By John Corrado
The main appeal of Charlie the Wonderdog, the first animated feature from British Colombia’s ICON Creative Studio, is getting to hear Owen Wilson voice an aging dog who gets a new lease on life.
Wilson brings his usual laid-back charm to his portrayal of the titular “wonderdog,” so it’s no wonder (pun intended) the film is being sold with his name above the title.
Sure, it’s a mostly familiar tale that doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and does about what you would expect with a pretty basic story about a dog gaining superpowers. But for an animated movie being released in theatres mid-January, Charlie the Wonderdog is fine enough, and should entertain the target audience of kids.
Charlie is the name of a golden retriever who shares a deep bond with his young owner Danny (Dawson Littman), having grown up alongside the boy. Danny is now an adolescent, and Charlie is reaching old age, struggling to even make it up the porch steps at night. This bond between Danny and Charlie is shown in a bittersweet opening montage that actually has some heart to it, before the film takes a much goofier tonal shift when the dog gains superpowers through a literal alien abduction.
Charlie is abducted by aliens, alongside the neighbour’s cat Puddy (Ruairi MacDonald), to be pets for an alien prince (Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez). When the bratty little alien decides he doesn’t like any of them after genetically modifying the animals, the pets are sent back from space with these newfound powers. Now, instead of having aging bones and arthritis, Charlie can fly, speak, and has super strength. Charlie becomes a superhero, while Puddy becomes a massive-sized super-villain, intent on world domination.
The resulting film has a lot of random story elements, like a subplot with an incompetent female American President (Tabitha St. Germain). There is also a bit of a meanness to it at times, with Puddy being genuinely cruel to his owner Otis (Zac Bennett-McPhee). The narrative itself, stretched thin at even 92 minutes, feels a little slapdash and threadbare, with a wholly predictable cats vs. dogs aspect to it. But Charlie the Wonderdog is far from a bad film, even if a lot of it veers into forgettable territory as far as family entertainment is concerned.
This is primarily an animated movie geared towards the younger demographic, so is best judged on those grounds. The animation itself is decent, and the film as a whole is colourful and fast-paced enough that it should entertain smaller viewers. It features a predictable but adequately delivered message about believing in yourself, and is grounded by a handful of admittedly sweet moments showing the bond between boy and dog. The new Bryan Adams songs are also perfectly fine, and add more Canadian content to this homegrown production.
The Joy of Movies 