The Shaggy Dog film review

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THE SHAGGY DOG

"I'm not a bad dog, but I'm a terrible man," is not a line you hear too often. A giant frog with a bulldog's head is not a sight you see too often. Indeed, there are many unusual things in The Shaggy Dog, but sadly one thing that is all too rare is laughs. According to the dictionary, a shaggy dog story is defined as, "a long, rambling joke, typically involving ludicrously unreal or irrational behaviour and usually having an irrelevant conclusion." A better description of this nonsense would be hard to find.

Based on the 1959 film starring Fred MacMurray, Jean Hagen and Tommy Kirk, The Shaggy Dog is about a man who turns into a dog and as a result learns to become a better human. Based on this evidence, why anyone felt it was such a compelling story that it needed retelling remains in question. One theory is that with the advancement in special FX, the opportunity was there to better exploit the whole man becoming a dog element. If so, it was clearly an opportunity missed. Instead, it is the non-CGI scenes of Deputy District Attorney Dave Douglas (Tim Allen) cocking his leg in a bathroom stall, having his rear sniffed by a bunch of dogs and growling in court that are the film's staple level of humour.

The overly elaborate plot revolves around a dog possessed of an extraordinary genetic make-up that enables it to live forever. The film opens with the dog praying alongside Buddhist monks in a monastery. It is then captured by a team of American scientists who intend to harness its secret of eternal youth for profit and to cure their ailing boss, Lance Strickland (Philip Baker Hall). The dog is freed from the laboratory by Douglas' politically active young daughter Carly (Zena Grey), who brings it home where it promptly bites her dog-hating father.

Immediately Douglas starts showing canine characteristics. It starts with scratching his ear, then lapping up his cereal, licking his wife Rebecca (Kristin Davis) and chasing cats. Before long, he finds he has morphed fully into a big ol' Bearded Collie. The transformation is sporadic and temporary, so for Douglas' family half the time they are puzzled by his odd behaviour and the other half they wonder where he is and why the new family pet is acting so strangely. For Douglas, the opportunity to pass unnoticed amongst his family gives him a fresh perspective on them and the chance to hear what they really think of him.