Space Buddies (2008)

Directed by: Robert Vince | 84 minutes | comedy, adventure, family, science fiction | Actors: Bill Fagerbakke, Diedrich Bader, Kevin Weisman, Field Cate, Lochlyn Munro, Ali Hillis, Pat Finn, Mark Downey, Nolan Gould, Jason Earles, Wayne Wilderson, Josh Flitter, Liliana Mumy, Nico Ghisi, Skyler Gisondo, Henry Hodges, Amy Sedaris, Ellie Harvie, Taku Kawai, Jandreett, Ellen Kennedy, Quinn Lord, Sophia Ludwig, Tina Milo Milivojevic, Gig Morton, Reese Schoeppe, Michael Teigen, Jadyn Wong

For the right audience – say, children aged four to eight – ‘Space Buddies’ is a fine film: you have five adorable Golden Retriever puppies who are mischievous and eventually are treated as great heroes by the grown-ups. Just the scenes where one of them shakes out his mud-covered fur while standing on an immaculate white couch, and the one where all the puppies walk one after the other over an allergy teacher lying on the floor, will cause a lot of hilarity among the kids. So then of course it is all about laughing, howling, roaring when the dogs are hoisted in real spacesuits, are launched into the spaceship and later float weightlessly through the ship, with their floppy ears pointing in all directions. That the acting of the children who play their “owners” is often very bad, the story has little to say to say the least, the jokes are often bland, the moving mouths of the puppies seem uncanny, and the actual spacewalk is quite a challenge. anticlimactic, should not spoil the fun for the little spectators among us. And the parents, oh well, they have to take care of this for their offspring. Although, it is of course possible that after seeing this film, the parents will continue to whine about (the purchase of) such a sweet dog.

Because cute they are, the five little, fluffy thunderbeams. It is nice that they all have a different personality, the same as that of their child owners. A glutton, hip-hopper, and a girlish she-dog with a pink bow in her hair are a few examples. The five Golden Retriever puppies also get a buddy in space: the equally adorable Russian Bull Terrier Spudnick. On Earth, in the home base, there is another animal that she assists: the clever ferret Gravity, who helps her to press the right buttons to get home again.

Coming home isn’t easy, not least because of the sabotage plans of the evil Dr. Finkel (Kevin Weisman), sending our furry friends into a meteor shower. This Finkel is an obvious villain, bold from the start, in a predictable, very straightforward story that few adults will find satisfying. They will also likely be distracted by the unrealistic-looking moving mandibles of the dogs, which are animated to create the illusion of speaking. Due to the many small teeth and the straight line of the jaws, the effect comes across as a bit alienating. This has been done better in similar films before.

Still interesting for adult viewers are the references to other space films, in particular ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ which is referenced using the music ‘An der Schönen Blauen Donau’ by Strauss, and the scene in which one of the puppies has to repair a defect on the outside of the spaceship. ‘Space Buddies’ may be the ultimate example of the exploitation of a concept – it started with the original ‘Air Bud’, which starred a wonderful adult Golden Retriever, followed by many “sequels”, including a pair with the five little “buddies” in it – but on its own, this direct-to-DVD (or Blu-ray disc) movie is pretty decent, kid-friendly entertainment.