Bingo

Name: Bingo
Item: Bingo
Rating: 1
Author: Brian Costello

Movie review by

Brian Costello, Common Sense Media

Common Sense says

age 12+

(i)

Terrible, dull dog movie filled with iffy behavior.

PG
1991
89 minutes

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age 8+

Based on 1 review

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The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

Positive Messages

Lots of inappropriate behavior and content; no positive messages.

Positive Role Models & Representations

Bingo gets drunk on champagne, among other instances of questionable behavior.

Violence

A man threatens to toss a dog into a rucksack. A woman shoots a rifle at a dog. A boy nearly drowns in a creek after crashing his BMX bike. A chef walks around menacingly with a machete around a group of caged dogs, and makes reference to using dog meat to make hot dogs. Police fire guns and rifles at a pair of bad guys. A dog is held hostage; one of the bad guys puts a gun to his head. One of these same bad guys also pulls a gun on a little girl. A dog attacks the groin area of one of the bad guys. A group of prisoners pull out knives and threaten to attack each other.

Sex

A tween boy looks at a pornographic magazine. The titular dog spends time in the doghouse of a female dog; romantic music plays and a bottle of champagne rolls of the doghouse.

Language

A tween boy exclaims, "Holy s--t." Two tween brothers give each other the middle finger. Occasional profanity from adults: "s--tfire," "goddamn," "smartass."

Consumerism

The father is a place kicker -- first for the Denver Broncos, and then later for the Green Bay Packers; memorabilia for both teams is prominent in almost every scene. Characters eat Kentucky Fried Chicken and sit in a trailer surrounded by empty cans of Coors Beer.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A dog, after drinking a bottle of champagne, passes out on the road and blocks traffic. A police officer has him walk a straight line. Two bad guys are in a trailer surrounded by empty cans of beer.

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that Bingo is a 1991 movie about a gifted dog who travels on paw from Denver to Green Bay to be reacquainted with his master. It's a painfully unfunny comedy filled with inappropriate behavior from both humans and dogs. Bingo escapes a circus as a woman shoots a rifle at him. The tween boy who adopts Bingo curses ("s--t"), gives his brother the middle finger, and looks at a pornographic magazine. Bad guys put a gun to Bingo's head and threaten to shoot. A father slips in dog excrement. A cook walks around his kitchen, where there are many caged dogs; he makes reference that the secret ingredient of his hot dogs is dog meat. For dog lovers (or animal lovers in general), there are so many questionable -- if not outright offensive -- moments that it's difficult to imagine how this movie was made.

User Reviews

Parents say
Kids say

Adult Written bytrizaa November 7, 2015

age 8+

i love this movie! i watched so many times, it hilarious!! i don't know why commonsensemedia don't like it! its amazingly funny

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What's the story?

Bingo is a dog who lives with cruel owners who run a traveling circus. After failing to jump through a flaming hoop, Bingo is forced to escape. He flees to nearby woods, where he comes across Chuckie, a tween boy who is knocked out face-down in a creek after attempting a jump on his BMX bike. Bingo performs CPR on Chuckie, and the two become inseparable after a night hiding in a tree from a ferocious bear. But Chuckie's parents (Cindy Williams and David Rasche) don't want a dog in the house, especially since Chuckie's father, a field goal kicker, is traded from the Denver Broncos to the Green Bay Packers. Bingo is left behind in Colorado, but relentlessly pursues Chuckie, which leads him on adventures involving chefs who keep dogs prisoner for dog meat and two bad guys who take families hostage and try to throw football games in order to make money at betting. In spite of these and other obstacles, Bingo stops at nothing to be reunited with Chuckie.

Is it any good?

BINGO is a failure as both a comedy and a dog movie. The jokes aren't funny and many of the scenes involving Bingo are shocking in their cruelty. For instance, poor Bingo gets shot at with a rifle by his original owners, and later gets a gun put to his head by a bad guy taking him hostage. And that's just the beginning of the outright bizarre attempts to mine humor out of a dog who can perform tricks running the spectrum from knowing Morse Code to walking a straight line for a police officer after he drinks a bottle of champagne.

This movie can't even be enjoyed in a "so bad, it's good" kind of way. There really is nothing redeeming about it. None of the characters are likeable, the "gags" consistently fall short, and the content overall is without merit. It's difficult to imagine pet lovers of any age finding anything worthwhile in this awful movie.

Talk to your kids about ...

Families can talk about comedies. What sort of humor is attempted here? How could it have been more effective?
How is this movie similar to and different from other dog movies?
What is the appeal of dog or animal movies? Do you prefer ones where the animals talk? Why or why not?