD MovieThis boy-and-his-dog movie, a nonpareil family film, is, as one of the characters so aptly puts it, "a heartbreak waiting to happen." Frankie Muniz, winning over audiences in the TV series Malcolm in the Middle, has competition in My Dog Skip--Skip himself (adorably played by a total of six Jack Russell terriers). Muniz, an inveterate charmer, stars as Willie Morris (from whose memoir the film is adapted), a gawky, awkward boy growing up during World War II under an overly protective father (Kevin Bacon). When his mom (Diane Lane) gives him Skip on his 9th birthday, his life is changed in every way for the better. Previously disinterested peers become pals, and he experiences puppy love with a girl named Rivers (Caitlin Wachs). There are plenty of high jinks and rah-rah touches of Americana, and the film also attempts to deal with sophisticated emotions--Willie's boyhood hero turns out to be less than heroic--but its devastating emotional core comes, simply and obviously, with Skip's eventual aging and demise. Dog lovers will be wiped out; those who don't care for canines shouldn't even be bothering to read this review. (Ages 8 and older) --David Kronke
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