Firehouse Dog Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Hollywood's Coolest Dog Just Got Hotter
The Biggest DogGone Family Film Of The Year
Rexxx, Hollywood's top canine star, is best known for his extreme athletic abilities and diva-like demeanor. He gets lost and is reluctantly adopted into a shabby firehouse. He teams up with a young kid Shane Fahey who is ditching science class to get the station back on its feet.
| Josh Hutcherson | Shane Fahey |
| Bruce Greenwood | Connor Fahey |
| Bill Nunn | Joe Musto |
| Scotch Ellis Loring | Lionel Bradford |
| Mayte Garcia | Pep Clemente |
| Teddy Sears | Terence Kahn |
| Stryder | Rexxx, Dewey the Dog |
| Steven Culp | Zachary Hayden |
| Todd Holland |
4.80 out of 10 (1733 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Quite entertaining
posted on 25 Jul 2009Watched this because I like dogs. The dog itself was perfect - some sort of Irish terrier cross - very "doggy" looking. The story was quite good I thought. The nasty little boy turns out to be quite a pleasant fellow.......although I think he is meant to be adorable! Couldn't understand more than 30% of what anybody was saying, but that didn't really matter - they all seemed quite standard people with nothing interesting to say. The firemen were a sort of Keystones Cops bunch - a black person, a Latino, a woman and a blond chap who seemed quite stupid. Unlike other reviewers I didn't mind the relatively coarse scenes of the dog farting and snoring....I did however object to the scene where the dog has been reunited with his original owner who - to celebrate - offers the animal a variation on a group of hookers - three differently colored poodles! This really seemed vulgar and not particularly suitable for the children who are presumably the target audience - but then indoctrination can't start too soon!!
Some sleuthing, drama, and humor = surprisingly entertaining.
posted on 19 Jul 2009I used this comment on a thread somewhere in here, and just thought I'd add my two cents on a quick review: I went to the theater with the intention of seeing "Meet the Robinsons" but it was sold out, so with a choice of "Blades of Glory" and "Firehouse Dog", I opted for the dog flick.I wasn't disappointed. It is a cute film, sure there are the boring and not-so-brilliant crude fart jokes, but the film is not so much about the dog, but about the relationship between a father and son, as they both work through a serious life altering event that they both experienced in the recent past.In the story there is a bit a mystery and sleuthing involved, drama, humor and some silliness with the dog that I didn't find it too over-the-top. The relationships of those who live and work at the firehouse are also part of the story and the fires add some excitement and adventure.I enjoyed the film, but wouldn't call it a blockbuster or anything. The kids in the theater were attentive throughout and everyone there seemed to enjoy it also.
Firehouse Dog: Best Dog Film in Years!!!
posted on 03 Jul 2009Firehouse Dog" is arguably the best of the dog genre that has emmerged in the new millium, and there are to be found more excrement and fatulence from our animal friends than even in 2005's RACING STRIPES. It is notable for the appearance of Bree Turner (as Liz Knowles) and the showcasing the many talents (excluding acting) of Claudette Mink.Yet still, there are times when the sentiment is poured on just a bit too thick for current taste--and there are scenes where the women are almost a caricatures of the vulgarized creatures they have become. Bree Turner's fans will probably count this among her best--but I have to admit I prefer her way with comedy in Backyard Dogs or her way with wickedness as the femme fatale of American Pie 2. Here she's a good actress--but the performance is a bit mechanical at times. As for the story itself, well it is pure unadulterated soap opera and no amount of acting skill can make us forget we're watching a teary drama of sacrificial mother love.A more subtle drama of this kind of sacrifice came in earlier films such as The Shaggy DA--done with even more honesty and skill than the script permits here. Bruce Greenwood is as bland as ever in his role as Josh Hutcherson's rich (and rather stuffy) father; and Steven Culp reminds us that he is one of the most watchable character actors, no matter how obnoxious his roles are. Josh Hutcherson does nicely as the son Greenwood is willing to sacrifice for--but the truth is, I saw a similar one about a girl who denies her black African heritage and thus her mother until the mother dies and she weeps over the coffin - buckets. Sadly I can't remember the name of that film, one I'd like to see again someday.To correctly judge the film, I can not help but compare "Firehouse Dog" to Steven Soderbergh's "Solaris"(2002): the latter is a masterpiece, while the former is nothing more than sufficient. If this was Berlin '2007's Golden Bear, then the average quality of the films had to be fairly poor there. This movie made me think that our lives are a search. I have seen it several times and each time I find another meaning in this movie. While I was at the cinema, I noticed that the Goth kids are getting cocky these days. It shows our very good people and our firemen in a very delicate moment, when our entire country is under suspicion of being a failure, just because our people are paying for decades of bad administration, with governments that really didn't represent our real people interests...
Just the Absolute Best!!! A 5-star!!
posted on 28 Apr 2009FIREHOUSE DOG is a very entertaining and well acted feature. The quality of camera-work is top-notch. The character design is outstanding - especially the turkey, hen and rooster (their scenes are BRILLIANT) - and, most of all, Rover himself. The backgrounds are beautiful and the layouts are terrific. Honorable mention goes to the excellent 3D intro.The story, with its fine mix of comedy, adventure, and romance, can be enjoyed by a wide age range. Although the city-slicker-among-country-bumpkins plot has been done before, FIREHOUSE DOG has enough of its own twists and charm to keep it entertaining. The lessons taught (take responsibility for your actions/think of others, not just of yourself) give the movie a solid theme. Most scenes are very funny, however, FIREHOUSE DOG's humor was needed in a couple of scenes to keep things lively. The script also needed some trimming here and there, as too much unnecessary dialogue tends to make some scenes drag. More of the storytelling could have been left to the talents of story artists and actors. In this case, action does speak louder than words..Being a movie that can be enjoyed over and over again, here's hoping FIREHOUSE DOG gets the respect it deserves and makes its DVD debut very soon. It was an awesome movie. I have been desperately looking for the super cool film in DVD.Better than "Rock-a-doodle" or "All dogs go to heaven" This is great. No one else would take this masterpiece away from kids. You must see it if you've seen it or not.It tells the story of a dog with his luck cut out for him. Envied by his owner's boyfriend, Rover is sent up the Colorado River. Then he is found by a couple of fishermen but escapes to a nearby farm where he finds adventure, love, danger, and excitement. If you are a Josh Huthensom or a dalmation fan you need to get your paws on this movie!!.
Dog Hollywood
posted on 12 Apr 2009Here's another item that appears to be simple trash, but that is worth watching if you study the state of the art in narrative folding in film today. The basic technique that you somehow develop or reference two worlds, one either "above" observing the other, or "below" as a sort of story within that folks in the story watch in some way.The simplest form is when the story has actors in it as characters. Then there are three or four simple devices you can use. Here, it is the actor that lives IN movies W.O. By some accident finds himself in real life. The story often follows the contrast between movies and life. (Remember, readers, that this is a movie we are talking about, and the reason for such narrative tricks is to break down the wall between your world and the world on screen so that you will be engaged in the story.)If it is movie for children's minds as here, the story always ends with our actor appreciating real life. The psychological implications of this for us are clear and we walk out of the theater happy. If it is a more serious project, like say "H Story," you'll leave disturbed, unresolved.Anyway, this is for dopes, so it ends according to formula.Oh, and our actor is a dog, a minor gimmick compared to all the other simplifications being shoveled around.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
Charming!
posted on 10 Apr 2009Some of the people commenting on this movie really need to lighten up and learn to enjoy life! They must be awfully unhappy people.Other reviewers need to remember that this movie wasn't made for grown-ups looking for witty repartee and clever insults; it wasn't made for teens looking for sex, violence, and explosions, and it wasn't made for jaded, cynical people of any age. It was made for kids who are still kids, and for the adults who love them, and love seeing them happy.Personally, I loved this movie; it was charming and heartwarming without being saccharine, funny without being stupid. My kids are grown and moved out, but my two dogs sat and watched about 90% of this movie, so I guess they liked it. Sure, it was corny in places, but why does that have to be a bad thing? I will have to put this one on the list for the grandkids when they show up...Bruce Greenwood is a really under-rated actor; and does a great job playing a father who's not perfect, but one you could always count on. Josh Hutcherson also does well, considering he plays second fiddle to the real star of the movie, Rexxx/Dewey the Wonder Dog. The credits say his part was actually played by 4 dogs, and I assume their trainer was a "Lord of the Rings" fan. Regardless, the dogs are impressive with both their stunts and their "acting".Highly recommended film for families with kids and dog-lovers, young and old.
You've seen this before at least 100 times before
posted on 25 Mar 2009Spoiled pooch finds love and life with a kid who's dad is a fireman.How many times have we been there and done that? Low level family film is good for undemanding three or four year olds since odds are they're the only ones who won't have seen it all before. Not bad but why would anyone rationally (me included) subject themselves to the film? Okay the trailer looked okay, but as they say anyone can take 90 minutes of a movie and make it look good. As I said the problem is that unless you've been hiding under a rock you've seen this type of thing before. Add an unimaginative director and a cast that isn't spectacular and you have a movie that really isn't worth bothering with.
Booms Gone Wild
posted on 21 Mar 2009The director and the producers of this film must think the audience is stupid. I took my acting class which is made of mostly children to watch Josh in action and talk about character development. Well the only thing they were able to talk about is the boom coming into view more than two dozen times plus seeing the top of the camera several times. I can not believe any distributor actually paid money to have this film produced, it is poor quality and everyone involved in it from the director to the DP & the editor should be embarrassed and ashamed to have worked on this project. I think everyone involved in this project owes the audience and the actors a huge apology. This movie's production value is worse than watching student films , at least student filmmakers know never to have the boom ever show in a shot or a movie let alone a movie that has more than 2 dozen boom shots. Save your money because the boom/mic coming into the scene every five minutes will drive you crazy, what a waste of good talent from Bruce Greenwood and some other veteran actors.
It was pretty bad. What did you expect?
posted on 15 Feb 2009I was forced to go see this movie with a bunch of ten year old, and even they found this boring and pointless as I did.Themes were tossed around uselessly in this movie, yet I was not completely bored, the only thing keeping me awake being my icee and the scenes where something would catch on fire.Of course, I failed to understand what significance the dog had in the movie, and to understand the relationships that were going on either.If you are looking for a great family film, or even a movie with a point, don't look here, don't even think about going to this. It was pretty much the worst movie I have seen this year, especially at the theatre.
He's a special dog in a regular kid's movie
posted on 11 Feb 2009Pampered Hollywood canine star Rexxx (played by four dogs) is presumed dead after a stunt gone wrong that had him dropping from thousand miles up in the air. But unknown to his owner Trey (Dash Mihok), Rexxx has been adopted (albeit reluctantly) and christened as Dewey by Shane Fahey (Josh Hutcherson), the 12-year old son of Connor Fahey (Bruce Greenwood) - captain of Fire Station 55, which is due for closure in a week.However, after a display of heroism during a fire rescue on top of oodles of improbable dog tricks, Dewey develops a relationship with Shane, eventually becoming the mascot of the fire station. But no sooner than things are becoming well than Trey arrives, looking to claim what is rightfully his.Well, you know the rest.Predictably scripted by Claire-Dee Lim, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, the film suffers from a scattershot narrative that tries to cram as much subplots into a film that exceeds well over the usual running time for films of this nature. The dog (or dogs, for that matter) is cute but ultimately feels inorganic due to the fact that Todd Holland's uneven direction seems content in letting the special effects take over, and that the whole movie's too busy trying to wrap up every loose end that the relationship between the two leads (i.e. the dog and the boy) is tackled superficially, if any at all.Children may find the antics cute and will probably never mind the intense scenes. Anyone other than the target demographic will find little else than a simplistic kid's movie that fares no better than a straight-to-video release.
Oh! Please!!! A Total Loss
posted on 03 Feb 2009This movie is a cross between Herbie the Love Bug remake and the Shaggy D.A. remake.....It tries to be serious then it gets to be surreal. The script was awful and the flashback sequences made it hard for young children to watch and follow. Even though the narration of the film is from the boy, there are flashbacks from everyone including the dog. For most young ones it is impossible to see movies that are not linear. Everyone in the film has a flashback or a "vision". Add on top of it the need to show the dogs bodily functions. Why the film has to have a dog crapping scene? Plus the dog had as much gas as anyone in any National Lampoon movie. I don't know if this was meant to be a child's movie, but it wasn't. In the final scheme, a children's film that tried to be adult but wasn't and wasn't children enough to be a children's film.....
good film
posted on 10 Jan 2009This was not a bad film. It features the typical pampered character finds himself in a slightly reduced setting, except in this case the character is a dog. The Hollywood pooch finds himself in a firehouse about to be torn down after an aerial stunt goes wrong, and they adopt him, and he saves the day in more ways than one. I loved all the stunts involving the dog, and the rescue scenes were well-executed, as was most of the film. Of course, the kids grows throughout the movie, as when he first meets the dog he hates it but grows to love it, and develops from rebellious to responsible. I think I studied this theme in college literature classes. This was overall a good movie, and I recommend it.*** out of ****
Foolish but some good things inside
posted on 03 Dec 2008I really had a lot of expectations when I went to see this movie knowing Josh Hutcherson plays the leading role and it also has Joanna Bennett in it, one of my favorite actresses of the Fassbinder era, and also Bruce Greenwood, arguably one of the titans of English language theater. Normally, when expectations run high, the disappointment is big, but this movie really did deliver! The story is intense and very well scripted, acting is superb by the entire cast to the tiniest role. Director Todd Holland,(TV's "Malcolm in the Middle" ), delivered a true masterpiece. If the flatulence omitted it would have been a very enjoyable movie with a positive message. Josh Hutcherson who has to carry his movie does it in a sovereign manner! Photography by Victor Hammer is amazing, this is a benchmark achievement and gives a new dimension to what is normally labeled as "Heimatfilm". The landscape, the mountains and hills of Upper Hollywood are photographed in a way that they always reflect the mood of the characters, thus enhancing the story and transport it on a superimposed visual level. Same goes for the music by Jeff Cardoni. They all add up the enhance the increasingly unsettling atmosphere on the remote firehouse and draw you in this story of love, longing, and utter betrayal. Of course, there was another of those idiotic wolf attacks. I have not seen a movie as good as this one in quite a while! Enough with the wolf attacks! I rated it 10 out of 10!
Surprised by this movie - I enjoyed it, and so did my kids!
posted on 27 Nov 2008I gave it such a high rating not b/c I think it's such a great movie, but b/c it did what a family/kid movie is supposed to do - make you laugh, keep the kids' (and my) attention, and not make you fall asleep.It did all of those things. Based on some of these reviews here, I expected it to absolutely stink. But my kids who are 4 and 6, and I thought maybe too young for this type of movie, were riveted. They liked the silly humor, and when the father and son had their screen time together my son cuddled with me and was obviously moved. And I didn't feel like pulling my hair out and I never checked my watch.All of this made for a fun, worth-the-matinée-price, movie experience. On top of it, my husband took the kids to see this movie last week; so this was my first time, and their second - and they sat still through it the whole way.Funny, sweet, enjoyable movie.
a family movie just how its supposed to be
posted on 09 Nov 2008It was a good movie, totally for kids but to be honest I enjoy it very much. The story about an actor dog who get lost and found by a kid son of a fireman. I think it was original, interesting, with some funny moments, also with good action scenes, even with some mystery. The plot convinces me and I think it was well developed. A good cast with good performances from everyone, specially from the dog. In conclusion, it is the perfect family movie of the season, so enjoyable and entertaining.
Firehouse Dog
posted on 26 Oct 2008I was surprised when I saw the rating and thought about not going and seeing this movie. But, my wife and I were looking for a movie to take the children to see - difficult to find these days. We went and were pleasantly surprised by the total movie experience. Laughter throughout the theater during many parts of this film. Sure, some plot scenarios were far fetched but for a family movie, a comedy and a dog star type movie this movie was excellent. I have learned that the dog is an Irish Terrier - what a fantastic personality this animal has. I sincerely encourage everyone of all ages to see this movie. Look at it as a fun family film - not as an Oscar winning drama of great significance but certainly much better than the rating indicates.
Catches Your Eye
posted on 18 Oct 2008My son was raving about this film (he's 10) and suggested I watch it with him-which I did. Outside of wanting to smack the previous owner of Dewey (nee' Rexxx) for looking 40 and sounding like a 20 year old wuss reading from a translation book titled "How To Sound Cool,Dude" to impress the "cool kids"-I liked the film. Was it believable? No, but come on-neither is making a star dog do a stunt jump from a plane-one would use a stunt dog-IF they were allowed. I was frankly shocked that even the concept wasn't lit upon by the ravinging extremist groups. Anyway, we have the basis of a film good for kids: family situation-single dad firefighter dealing with also the recent death of his brother-which promoted him to Captain and his son acting out over this-we have Silly Animal-hamming it up with cute looks, well placed dog fart noises and of course defecation. and then the fish outta water-female firefighter who is an extreme tomboy, and of course-the underdog (no pun intended) firestation that-GASP! will be closing down soon due to the decline in the area. The villain doesn't have a waxed, twirly mustauche, however I think this is done to keep us from figuring him out-outside of the whole guilty looks, giant sign pointing at him. We even have insight for the life of a pampered dog (3 tri-colored poodles waiting for him-yeah..............??). The movie is watchable, and the plot, although cookie cutter Hollywood style, is OK. Kids do enjoy it, even if you get sick of the reference of the dog critiquing the Firehouse cook's food creations visa ve pooping on it, it is a cute movie.
Very disappointed
posted on 16 Oct 2008The story it self was very enjoyable and the actors did their job rather well. But, there were technical problems that were very annoying and totally unprofessional. There were times, too numerous to count, when the boom mike was in the camera shot. The microphone should have been listed in the credits with the actors, it had more scenes than the dog. And we really liked the droopy and mal adjusted lens cover shroud for the elevated camera. I'm just wondering if my wife and I were the only ones that noticed this? I'm sure that some time during the production process there was an editor, director or producer or craft services employee that noticed that there might be better clips on the floor.
Fun movie
posted on 22 Sep 2008If you watch this with kids, I bet they will say they like it, and isn't what this is all about? I guess I went in with low expectations. The previous review I read from someone on here sounded like an insane person. The acting was actually rather good. In fact, point a movie out to me where Bruce Greenwood WASN'T good. The guy is always terrific. And here he is back with his "Thirteen Days" costar Steven Culp. This is a long ways from "Thirteen Days", but it is a touching and nicely paced family movie, even at 111 minutes. The dog was great. I wish the kid wasn't so bitter in every movie he appears in, but oh well. Give this one a shot, but don't expect "E.T.".
Okay, But Really Mediocre
posted on 24 Aug 2009I honestly found Firehouse Dog to be kind of bad.It was entertaining and everything, but the acting was pretty bad, and the script was flawed.It got really unprofessional and downright mediocre at times, but it was still a good little movie that I enjoyed watching, but I don't plan on seeing it again, because I feel if I watched it again, I would hate it even, and I don't want to.It's rating is just a little unfair, because it wasn't a TERRIBLE movie, it just wasn't great either.I would recommend this movie to people who have a small place in their heart for these kinda films, but other than that, avoid it or I'm positive you won't like it.