Dog o' Day
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Barking at the Big Screen: Air Buddies

By Wesley Coburn

INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA - APRIL 24: Cloned puppies play at the detector dog training centre of the Korea Customs Service on April 24, 2008 in Incheon, Korea. The seven Golden Retriever clones, also known as Toppy - an abbreviation of tomorrow's puppy - were born in 2007 and have so far passed all tests during training as sniffer dogs and will begin working for the Korean Customs Services later in the year. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA - APRIL 24: Cloned puppies play at the detector dog training centre of the Korea Customs Service on April 24, 2008 in Incheon, Korea. The seven Golden Retriever clones, also known as Toppy - an abbreviation of tomorrow's puppy - were born in 2007 and have so far passed all tests during training as sniffer dogs and will begin working for the Korean Customs Services later in the year. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images) /
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Air Bud’s puppies are ready for action in Air Buddies.

Air Buddies is the first of eight in a spin-off series of films following the Air Bud series ended with Spikes Back. It was made in 2006 and released directly to video.

Buddy can talk now (voiced by Tom Everett Scott), and so can Molly (Molly Shannon).

Buddy’s puppies are collectively known as the Air Buddies, and they consist of Budderball (football, Josh Flitter), B-dawg (basketball, Skyler Gisando), Buddha (baseball, Dominic Scott Kay), Mudbud (volleyball, Spencer Fox) and Rosebud (soccer, Abigail Breslin).

Storyline

The puppies create a huge mess of their sitter’s yarn, which means it’s time for them to find new homes.

They stage a breakout in order to stay together, only to get captured by trophy hunters, who are using them as bait to get Buddy and Molly.

The dognappers capture Buddy and Molly, and the puppies decide to mount a rescue.

They first seek the help of Sheriff Bob’s Bloodhound Deputy Sniffer (Don Knotts), but the dog is too elderly to be much help.

There are several skirmishes at the drive-in movie theater between the dognappers and puppers, and then with the help of their new friend Billy (Wallace Shawn), a goat, they beat up the dognappers on the farm from Seventh Inning Fetch.

A friendly wolf (Michael Clarke Duncan) guides the puppies to the vineyard where Buddy and Molly are being held, while Sniffer leads Noah and his friend Henry to the same location.

The puppies break into the vineyard at the same time their parents break out, and so they must immediately turn around and rescue their puppies.

The kids and canines hatch an escape plan, Sheriff Bob arrives and arrests the evildoers, and Buddha is adopted by a very rich, very bratty boy named Bartleby.

Rosebud is adopted by a soccer-playing girl, Mudbud tries to teach his video-game-loving human how to enjoy the outdoors, Buddha works on improving his owner’s temper tantrums, and B-dawg helps his boy with basketball practice.

Plot holes and stray observations

Noah’s basketball jersey is No. 4, just like Josh’s was. Around six years have passed since Spikes Back, because he’s somewhere between eight and ten.

How is Buddy still alive? He’s got to be around 16 or 17 at least, which is pretty much unheard of for a Golden Retriever.

Also, is this the same Molly who belonged to Emma Putter in World Pup, rehomed after she left for college? Or is it a different Molly, who just happens to be the same breed?

Cynthia Stevenson and Richard Karn are back as Jackie and Patrick Sullivan, which is something for this series with its continuity issues.

These dognappers, led by their flamboyant Russian/Australian swordsman chief, manage to be both incompetent and semi-terrifying at the same time, which is a little mystifying.

The puppies’ voice actors had some other pretty major roles: Abigail Breslin starred in 2009’s Zombieland with Emma Stone and 2013’s Ender’s Game. Spencer Fox is known as Dash Parr from 2004 Pixar classic The Incredibles, Dominic Scott Kay was Wilbur in the 2006 Dakota Fanning-led Charlotte’s Web.

Air Buddies is what happens if you throw 101 Dalmatians in a blender with Homeward Bound and Spy Kids. All the characters are one-note, which isn’t a huge drawback in this kind of story. Buddy’s voice is far too serious all the time (come on, the world’s best canine athlete would enjoy having fun).

Next. Tips for better pet pictures. dark

Overall, this is a sweet, competent movie, which is excellent to leave on in the background when the grandkids come over, but not one to watch more than once yourself.

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