SHOW DOGS

US, 2018, 92 minutes, Colour.
Will Arnett, Natasha Lyonne, Omar Chaparro. Voices of: Chris Ludicrus Bridges, Stanley Tucci, Shaquille O' Neal, R uPaul, Gabriel Iglesias, Ronni Ancona.
Directed by Raja Gosnell.

Back in the old days, there was Francis, the talking mule. Then there was that talking horse, Mr Ed. And, since then, lots of films with talking animals, and developing techniques to make their mouths move to make it all the more convincing.

This time it is a talking dog, a strong Rottweiler named Max. In fact, he is on the expert staff of the NYPD. And, he talks to animals and they respond – initially a group of daffy pigeons who admire Max, want to help and, ultimately, succeed. Max is watching a group of criminals, trading in valuable animals and sees little panda in a cage and response to the panda’s appeal.

In the meantime, there is Frank, an FBI agent (Will Arnett), with the potential for being a romantic hero and detective but also prone to accidents. And this is very evident at first with the pursuit of the criminals by car, and Max using his ingenuity and vigour by chasing one of the criminals around the streets.

The head of the New York police is very supportive of Max as are some of the other dogs in the headquarters. Most reluctantly, the FBI accepts that Max will share a mission with Frank at a dog show in Las Vegas, apparently the most prestigious in the world, where Max will compete to be Best in Show.

Lots of dogs in this film – which means that, even though it is aimed at a young audience, parental dog lovers may well be satisfied in contemplating the range of dogs, their style, fussiness, dialogue, performance, preparation for the big show. One of the dogs is French, resentful of his past owner, but deciding to help Max. And, so, the voices are important with comedian Chris Ludicrous Bridges voicing Max, and audiences wondering who this French poodle is voiced by, discovering it is Stanley Tucci.

Of course, there is a touch of romance with Natasha Lyonne as another dog trainer, helping in the ultimate confrontation with the Hispanic villain and his contacts with Ukrainian gangs, Omar Chaparro.

There is a final action confrontation, a tiger on the loose, pigeons in pursuit of a car, the humans and the dogs all combining and combatting for success.

Enjoyable, forgettable, something for the holidays (although, some parents might be wary of the use of guns in the action).