Who needs new tricks when you can dust off an old dog? The Shaggy Dog is certainly no worse than the 1976 film that inspired it (which was itself a remake of Disney's 1959 Fred MacMurray classic, in which a child, not his father, magically transforms into a sheepdog). And though adults may question why either film bears remaking, kids will no doubt find it a novel premise. This is precisely the type of moviegoing experience engineered for those who still get a laugh when the Baha Men hit "Who Let the Dogs Out?" accompanies a doggie mayhem montage.

If your child can still count the number of his or her in-theater experiences on two hands, The Shaggy Dog may very well be a transformative experience. It opens with a preposterously overblown dognapping sequence featuring a helicopter, a S.W.A.T. team and a Tibetan monastery that may seem puzzling to anyone above the age of 12, but makes the theater walls vibrate in such a way that younger boys will think they've seen the face of God. Or D-O-G, as the case may be.

To the movie's credit, the half dozen or so writers credited with contributing to the screenplay don't insist on using every obvious dog joke. Sure, they hit many (Tim Allen lifts his leg to pee and there's arguably more butt-sniffing than necessary), but there are some pretty clever moments mixed in, too, such as the throwaway gag on Allen's first day toward doghood, in which he steps out of the shower and shakes himself dry.

Such tame family fare might be of no interest to adults whatsoever if it weren't for the curious casting decisions of the supporting roles. Danny Glover and Philip Baker Hall seem entirely too talented for their thankless bit parts, while the movie's villain is Robert Downey Jr. looking somewhat worse for the wear as the security specialist responsible for guarding a pharmaceutical company's dirty little secret.

Picking the easiest possible target, the movie galvanizes its young audience against the injustices of animal testing, making its case with a lab full of half-canine CG critters (a snake with a panting tongue and fluffy tail, rats that bark, and an unfortunate-looking bulldog-bullfrog hybrid). The movie operates firmly within the time-honored Disney tradition, which means that parents can rest easy about not having to field the kind of difficult questions raised by, say, last Sunday's Academy Awards nominees.

When Angelenos crash into one another in this film, it's to earn an easy slapstick laugh rather than provoke racial unrest. And the only Marlboro-unworthy role model impressionable males will find here is a teenage boy who wants to quit the football team and audition for the school musical. No animals were harmed in the making of this film, and no humans will be in the watching of it.

[as featured in The Miami Herald]