Plot
Two Oscar-winning actors add a family-oriented comedy to their resumes with this Disney-produced arctic adventure. Snow Dogs stars Cuba Gooding Jr. as Ted Brooks, a Florida-dwelling dentist with a successful chain of offices and a comfy, poolside lifestyle. All this changes, however, when he finds out that he was actually adopted as a child, and that his birth mother has died and left him an inheritance in her home state of Alaska, of all places. After arriving in the snow-bound clime, Ted learns that he has been willed a pack of cutely named sled dogs: Demon, Diesel, Dutchess, Nana, Mack, Scooper, Sniff, and Yodel. Problem is, the town's premiere sled-dogger, Thunder Jack (James Coburn), wants the pack for himself, and encourages Ted to go back to his tropical environs. But with a major sled-dog race looming, Ted's inspired to learn the ropes, as it were, and prove himself worthy of his birth mother's inheritance -- any way he can. Snow Dogs was directed by Jingle All the Way's Brian Levant and features some animatronic dog effects by Jim Henson's Creature Shop; the script was very loosely adapted from popular author Gary Paulsen's nonfiction book Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod. ~ Michael Hastings, RoviReview
No review of Snow Dogs would be complete without a couple obligatory words bemoaning how far Cuba Gooding Jr. has fallen since Jerry Maguire. It's possible Gooding never wanted to uphold the reputation of Oscar winner, and accepted being on a downward slide since that career pinnacle. But it's doubtful he imagined himself scrambling through the Alaskan wilderness, over-emoting like a buffoon, eyes and mouth fighting to see which could open the widest. Such slouching toward stereotypes is a disturbing trend in Disney movies, though the premise itself might be more directly responsible for turning the film into a walking punch line. To be sure, Gooding gives it his all, but Snow Dogs may have needed less than that to work. For the youngest children, just giving the dogs facial expressions might be enough. But older ones will probably find it square at best. Since this is Disney, the movie is assembled with a certain tidy competence and at least a minimum of good cheer; another Disney byproduct is that it deals with an orphan type seeking out his long-lost parentage, part of an ongoing thematic preoccupation. And sure, it's nice to empower Alaska as a demographic, as well as the tragically ignored sport of dog sledding. But unless you're a Star Trek fan peeking in to see Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) as Gooding's mother, mush onward. ~ Derek Armstrong, RoviCast
- Cuba Gooding, Jr. - Ted Brooks
- James Coburn - Thunder Jack
- Sisqo - Rupert
- Nichelle Nichols - Amelia Brooks
Credit
Doug Byggdin - Art Director, Cathy Sandrich - Casting, Amanda Mackey-Johnson - Casting, Monique Prudhomme - Costume Designer, Benjamin Rosenberg - First Assistant Director, Brian Levant - Director, Roger Bondelli - Editor, Casey Grant - Executive Producer, Christine Whitaker - Executive Producer, John Debney - Composer (Music Score), Stephen Lineweaver - Production Designer, Thomas E. Ackerman - Cinematographer, Jordan Kerner - Producer, Casey Grant - Producer, Elizabeth Wilcox - Set Designer, Rob Young - Sound/Sound Designer, Tommy Swerdlow - Screenwriter, Michael Goldberg - Screenwriter, Jim Kouf - Screenwriter, Mark Gibson - Screenwriter, Philip Halprin - Screenwriter, Tim Landry - Visual Effects Supervisor, Gary Paulsen - Book Author| Snow Dog (1950 Film), Snow Day (2000 Film) | |
| Snow Dream (Film), Snow Falling on Cedars (1999 Film) |
Copyright © 2012 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Movie Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.
