Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this TV movie has a few scenes of actual, people-on-people violence, including the beginning, when Karate Dog's master is killed by masked assassins, and one scene in which Karate Dog is wrestled away to the pound by a gratuitous animal control officer. When Karate Dog is fighting, the scenes look more like a video game than anything else and are less frightening -- but no less violent. There's also mild sexual innuendo, mostly among the dogs, of a sort that might be difficult to explain to young kids.
Families can talk about Karate Dog's computer-generated martial arts prowess and how that's created, or how a talented comedian like Chevy Chase ends up in a movie like this (Do you think it's all about the money? Do you think he was more inclined to do it because you only hear his voice? Could someone have made a funny movie out of this idea?) They can also discuss how much money must have been spent on the action sequences rather than on the script, a skewed set of values that really shows in this case.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: KJ Dell'Antonia
KARATE DOG wastes the talent and time of actors Chevy Chase and John Voight and certainly won't make the careers of its other stars. A mishmash of clichés and classics produces the plot: Karate Dog's master (Pat Morita) is killed, and the wise-cracking dog -- also known as Cho-Cho -- must team up with a geeky cop (Simon Rex) to solve the crime.
It's giving nothing away to say that the killer is a former student of Karate Dog's master who's now out to use a secret formula to sell eternal youth, or that the dog will help his new friend get the girl (Jaime Pressly) after the obligatory Cyrano de Bergerac scene. And need we say that no one besides the cop knows the dog can talk?
This is The Karate Kid meets Turner and Hooch, with a dash of James Bond -- and it doesn't even come close to any of them. Action scenes lifted from Mission: Impossible, The Matrix, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are shoehorned into the plot, which otherwise resembles nothing so much as an old Charlie's Angels episode. Any kid old enough to have seen the films and get the joke is too old to appreciate it.
This Dog is neither fish nor fowl -- it's not a real family movie (or even a good action flick), nor does it ever reach the level of campy fun that might allow watchers to find something to appreciate in it. Instead, it switches from one genre to the next with lightning speed and a blatant disregard for its limp storyline. It's clear that Chevy Chase is having fun -- why shouldn't he? -- and the best moments are when his pooch alter ego is singing the blues ... which is what you'll be doing if you waste a bucket of popcorn on this.
Don't invest your family's movie time in Karate Dog. For older kids who can handle a crime-and-murder plot, try Turner and Hooch; or, for the younger set, opt for The Adventures of Milo and Otis or Benji.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentMild innuendo, mostly among talking dogs. |
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ViolenceA murder, a rough dog-catching scene, and far less karate than you'd expect. Karate scenes including Karate Dog look more like a video game than anything else, but are still violent. |
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Social BehaviorThe hero and his girl are portrayed as the only hard-working cops on the force, with the rest lazy creeps who kowtow to anyone with money. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoThe bad guy is taking a "formula" that makes him younger, stronger, faster ... and crazier. |
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