Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch

Plot

With her older brother, Josh (Kevin Zegers), off at college, and her yuppie parents (Richard Karn and Cynthia Stevenson) obsessed with the new baby, young Andrea Framm (Caitlin Wachs) joins the junior high baseball team to escape the tedium of her home life. She's not very good, but luckily her sports-inclined golden retriever, Buddy, is a natural. Buddy also makes the team and becomes the star player. When the team gets into the championship game, a pair of zany scientists traveling in a laboratory inside a mobile home kidnap the pooch and his offspring in the interest of their experiments to clone sports-prone animals. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi

Review

The fourth of the family-friendly Air Bud franchise, each produced or executive produced by director Robert Vince, finds the canines and humans in capable hands in this live-action, broadly played, low-key adventure. Easily understood characters, colorful sets and costumes, a plot with very few complications, and, happily, no gross-out humor make for a lively outing. There are nice moments, and the finale will thrill the target audience of elementary school children. The baseball aspect of the plot doesn't materialize until the midway into the film, so youngsters expecting catching-and-fetching early on may squirm in their seats waiting for the setup. The original basketball-oriented Air Bud still rules, but this easily likeable puppy clearly shows its pedigree. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi

Cast

• Caitlin Wachs - Andrea Framm
• Cynthia Stevenson
• Molly Hagan
• Richard Karn

Kevin Zegers - Josh Framm; Frank C. Turner - Carlton

Credit

Lorna Johnson - Casting, Robert Vince - Director, Kelly Herron - Editor, Jason Pielak - Editor, Michael Strange - Executive Producer, Anne Vince - Executive Producer, Kevin Kasha - Executive Producer, Brahm Wenger - Composer (Music Score), Peter Andringa - Production Designer, Glen Winter - Cinematographer, Robert Vince - Producer, Anna McRoberts - Producer, Robert Vince - Screen Story, Anne Vince - Screenwriter, Anna McRoberts - Screenwriter, Stephanie Isherwood - Screenwriter, Sara Sutton - Screenwriter

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Next:	Air Bud: World Pup (2000 Film), Air Buddies (2006 Film)