Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 A Talking Dog Comes from Outer Space: OK Family Picture, Apr 2, 2023
'Good Boy!' is a family-oriented picture about the friendship between a lonely boy and a dog coming from outer space. Actually, all the dogs living on the Earth are originally from another planet. Am I boring you? But this is the basic story of 'Good Boy!' which, surprisingly, remained in the US Top 10 box-office hit chart for three weeks. Anyone who has a soft spot for dogs would love the film. And what if you don't? You still may like it, or may be diappointed with it. It depends partly on whether or not you have seen 'ET.'
I'm not saying 'Good Boy!' is a rip-off. It has some originality, and very clever dogs too. Well, here's the original concept. American boy Owen (Liam Aiken) has one such dog named Hubble (perfectly voiced by Matthew Broderick). Hubble can do 'sit' 'stay' roll over' and even 'play dead' even though it's only yesterday that Owen adopted this terrier. And suddenly Owen realizes the reason. For Owen starts to understand what the dogs are talking after a very weird accident happened to him.
See? Don't say 'Doctor Dolittle' now, for world-weary Hubble has actually a mission; he has to report how the Earth Dogs are ruling the planet. According to him, dogs are supposed to dominate the humans instead of being the best friend of them, and if they fail to do so, they are transported back to the home ... it starts to sound like 'ET' again.
For all its stock characters and weak jokes, 'Good Boy!' is not a bad film, and it convincingly shows the bond between Owen and Hubble. All the dogs (voice cast including Brittany Murphy and Carl Reiner) are lovable, and the dog trainers did a great job to make them act like humans, without using too many CGIs. Compared to them, Molly Shannon and Kevin Nealon who play the parents of Liam Aiken's boy do not fare well, for they are not required to do much in the film.
But the film fails to develop the original concepts about the origin of the dogs, and the 90 minutes of the film looks padded out with silly jokes including obligatory fart gags for children. The dog's great leader 'The Greater Dane' (voiced by none other than Vanessa Redgrave) visits the Earth to inspect the Earth Dogs and ... nothing remarkable happens in the story. The "henchman" of Her Majesty looks like a rat in a wig (voiced by Cheech Marin), and that's all. First-time director John Roberts Hoffman completely misses this great opportunity to match these voice talents to make good laughs, and that's only one of the many examples of his inept decisions.
'Good Boy!' is good when it focuses upon the universal theme -- frienship, and on that score I think it is successful. But as to its interesting premises, they need more improvements or better ideas than disrupted radio contact, flying high in the air, and a big UFO. Steven Spielberg has already shown all of them.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Great for all dog lovers!, Feb 22, 2023
I was so pleasantly surprised by this movie. I'll admit, though, that I had low expectations because most kids' movies are ridiculous. I hadn't expected to sit and watch it with my child, but I found myself pulled in through this whole movie from the beginning all the way through till the very last great line of the movie. It may seem like a copy of other movies in certain ways, but it is so well done, funny, sweet and poignant. And the little boy who stars in it does a wonderful job. A great "feel good" movie for dog lovers especially!
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 A Great Movie For The Little Ones..., Feb 11, 2023
Well, my kids really enjoy this movie. They can actually sit through the whole movie & they are only 2 & 3 1/2. I don't want to make too many comments for the adults because I'm sure most adults aren't going to buy this just for themselves. I wouldn't recommend that but if you were looking for a movie to please your kids then I'd highly recommend this movie. I think all kids up to the age of 8 or so would enjoy this movie. Basically the story is that this little boy all of a sudden finds that he can hear everything that dogs say. Supposedly there is a planet out there made of up all dogs & Hubble the boy's dog has just been sent from there to grade the dogs on earth. So, like I said this is a movie I'd recommend for kids but adults might think it's a little far-fetched.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Terrible!, Dec 24, 2022
I have never not been able to sit through a rated G movie. However, my sister and I rented this thinking it would be a funny show, and it was so terribly BORING that I was forced to leave the room. I couldn't believe it because I love movies. I can see how this movie would be funny for a 6 year old boy to watch, but don't count on the parents or older siblings being able to sit through it.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Good Boy, Bad Movie, Dec 11, 2022
"Good Boy!" plays a bit like a low budget "E.T." on acid. It tells the story of a lonely suburban boy named Owen who becomes best friends with a dog from outer space whose vehicle crash lands in a nearby woods. The pooch gives Owen the ability to communicate verbally with him and all the other dogs in the neighborhood. Thus, we have the umpteenth variation on the talking animal syndrome begun so successfully with "Babe" almost ten years ago. "Good Boy," in a way, is for all those who expected "Snow Dogs" to feature chatty canines only to discover that the dogs in that movie spoke only in one very short fantasy sequence (the ads for the film did a good job bamboozling patrons into thinking otherwise).
"Good Boy," which does feature a cast of jabbering canines, proves that we've come a long way since "Babe" - and not, I'm sorry to say, in the right direction. Despite voiceover work from some pretty impressive big name actors (Matthew Broderick, Delta Burke, Cheech Marin, Vanessa Redgrave), "Good Boy" is one ghastly little movie, fine for those between the ages of 5 and 10, I suppose, but worthless for just about anyone else. Adults will be frankly bored by this low grade little fantasy that offers a dopey plot, inane dialogue, cheesy special effects and enough flatulence jokes to keep 'em rolling in the aisles at the local nursery school (fart jokes seem to be practically a prerequisite for any film aimed at the grade school set these days). The screenplay wobbles back and forth between half-assed cynical wisecracks and goopy sentimentality regarding the eternal verities of man/dog relationships. I realize that very young kids may take to this film, but don't they really deserve better?
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Based on 30 reviews.