# My Dog Skip (2000)

### reviewed by
Mark O'Hara

    My Dog Skip (2000)

Jay Russell's MY DOG SKIP is a charming small film for family members of all ages, but it is no HUCKLEBERRY FINN.

We see images of Mark Twain's masterwork in several segments of SKIP. It appears behind the opening credits, in shots of period objects - furnishings from kids' rooms of the 1920's and '30's. Then the protagonist Willie Morris (Frankie Muniz) receives a hardback copy from his grandfather. Mostly the filmmaker crafts images that are supposed to be from a lost age in America - shots you might find in a catalog from a Norman Rockwell show. In one sequence, Willie and his Becky Thatcher-like friend Rivers Applewhite (Caitlin Wachs) tramp along a path, and later they paddle down a sleepy creek in a canoe. It doesn't matter that the film is set during the Second World War, almost 60 years after HUCK FINN was published. Russell is out to evoke a mood of nostalgia, an emotional tone of innocence mixed with virtually any genuine American ethic you can think of: hard work, independence, freedom, and so on.

The only problem is, these elements combine to create a batch of clichés, and they end up taking undue attention from the plot elements that are trying their hardest to hang together as a story. Even the set decoration is overdone, from the vintage baseball and football gear to the product advertisements cluttering the main street or painted on brick walls. The actors playing the parents of Willie's hero, next-door neighbor Dink Jenkins (Luke Wilson), are shown pausing (a real Rockwell moment) after they hang a small service banner from the porch ceiling. (Weren't these star flags hung in windows, by the way?) It may have been more appropriate to suggest a hint of the '40's, instead of flavoring the film so strongly.

The coming-of-age story is good enough. Loner Willie's only guests at his birthday party are elderly relatives and his own parents. Against her husband's wishes, Mrs. Morris (Diane Lane) gives Willie a dog, an "only dog" for an only child. What follows is a series of episodes typical of growing up stories. We watch Willie in various stages of happiness and sadness in the town of Yazoo, Mississippi. At times both Willie and his pooch fall into jeopardy - scenes mainly involving a couple of bootleggers hiding their hooch in a cemetery. These scenes are also reminiscent of Twain: Tom Sawyer this time. And the head bootlegger Junior might be compared to either Injun Joe or Huck's Pap.

The boy-and-his-dog story is engaging. Frankie Muniz (from the television series "Malcolm in the Middle") is a pleasant discovery, his face expressive and boyish enough to play a few years younger than his actual age. Muniz has a way of crinkling his smallish mouth to show anger or frustration, and he's also convincing in his onscreen crying.

His dog - the title character - is played by the Jack Russell terrier Moose, who also portrays the rascally Eddie on the t.v. show "Frasier." Excepting the brief shots in which you can see Moose staring off-camera at his trainer, this dog is wonderfully photogenic and clever. And he seems to have a true bond with Willie. He's the reason the film tips the scales more toward success than failure.

Willie has three enemies that become friends, and unfortunately these boys do not act their roles as comfortably as many other child actors would. Perhaps this is also a result of stereotypical characterization: the dim follower, the dirty towheaded sidekick, the suspender-wearing, loutish bully. None of these young actors can match Muniz's air of ease.

As Willie's father, Kevin Bacon tries valiantly to be a gruff but loving presence. His character lost his lower leg in combat in the Spanish Civil War, and now rides out his work life as an accountant, hiding his injury behind a desk. A small snag is that Bacon is not as old as the character he's playing, and he does not display a convincing Mississippi accent. (Most characters don't, if you want the truth, with the possible exception of Rivers.)

It's admirable that one of the film's agendas is to promote tolerance. Willie talks briefly with an African-American boy, who brags about a black athlete named Waldo Grace in the same way Willie brags about Dink Jenkins. We see blacks occupying the balcony seats in the town movie palace, and black families sitting around their part of town; at the end we even spot Willie and his friends watching Grace pitch and hit the horsehide at the Negro ball ground.

MY DOG SKIP is a mixed bag of pleasures and conventions. I would recommend it for both children and adults, though adults may find a few of its minutes taken up by sentimentality. It's worthwhile for its PG rating as well: my 11 year-old daughter liked the scenes featuring Willie and Rivers (or should I say Huck and Becky, or even Forrest and Jenny?)

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