SYNOPSIS:
Disney's irresistible talking puppies are back in an all-new movie that takes them where no Buddy has gone before -- the moon! With the help of some stellar new friends, this out-of-this-world adventure is one small step for dog, one giant leap for dogkind. Moving at warp speed, dodging asteroids and more, the Buddies and their two new friends, Spudnick and Gravity, must summon their courage and ingenuity to launch plans for a moon landing and a rocketing trip back home. Will they have the right stuff? Overflowing with intergalactic action and heart, SPACE BUDDIES is an amazing tale of teamwork and loyalty that celebrates the journey of life and the friendships made along the way. It's Buddy-loving fun your family will enjoy again and again.
MOVIE REVIEW:
There is a reason why movies like this get made. If you think about it, there must be a market out there to entice the filmmakers (some may scorn the fact that they are referred to as “filmmakers) to produce this kiddie fare involving talking dogs and flying spaceships. With a tagline like “One Small Step For Dog. One Giant Leap For Dogkind.”, was Disney expecting a movie event that will bring in loads of cash for them? Well, considering that this is a straight to video release, and it’s also released on, gasp, blu-ray, we are guessing that Disney does have a certain level of confidence in the movie.
After the slew of movies (some theatrical, some straight to video releases) about these talking puppies, this latest instalment takes them to, beat this, the moon. Together with their new friends, these adorable (it depends on which camp you are on, really) canines must gather their bravery and intelligence to launch plans for a moon landing, as well as a rocketing trip back home.
You know better than to be too serious about this genre of movies. If you are no fan of, get ready for this – Air Bud (1997), Air Bud: Golden Retriever (1998), Air Bud: World Pup (2000), Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch (2002), Air Bud: Spikes Back (2003), Air Buddies (2006) and Snow Buddies (2008), then you may want to skip this as well.
Unless, it’s your kids whom you are trying to pacify.
Sure, we know how Disney movies have wholesome messages of teamwork, loyalty and friendship. But to approach this movie with dull humour, not so great acting and a considerable amount of preachiness, it may prove to be too much for some to take. And then you get some unknown child actors (Josh Flitter, Jason Earles, Skyler Gisondo or Henry Hodges, anyone?) to voice the puppies, that would not appeal to young viewers. At all.
Because dogs in real life don’t talk, this movie relies a lot on computer generated effects. While we normally do not have much qualms about computer effects, if you look really closely at this one, you can see that the mouth movements seem kind of unnatural – but we would be nitpicking too much, especiallly this is a straight to home video relase.
The movie would probably do a good job in keeping the kids occupied for 84 minutes. It’d also appeal to the lazy babysitter who wants to spend more time on the phone. Whatever it is, we just heard there is yet another instalment in the pipeline – Santa Buddies.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains quite a bit of bonus features, even though the movie is a straight to video release. First up, there is a three minute Buddy Bloopers, a collection of mock bloopers (you weren’t thinking that the dogs could really talk, were you?) which should amuse the kids for a while. The “Dancing in the Moonlight” Music Video performed by Disney Channel’s Alyson Stoner proves that Disney does have quite a bit of budget, producing a music video for this. DisneyPedia: The Buddies’ Guide to Space Travel is a 13 minute featurette which is rather informative, and feeds you facts of what happens to astronomers when they travel to space. You also get to see how the canine actors are hung in mid air and placed against green screens for the movie. Buddy Facts allow you to watch the movie with occasional pop up trivia about anything from the cast to interesting dog facts.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The disc’s visual transfer is pristinely clear, while there are 5.1 Dolby English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Thai audio tracks to choose from.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
|
