"Lenny The Wonder Dog" the title on the box read. Below it said "He's a talking dog & everyone's after him"
While this may seem silly, the film is anything but! At first I must admit that I was worried it would take the same course as other talking-dog movies, such as "Air Bud" 1-37 and the recently released
"Space Buddies" and simply be a childish film about being a good person. I can confidently tell you that you have no reason to worry! Lenny The Wonder Dog is at it's core a detailed and, at times, embarassingly frank look at today's culture and society's inability to rise above the missunderstandings and mistakes of the past.
From large epic explosions to Capri-Sun sipping dogs, this movie REALLY DOES have it all! Andy Richter of "Tonight Show" fame lends his deep, lucrid voice to the main character Lenny in a truly masterful way. In fact, he did such a good job making the dog seem like it was talking, I wonder if the movie was originally to be called "Lenny," and only after hearing Andy's masterful voice-acting did they add on "The Wonderdog."
It truly is amazing. Perhaps what is most amazing is how underrated this movie is! I found it for $1.99 in a grocery store in New York while vacationing there! This movie should have won Oscars, Lenny should have been on the Today show, and there should have been AT LEAST one Broadway Musical version of this classic film!
Lenny really is a dog, and everyone really is after him! The very first scene showed Lenny's master, Dr. Island, trying taking Lenny for a walk. But Lenny was too fast for Dr. Island (who was on his roller blades), and thus almost dragged the poor doctor behind him. This was a clear forshadow to how people would chase after Lenny later in the movie, but he would be too fast, and drag them behind himself.
The villian, Dr. Wagner, is also a very sofisticated character, and is no doubt a personification of the woes of the current economy. Since Dr. Wagner owns half the town, he ingeniously employs two ex-mailmen to do his bidding. Sadly, the two mailmen bumble around, and add almost nothing to the movie. They are, however, part of perhaps the best chase scene in movie history. The director smartly decided that in between the running segments, it would be a good idea to add the character making strange faces. It is a scene that really adds a lot to the film.
The graphics are truly off the heazy. While it doesn't seem like "Lenny" would need very many effects, there were plenty to be found! One ESPECIALLY notable effect came repeatedly when it showed Dr. Island's magic-talking-dog-chip zapping Lenny's brain. Silly Lenny thought that his new-found powers were simply him having a low blood-sugar level. Time for more healthy Capri-Sun!
The only real problem that is present in the film is the apprent lack of cash given to the production team. Dr. Island's actor, famous for his work on the TV show Eureka, apparently either did not get enough money, or did not realize what movie he was in until after filming the first scene, because he was not in the rest of the movie, and they simply explained it by saying he had gone into a coma. Also they had a sign-language interpreter for about 20 seconds of the film in the bottom left-hand corner, then it disappeared. Apparently they did not have enough money to pay the interpreter. This is surprising, saying how much money they spent on the high-end visual effects.
Whether you love dogs or hate dogs; whether you can talk or cannot talk; whether you have low blood-sugar or not low blood-sugar; whether you like crappy movies or do not love crappy movies, you will love Lenny The Wonder Dog. It will make you think. It will make you dream. It will make you beg for more and more Lenny! He is, after all, a talking dog, and everyone is after him! Including you! Now go watch it!
July 3, 2009
