Customer Reviews

Snow Dogs

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

Snow Dogs is a laugh a minute adventure into the world of sled dog racing. Cuba Gooding Jr. is a Miami dentist who inherits a team of champion sled dogs and finds out he was adopted.Over the course of the movie he discovers his true place in life. The dogs are cute and steal the action sequences. Finally, a family film that everyone can enjoy. No hocus-pocus or scary stuff!! The only magic here is the power of love between family and friends and the occational winking of the sled dogs. Don't miss this latest Disney classic!

I took my kids (4&5) to this movie and they lauged so hard they could hardly sit still. I too found it amusing in several places. I was pleasently suprised because the previews that I have seen on TV did not do it justice. I walked in to this movie expecting the worst. It is full of slapstick, but the story was over my kids heads. If you go in not expecting the typical Cuba Gooding Jr. role and take it for what it is, a clean lighthearted movie that you can actually take your kids to, then you will enjoy it. As for the rest of the audience, it was a sold out show and I think the adults had as much fun as the kids did.

If you caught the previews on TV you might have thought this was a fantasy film with talking dogs. Nope! There is a brief dream sequence with Cuba Gooding freezing and hallucinating about the dogs talking to him. The dream bit is entertaining, but the film is not a fantasy. Well, lets just say it is Hollywood's version of reality.

Cuba Gooding is his usual appealing self and James Coburn as Thunder Jack reminds us of why he was a popular star. Cuba Gooding plays a successful dentist in Florida who discovers he was adopted. His biological mother in Alaska has died and left him . . guess what? The dogs, of course. He sets off to visit Alaska and find his true self. The funniest scenes are when Cuba is learning to handle the dogs and drive a dog sled team. This is an ideal movie to watch with the kids. Mine laughed at the right places and were quiet in the right places. They gave it five stars. I am sure they will convince me to watch it with them again in a month or two. I can handle it.

There is an interactive game included on the disc that uses the remote to control a snowmobile. I had to wrestle with Sammy, my five-year-old, to get the remote back again. I won.

I took my kids on a "teachers' workday" because I promised, I was tired from my own job, grumpy and in no mood for a movie. Instead of grumbling though it as I had expected, I was laughing and engaged in the various character's situations and problems. The characters are fun, the settings are fabulous....Miami and "Alaska" both come off looking great... The acting was fine, lots of slipping on ice and falling in snow, physical comedy done very well. The dogs were great, very believable. My kids loved it. I loved it. Now, there is only one scene where the dogs talk (in a dream sequence) so if you are looking for "Babe" you'll be disappointed. The main characters are human... But I enjoyed the story of characters trying to adjust to situations that life has unexpectedly thrown at them, and the dogs learn some lessons as well. Just an all around great family movie...nothing too scary, no "bad language" just plain fun. I will probably see it again, and the last time I went to see a movie for a second time was in 1981.

When Ted Brooks (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.), a happy and successful dentist in sunny Miami, finds out that he is adopted, and his birth mother has just died, he flies off to her home in Alaska to learn what he can about his background. Arriving in the tiny backwoods town of Tolketna, Ted finds life at it's rawest (and coldest). It turns out that his mother was a sled dog racer, and about the only thing she left behind was a pack of mischievous sled dogs.

Rising to the occasion, Ted sets out to learn how to be a musher, somewhat aided (and somewhat hindered) by the grizzled old backwoodsman Thunder Jack (James Coburn). Braving the tricks of his own dogs, the barbs of the locals, thin ice, bears, skunks, and a host of other obstacles, Ted learns about himself, and about Thunder Jack. [Color, released in 2002, with a running time of 1 hour, 39 minutes.]

This is a very funny movie. I must admit that my kids asked for this movie, and I really had no intention of watching it. But, just being around, I found myself [pulled] into the story, and soon I was sitting with my kids laughing as loud as either of them! As for extras on the DVD, it amounted to a snowmobile game, some deleted and extended scenes, and three featurettes on the making of the movie.

OK, we weren't thrilled with the extras, but we were thrilled with the movie. It is great, and makes the purchase of the DVD well worth it. We highly recommend this movie!

...but "Snow Dogs was wonderfully fun. What a shame that we're all so extremely 'on-the-edge' that our entertainment has to push envelopes, produce mind-blowing action and special effects, explore the heinous, the unspeakable or the grotesque, or take an unflinching look at an unexplored social ail to be considered worthy. "Snow Dogs" does none of the above, so all you cultural watch dogs can stay home. For the rest of you who aren't afraid to enjoy something that's not trendy or twisted, go laugh at Cuba Gooding and his dogs. It's Disney and it's sweet.

When Disney gets it right, they get it really right. Such is the case with "Snow Dogs," a funny movie with a truly all-star cast that keeps the spirit of the Disney of old while giving us modern entertainment.

Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays dentist Ted Brooks. Ted is more than just a dentist; he has a huge practice in sunny Miami, apparently quite wealthy, a true man of the city, until a summons arrives one day informing him that his mother has died. One small detail, his mother, Nichelle Nichols of the original "Star Trek" series and movies fame, had neglected to tell Ted that she was his adoptive mother. Ted's biological mother lived in the wide-spot-in-the-valley of Tolketna, Alaska. Isolated does not describe Tolketna, which appears to be reached only by helicopter or airplane, and even those must be small.

Ted's mother turns out to have been a very nice lady, with a penchant for sled dog racing. Lucky Ted, he not only inherits the bulk of his mother's possessions, he also inherits a team of potentially prize-winning sled dogs. If only Ted did not hate dogs.

In the course of discovering that small-town life is infinitely more appealing than living shoulder-to-shoulder with your neighbors, Ted also discovers a lot about himself and about life in general. He discovers his father and discovers true love in the cold and snow of mythical Tolketna. During this voyage of discovery we gain an appreciation for the beauty of the far north, lots of laughs, and several tense moments, including one where Ted Brooks and Thunder Jack Johnson (James Coburn) are hanging suspended over a cliff, hoping the sled dogs can pull them to safety.

Superb family movies seem to be hard to come by these days. This movie is excellent and a family movie. The violence is minimal, the tense moments generally work out well, there are lessons regarding perseverance, and there are dogs that have more expressions than Mr. Spock. While I often caution parents that some portions of a movie may be a bit too tense for younger members of the family, that caution is unnecessary for this PG rated movie. Admittedly there are several moments of very mild violence, but those moments I found to be less than that in other family movies, such as "The Wizard of Oz."

With the combination of scenery, a reasonably plausible plot, excellent cast, and frequent funny moments, this movie is a great movie for everyone. I recommend this movie highly.

I seriously don't understand why all the bad press reviews! I've seen movies much worse than this (i.e. black knight) get higher ratings! What is up with that?

Anyway, to the point, this is a GREAT movie; much better than I originally anticipated: the teaser is somewhat misleading (and the dream sequence where the dogs do talk was integrated perfectly and does not pull you out of the pseudo-reality of the movie). I don't understand all the criticism of Cuba Gooding either: may be not his best performance, but I thought it was very very convincing.

In short, despite low intial expectations (regarding particulary the talking dog trailer), I was very pleased with this movie: it is not a waste of 90 mins. I would recommend seeing it and I personally plan to purchase this on DVD.

I gave this movie 4(.5) out of 5 stars because although it is a good movie, only the best can earn a 5 rating (like the Matrix or Shrek).

This is a fun movie for adults and kids that includes little violence, no swearing and no sex! The humor is straight forward. The dogs are cute and they earned their 3000 pounds of dog food doing the movie. The story of a man living in Florida who finds out that he was adopted when his real mother dies and leaves him a bit of an inheritence is well done. The scenery of Alaska actually shows how beautiful Alaska is. Nichelle Nichols does a terrific job of playing Cuba Goodings adopted Mom in a comedic role. Cuba Goodings carries off his part beautifully, his facial expressions throughout the movie intensify the comedy. If you are looking for some fun and humor, I highly recommend this to you and your children!

This is a funny movie. It is not a hilarious movie, but it is amusing. The plot is a little thin, but it's one of those feel-good fluff movies that was never intended to become a classic.

To my dog, on the other hand, this is the greatest movie on the planet. He loves to watch it! He gets excited whenever the movie dogs get excited and interacts with the show. It greatly enhances my amusement with the show.