Reviewed by Neil Davey
Stars Josh Hutcherson, Bruce Greenwood, Dash Mihok, Steven Culp, Bill Nunn
Written by Michael Colleary, Mike Werb
& Claire-Dee Lim
Certification UK PG | US PG
Runtime 111 minutes
Directed by Todd Holland
You’ll never guess what Firehouse Dog is about. What? Yes, there is a firehouse. And yes there is a dog and… Damn. What gave it away? The title isn’t the only obvious thing about this by-the-numbers family drama that features a too involved plot for the youngest of children (unless they’ve read Kipper and the Insurance Scam Arsonist that is) and a too childish everything else for the rest of the family.
The titular dog is Rex, Hollywood’s biggest four-legged star who goes missing, presumed dead when an aerial stunt for his latest canine action movie goes wrong. Instead of ploughing into the ground when his ‘chute fails though, Rex has landed — gosh, how lucky — in a truck full of tomatoes and he’s forced to get by on his own for once in his pampered life. Circumstances throw him into the path of Shane (Hutcherson), the requisite troubled youngster, and his fireman dad Connor (Greenwood). Rex ends up as the firehouse mascot / rescue dog extraordinaire and — roll tears, blow nose — brings Shane and his dad closer again. Or, as many of us prefer to see it, bleurgh.
It’s a defiantly old-fashioned film, the sort of old-fashioned drama parents wish their kids enjoyed but, in their hearts realise is predictable, mawkish and really quite dull. Worse, at a whopping 111 minutes, this is at least 21 minutes too long. The dogs are good and Hutcherson — easily forgiven this script choice after Bridge to Terabithia and Little Manhattan — struggles manfully with the trite material but even he, and the four appealing pooches who play Rex, can’t generate more than a passing interest in this all-too-obvious tale: the emphasis is fully on the second word of the title.