Plot: What’s it about?
A pharmaceutical company thinks it has unlocked the secret of immortality, a way to extend life and cure all ailments. The source of this great power that man has searched for centuries to find? The secret lies within a special breed of Tibetan sheep dogs. Grant and Strickland, the drug firm, believes the dogs can yield a serum that prevents the aging process. Of course, if this serum could be created and worked on humans, Dr. Kozak (Robert Downey, Jr.) would be rich beyond his wildest dreams, as would numerous others at the company. In order to get the serum however, experiments must be undertaken on the animals, experiments which carry some dangers to the subjects involved. But before the experiments can be completed, some animal activist teens steal the dog from the lab, with plans to never return it. One of the teens involved is the daughter of Dave Douglas (Tim Allen), who is about to learn all he ever wanted to know about a dog’s life and more. The dog bites Douglas and soon, he finds himself transformed into a pooch himself. Will he ever find out to how to reverse the bite’s side effects and in the process, can he learn some important life lessons?
The remake trend continues and once again, Disney takes one of its older family films and tries to reinvent the wheel for a new audience. Of course, Tim Allen has to be on hand, since his revamped career is built on roles in family oriented films. Allen is miserable here. I liked him in The Santa Clause, but he is so forced and unfunny in most of his other family movie roles. At least in this case, he is turned into a dog for some of the film, so while a small favor, it helps. Of course, even if Allen wanted to hand in a good performance, it would be hard with this kind of lame material and poor direction. The original Shaggy Dog movie was hokey, but had some laughs and seemed to understand its purpose. This new version doesn’t understand that and instead of just trying to offer some moderate entertainment, forces the humor and falls flat each time. This movie lacks entertainment, emotion, and imagination, an abomination if I’ve ever seen one. A total bore that I wouldn’t recommend to my worst enemy, The Shaggy Dog is better left unseen.
Video: How does it look?
The Shaggy Dog is presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen, with a full frame edition also included on this dual layer disc. I hate it when both formats are squeezed onto the same side of a disc, as it usually means the visuals suffer. This release is no exception. Then again, perhaps the transfer was mediocre to begin with, but I suspect it is lessened by the lack of available space. You’ll notice a lot of grain, which is inexcusable for such a new movie, as well as compression artifacts and other woes. The grain impacts the contrast, which is too dark, though colors seem to hold up. This movie is a new release and made a fast leap to home video, so there is just no excuse for this presentation.
Audio: How does it sound?
A Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is used here, but the material doesn’t ask much of it beyond the basics. The pop driven music comes through well, with a lot of life and presence that spices up the experience a lot. But the music sometimes overpowers the other elements, though never to an extreme degree, so no worries there. The rest of the elements sound more than solid, but never rise above passable levels. A handful or so scenes have some added presence, but on the whole, the mix is basic and reserved. The material doesn’t need explosive audio however, so the experience is still fine and more than acceptable. The dialogue is crisp and clean throughout, with no signs of trouble in the slightest. The full frame version has French and Spanish language tracks, while the widescreen edition only has subtitles in English, Spanish, and French.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The film’s director Brian Robbins is joined by producer David Hoberman, but unless they offer an address for refunds, I’m not interested. You can also check out a reel of bloopers and some deleted scenes.
