2019 Dog Oscars: Air Bud and others among the winners
Most Barks by a Dog in a Movie easily goes to a Jack Russell Terrier named President Pierce in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. His vocalizations while journeying along the Oregon Trail with his owners eventually cause fellow travelers to think of the Billy Collins poem “Another Reason I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House” – or it would have, except that it was around a hundred years later that the poem was written.
Good job, Decoy.
Poor Olivia the Westie. Her character Bastian in the Kyle Chandler-Rachel McAdams-Jesse Plemons film Game Night gets her beautiful white fur SOAKED with blood after a human accidentally stabs himself, easily walking away with Most Blood Absorbed by a Dog in a Movie.
(We think this category is gross and shouldn’t be given out again.)
Most Poop by a Dog in a Movie is also a gross category, but…hey, everybody poops, right? It’s been a mainstay of dog-movie humor for decades, but rarely becomes a minor element of the plot, as it does for Borras in Roma. His family spends a lot of time complaining about cleaning up the hallway.
Disgusting, but it’s a good pick.
Best Dog-Related Bit goes to Venom, the superhero sequel-introduction that no one particularly wanted to see but which made a ton of money anyway. A small dog becomes the middleman in a bizarre transfer of the symbiote from Michelle Williams to Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock.
We forgot Venom existed, so we can’t really comment here.
Best Performance by a Dog in a Drama went to Olivia for her work in the Viola Davis movie Widows, which we also highly approved of. She turned her role in that film into her role in Game Night, which she also got a Dog Oscar for. She must have quite the trophy case in her doghouse.
Best Performance by a Dog in a Comedy or Musical went to Charlie for A Star Is Born, but ultimately went with Olivia for Game Night. and she took home Best Dog for her wide array of roles in the past year.
Finally, the Lassie B DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Buddy the Golden Retriever, who played the Tanners’ dog Comet on the ABC sitcom Full House and originated the role of Buddy from the Air Bud series.
In real life, he could play basketball, football, soccer and hockey. (See our reviews for World Pup, Seventh Inning Fetch and Spikes Back, along with the first Air Buddies spinoff.)
Buddy was given this lifetime achievement award because the Dog Oscars had not been created yet in his lifetime (and the real-life PATSY Awards had been discontinued), and his role inspired millions of athletic doggos that they, too could play human sports. (Just ask Phoenix the receiver from World’s Most Amazing Dog).
This is an amazing choice, and we can’t wag fast enough in approval.
Next. A history of dog movies at the Golden Globes. dark
A pause in the proceedings took place in remembrance for 12-year-old Towne the Cat, because he was “more of a dog than a cat,” according to his handler. Towne starred in Can You Ever Forgive Me? with Melissa McCarthy, and his brother has The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and John Wick 3 on his resume.
Who do you think should have won these awards? What categories did they miss that should have been included? Let us know on the Dog O’Day Facebook and Twitter pages.