KIDVID: The Air Buddy system works

January 8, 1998
Web posted at: 9:39 p.m. EST (0239 GMT)

By Scott Blakey

There are times when the nippers and I repair to the neighborhood movie house to catch a picture, and periodically, I will wait anxiously, virtually panting, for it to come out in home video. Sometimes to pulverize, sometimes to praise.

It is also healthy to get a new year off on a jolly note, when that is possible, with a good video that is a joy to behold and to recommend.

And so I have been awaiting the video release of "Air Bud" (Walt Disney Home Video, 1997, live action, color, 92 minutes, closed captioned, $19.99), so I could recommend it, with high praise.

It loses little moving from the large to the small screen. It has a PG rating, which will be discussed in a bit. And "Air Bud" is a dog picture, and so we offer "KidVid's" standard caveat, which paraphrases Dr. Johnson: "No person but a blockhead ever watched a dog picture without a crate of Kleenex."

Boy meets dog

"Air Bud" is about a 12-year-old boy named Josh Framm who is grieving the death of his father, an U.S. Air Force test pilot. Josh's mother, Jackie, and his kid sister, a blond moppet who is, perhaps, all of 3, have moved to Fernfield, a suburb of Seattle, to begin a new life. Jackie Framm has taken a job as an executive with a manufacturing company based in the town.

Shortly before the moving van pulls up in front of the Framms' new home, Norm Snively and his nameless golden Labrador dog arrive in a plume-spewing truck at a swank home where a birthday party is in progress. Snively, a sinister man, is by vocation a clown; the dog is part of the act. But the dog is sober, which Snively definitely is not. When the clown act goes awry, he rages at the dog.

"I warned you, you flea-bitten mongrel. You're going to the pound."

But because of Snively's erratic driving, the dog's portable kennel slides out of the truck and its door is popped open by a glancing blow by the Framms' auto heading into Fernfield. Josh glimpses the freed dog, still in its clown suit, standing by the roadside.

A helping hand

Josh is a basketball player of some note, but he is too depressed and too shy to try out for the team, the TimberWolves. The team is coached by a rather sadistic man who wants nothing more than the state championship. The team is built around one boy, a high scorer named Larry Willingham, whose ego is the size of a blimp.

Against his better judgment, and that of the school's custodian who befriends him, Josh becomes the team's manager and suffers humiliation after humiliation at the hands of the team's stars.

"I guess I just like basketball," Josh explains to the custodian.

He does indeed, and by chance discovers an old outdoor court behind an abandoned church. Josh carries a basketball around with him in his backpack, and begins shooting hoops. He misses one and it rolls into the bushes. He hears gnarling sounds and the ball bounces out.

Enter Buddy, the golden Lab.

Buddy's not-so-hidden talent

Thus ensues a series of scenes as touching and funny as any in dog-filmdom, as Josh and Buddy bond over a couple of days. Josh finally sneaks Buddy home and cleans him up in a riotous mess of water and bubbles, done to the old Bobby Darin tune "Splish Splash." Jackie reluctantly agrees to let Buddy stay until Christmas. After that. ...

In addition to melting hearts, Buddy -- to Josh's absolute amazement -- has another talent. He can sink baskets, bouncing the ball up and off the backboard into the hoop.

"No way!" shouts Josh.

"Thunk."

Josh also discovers that the school custodian is Art Chaney, an NBA star from the 1950s who played for the New York Knicks -- a fact Chaney denies at first, but not for long.

Chaney is named to run the team after the regular coach is caught abusing a young player who dropped two passes in a game. This cruel man has slammed the boy in the face repeatedly with basketballs, bloodying the boy's nose and reducing him to tears. This pretty well earns the PG rating.

Now, life gets good.

A happy ending

Josh is on the team; the team is winning; Willingham's father moves his family to Seattle after Chaney benches his boy for ball-hogging; Buddy is team mascot and sinks baskets during half-time; and the TimberWolves are headed for the finals. These last two items elicit media attention to Fernfield, and the subsequent feeding frenzy brings Buddy to the attention of Snively.

Snively sees money in the dog's newfound celebrity and claims him from the Framms.

Josh is bereft, and kidnaps Buddy with Snively hot on his heels in a terrifying -- and funny -- chase. Josh turns the dog loose far from Fernfield, and heads home despondent.

All of these forces are brought together in a slightly unworldly finish as Buddy finds his way home just as the TimberWolves -- reduced to just four boys -- are fighting to win the state basketball title.

"Air Bud" is a wonderful video with clear messages, a fine script, a good score and a dog with a face as rubbery as Bert Lahr's.

Don't miss it.

(c) 1998, Scott Blakey

Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate

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• Disney's Air Bud

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