User Reviews

Good Boy

This is a movie for dog lovers. If you like dogs, than you most likely will like this movie. The dogs were great. They looked good. There seemed to be little to no CGI interference with the dogs. The human actors left a lot to be desired, but the movie really wasn't about them anyway. Dogs are from space. They were supposed to colonize Earth, but have instead become pets. The dogs from the home star get mad and want to take away the Earth dogs. That's the basic plot behind the movie. Good for kids and adults who like dogs. Dogs are cool animals and need more movies. Sure the movie was silly, but at least it had dogs in it.

I noticed this film got a low rating, maybe these people were not dog lovers. I thought the plot, if it was a plot, about the the "alien" dog was a little thin but the dogs were wonderful, the boy was great. Sometimes it's just good to go to the movies the enjoy a sweet little no-nonsense film that's just there for pure entertainment. I was entertained.

Originally I was going to watch this movie in the theater, however, due to its poor review it bombed out and was dis-continued before I had a chance to get to see it on the big screen! To tell you the truth, I am glad, because, if I had seen this in the theater I would have been upset (because it is not worth the 12+ dollars <ticket, popcorn, soda, etc....>). I did enjoy it on video! I believe it is worth 3-5 dollars to view vhs/dvd in your home. It is silly but enjoyable! Also, I loved the facial expressions that Liam Aiken makes! Also, I am very pleased about the lack of profanity! Nice to see a movie that the whole family can watch!

This is a very entertaining lighthearted film, it's for anybody who has a pet. 12 year old Owen Baker(Liam Aiken) is a very lonely boy, who's best friends so far seem to be the neighbors dogs he walks everyday. Owen really wants one of his own. One day his parents take him to the pound to get one. He finds a cute dog and names him Hubble. But Owen slowly discovers, this is no ordinary dog. Who just happens to be a very intelligent dog from outer space. A pure delight for the whole family. Matthew Broderick is also good as the voice of Hubble. It's funny and delightful. Please don't quit making movies like this.

Animal movies are usually amusing, to some degree. Throw in Molly Shannon and Kevin Nealon, two good comedians, and it SHOULD have some hope. Not this clunker. How many times have stupid movies like this been made? Disney had "The Cat From Outer Space" some 30 or more years ago, and that was cute because, at that time, it was an original concept. It also fit well with the type of comedies coming out during that time. So now we have this movie, which simply altered the plot line a little and turned the cat in to a dog. This movie itself is a complete "dog". Vapid parental figures, too-cutesie kids who are so much smarter than the folks who sired them, and funny, space-dogs! This film would stink even it had been released as a made-for-TV movie, but then at least it wouldn't have cost you anything to change the channel if you didn't like it. Not worth the time or the money for rental or otherwise. Skip it, big time.

HORRIBLE! Absolutely HORRIBLE! I don't even know where to start with this excuse of a film. What really p***ed me off the most...was it the horrible and cheesy acting, or was it the plot that seemed to go no where. Or MAYBE was it the fact that I was watching this movie and looking at my dog wondering if my dog really came from another planet and arrived on this planet in a UFO. Perhaps...just perhaps this movie was the opposite of CATS AND DOGS. I really do not know how else to say it. This movie was possibly one of the worst movies that I have ever seen in my entire life time.

I truly pity any soul that has to go through this terrible experience and I send my deepest sympathies...

This movie about talking dogs from outer space is, among other things, a calibration of anti-climax. The most brilliant moment, in my humble opinion, is at the very beginning. The film opens up with a shot of a dogs flying through the air in slow motion. This opening scene, which gave us insight to the director's brilliant canine sensibilities, had me totally psyched for a great dog-flick. Before I explain how this movie failed, I should point out that I happen to be a huge dog fanatic. I have a massive, and borderline unhealthy love for dogs of every kind. This means that any shortcomings that a movie about talking dogs would normally have would, for me at least, be made up for in the sheer presence of dogs. Not the case. Despite adorable, hilarious dogs in almost every frame, I still couldn't wait for this movie to be over.

The plot is pretty simple: dog crashes spaceship on earth, gets adopted by young dog lover, tells the boy and local dogs that dogs were originally intended to run the world, tries to get these pets into shape before the 'greater Dane' shows up to check on world-domination progress. Of cause it ends with the dog 'falling in love' with the boy and deciding that being a pet isn't so bad after all. Simple, right? Very. As far as the plot goes, I really have no major problems other than it being terribly predictable at every corner (at times, I felt like I was watching a dog version of Toy Story). The plot is used to deliver a simple message, which is: dogs and humans need each other. They have a very special relationship. And I'm not going to lie, I cried. Technically speaking, the movie was very well shot. I don't know how they found such well-trained dogs, but most of the time I completely forgot that the dog in the screen does not in reality have any clue what a movie is. I felt like I was watching actual actors whose movements were all so graceful and precise. The problem arose with the usual suspects: the human actors and their characters. Lets start with Kevin Nealon and Molly Shannon as the parents of the main dog-loving character. I'd say there was really nothing WRONG with their performance, but I found it odd that they cast former SNL cast members to play roles that my very own parents could have nailed on the first take. Nealon and Shannon carry so much residual atmosphere with them, that the whole time I kept thinking that their performances were somehow meant to be humorous in ways that I wasn't picking up on. In truth they were just ordinary mom and dad. Once I got used to this idea, I was fine. The biggest problem was in another actor, who portrayed nothing more than the voice of the main dog. This actor was so unconvincing as a dog ambassador from space that whenever his dog had lines, all I could think about was how unimpressive of a human being the actor is. Of course I could be talking about none other than Mathew Broderick. It has occurred to me that Mathew Broderick couldn't be convincing if his role were to play an untalented actor. Please don't interrupt my anti-Broderick rant with thoughts of how much you loved Ferris Beuler's Day Off. I understand. We all loved that movie. And when Broderick was younger, fine, I'll admit it looked like he had potential. But as of right now the only potential he has involves greeting customers at Wallmart. The other major problem was the characters. With the exception of the dogs, I didn't care in the least about any of the characters. And I could identify fully with pretty much all of them, especially the main character who is a young dog lover with no friends and parents who think he's crazy. Yet despite the connection on paper, there's something so saccharine about the characters and their acting, that the character-to-audience relationship just doesn't seem real. When I had mentioned earlier that I cried, I should probably point out that I did not cry because I cared in the least about the characters. I cried mostly because it made me think of a few dogs I lost as a kid, and partially because I had just realized that I might be allergic to nougat. As I was leaving the screening, I heard a fellow critic say to someone, "It was better than a movie about dogs from space has any right being." This might have been true from a technical standpoint. But the fact that a dog-drenched movie couldn't get a dog lover like myself on its leash means that there was obviously too much missing for it to be a good movie.

This movie is a little better than OK. It's wholesome entertainment that makes the not-terribly-original point that people and dogs have a special bond. And maybe it says a little about the alienation some children feel when growing up in a two-career suburban family.

The boy at the center of the film, Owen, is pleasant without stealing the show from the talking dogs. The girl who befriends him is equally pleasant and also not a show-stealer. The two boys who torment our hero and the dogs are sort of standard issue neighborhood bullies. Owen's dad is a stereotypical clueless father.

Owen's mom, however, is an interesting character. I think she's being played as an essentially decent woman who is too caught up in her real estate wheelings and dealings to notice that her son is lonely and a little depressed. However, to me she comes off as really creepy: a rootless, valueless suburban capital gains huckster who would sell the family home (and her son's happiness) in an instant it there was a buck to be made in it.

So why is this movie a little better than average? Well, the dogs are fun. The voice-over work is nicely-cast (old trooper Carl Reiner is especially good), the dogs get some funny lines, and some good computer work makes the dogs look pretty convincing at mouthing their lines.

I decided to write this because I'm annoyed with the review this movie got in the L.A. Times. It's their right to pan any movie, of course, but it bugs me when a reviewer dismissively puts down a movie like this because it's no Citizen Kane, or even Citizen Canine. Well, gee, it's a talking dog movie. It's not supposed to be deep.

This movie isn't worth your time, or your kids' time. It plods along and never gets beyond mediocre. The script is the doldrums, and the characters are blank. Really, save your money and don't see this movie.

I have seen this movie today. Whatever critics say, it's not a bad movie overall. I think Good Boy is a must see movie for dog lovers, very good movie for kids and above average funny and enjoyable movie for adults.

Plot looks not great but have some of originality. It's not simply a dogs movie, it's a cute heart-warming movie about friendship and loyalty not only between dogs and human, but between people too. Acting are not bad, young Liam Aiken have reasonably good performance. Typical PG movie - without any violence and profanity with some crude humor. So , it's a good movie for whole family. Clearly, not great, but worth to see or at least to rent.

6,8 out of 10, but if I would be a few years younger, I could rate it higher.

This was such a bad movie. I wished I could have fallen asleep instead of continuing to watch it. The music was so slow and sleepy, you would think they would have had something more upbeat. But it was just booooooring.

I Remember Watching Good Boy

When I Was A Kid

I Watched This All The Time

I thought that the plot was pretty creative, as was the writing. Two or three jokes related to bodily functions, but mostly they were cute jokes with creative insight on what a dog might say to us if we could understand them. Also, some creative insight on what a dog's place is in this world and who is really in charge of who. Some of the acting was a little stale(no academy awards here), but most of the acting was good to very good. My test is the "suspension of dis-belief" test. Can I forget reality long enough to accept the story line and think of the actors as the characters they are portraying? The answer here was yes. The acting was good enough that I suspended my dis-belief and was able to enjoy the story line and the humor. My kids are 7 and 4 1/2 and they loved it. For them, I will almost surely end up buying it. I would give it a 7 out of 10.

A little too far out for my taste but my grandkids thought it was a terrific movie. The animals were cute and the little boy that played the lead was good. I wish they would make another dog movie that wasn't quite so far out however, more like a remake of "Lassie" maybe!

Something that totally drives me up the wall is when adults go into movies like this expecting "Gone With the Wind". It's a KIDS movie...the plot will be light, the acting maybe not so hot, and the jokes a bit lame at times. That is expected. You have to take each movie for what it is trying to achieve. This movie is trying to be a fun two hours without taking itself too seriously. And it does that very well. I am an educated movie-goer and I enjoyed this film very much. The actors chosen to provide the voices for the dogs were well selected and I am hoping to see more out of Liam Aiken in the next few years.

Cute dogs, cute laughs, cute movie.

Good Boy! is an insulting, abysmal little film, providing one with the substantial food-for-thought of a knock-knock joke and the contemplative drama of a juice-box riddle. It tells the childish and dreadful story of Owen Baker (Liam Aiken), a twelve-year-old boy who serves as the neighborhood dog-walker so he can prove to his parents he's responsible enough to own a dog of his own.

When he finally proves he's responsible enough, dear little Owen asks his dim-witted parents to take him to the pound so that he can pick out the dog of his choice. He settles on a little terrier he saw while walking dogs, who comes bearing what appears to be a moon-rock around his collar. He names him Hubble, but it isn't long before he realizes that Hubble is much smarter than he had thought. Upon training him, seeing that Hubble can perform several tricks flawlessly, he realizes that Hubble (voiced by Matthew Broderick) can talk like a real human. Hubble's real name is "Canid 3942," and informs Owen that dogs were sent to Earth hundreds of years ago in order to dominate and enslave the human race. Turns out, dogs became the humans' pets rather than the other way around.

Hubble's prime responsibility, being sent from the higher dog-authority "Greater Dane" (Vanessa Redgrave), who resides on a planet called "Dog Star Sirius 7," was to make sure that dogs are fulfilling their responsibility and are in control. Turns out, they've failed miserably, and after receiving this knowledge, Hubble informs them that Earth is on the verge of a massive recall back to Sirius 7.

There are films like Shiloh that help enforce the idea that humans shape dogs but dogs shape humans in addition, and shows the great lengths a boy will go to protect and ensure the safety of his pet. Then there are films like Good Boy! that cheapen this kind of important and significant relationship like a poor sitcom. This is simply an asinine film with a barrage of weak jokes, inane ideas about even the very possibility that dogs are trying to take over Earth, and an woefully unsubstantial affair for young kids who need to be informed of the benefits of a relationship with an animal.

Those who defend Good Boy! can make the easy, go-to argument that the film is "cute" and possesses a family-friendly attitude that should be embraced. All I can say that if everything "cute" was embraced and safe from any type of criticism whatsoever, we'd have the frothiest, most artificial society that would've never had any such thing as a Disney or a Pixar to show us that narrative strength and themes are also components of family-friendly entertainment.

Starring: Liam Aiken, Kevin Nealon, and Molly Shannon. Voiced by: Matthew Broderick, Delta Burke, Donald Faison, Brittany Murphy, and Carl Reiner. Directed by: John Hoffman.

..... and a good one it is!

Just silly and light hearted enough to keep you laughing and watching! A group of highly characterized earth dogs get a visit from a fellow dog from the star Sirius. And of course a little boy finds his dog in the outer space dog.

A fun and entertaining goofy flick for all dog lovers and people that have had a significant pet in their life. Yes, you'll feel sorry for the little boy and you'll laugh at many slap stick situations the 'kids & dogs' get themselves into.

A funny fun movie for all!

I loved Good Boy! My 13-year-old Shih Tzu (Good Boy: "This isn't a Shih Tzu!") loves it. I love the actors, the scenery, the movie. And since this movie, and watching "Scrubs" with Donald Faison, and Faison as the boxer; OMG, I keep telling Maggie Mae when she's gone I'm replacing her with a boxer I hope looks exactly like 'Wilson' in Good Boy. I love their looks; I love Faison's 'Wilson,' and I love the concept of Good Boy. I love the acting, script, production, writing,directing and cinematography. Thank you Richardson and Hoffman.

It's perfect for kids, dogs, and this 61-year-old Grandma who owns a Shih Tzu. Maggie Mae barks excitedly when hearing the barking dogs. I enjoy the "what if dogs could speak."

This cast could have made one hell of a good movie, with a different script and a diffetent kind of movie.

I found Good Boy! while flipping through channels this afternoon and was pulled in to watch it all. There is not other word for the movie but cute--it is not great art, but a delightful little fantasy about dogs and people and their special bond.

The voice actors for the dogs are excellent, with a special shout out for Brittany Murphy's nervous Nelly--quite touching. There is not much computerized distortion of the dogs' appearance so the dogs are cute and natural. If you are going to make a movie about dogs, it is nice to see real dogs. Hubble is adorable!

The acting is a little stiff and formulaic from most characters, but Liam Aiken gives an amazingly natural and touching performance. I cared about this kid and Hubble the dog. I admit to a few tears at the end. Nice for the whole family--even my cat-person son liked this.

Unlike the previous reviewer, I thought this film was quite delightful. Some well known actors give the canines voices to match their personalities (caninalities?) while both humor and pathos abound. Children will no doubt enjoy the ET-like story, but there is more than one message for dog lovers of all ages. The young boy is not unlike the main character in ET, a lonely child who needs a friend, and Liam performs extremely well in the role. I also found the supporting cast convincing and not at all "cheesy". Three cheers for the different breeds who take part in this movie, my only regret being that my favorite, Samoyed, was not included.

I went to see this movie because I am a fan of Liam Akin's.

I wasn't expecting much out of the movie, though.

But the movie turned out to be better than I expected.

It had a few flavors of "Benji" and "The Cat From Outter Space" mixed into it.

A definite must-see for people who have children or nieces and nephews.