I’d say that the “Buddies” film series jumped the shark by sending the pups into space but I think the entire series was a shark jump from the Air Bud series. That being said if you’re less than four feet then you’ll be delighted that the cute puppies are back and others might just want them blasted into space… sans spacesuits.
The Buddies, Buddha (Field Cate), Rosebud (Liliana Mumy), Budderball (Josh Flitter), B-Dawg (Skyler Gisondo), and Mudbud (Henry Hodges), are the puppies of Buddy (Tom Everett Scott) and Molly (Molly Shannon).
They’ve been adopted out to kids who have personalities that reflect their own. Buddha’s boy is going on a field trip to see Vision Enterprise’s new space shuttle, which is bound for the moon. Of course, the Buddies tag along for the ride. The shuttle has been designed by Pi (Bill Fagerbakke), a mousy scientist with a pet ferret named Gravity (Amy Sedaris).
His rival Dr. Finkel (Kevin Weisman) knows that if the launch goes awry that he’ll be able to take over the project. Since Pi is a pet lover he’s designed this space adventure to be for the whole family, including pets. So the Buddies find themselves in their own dog-sized space suits and wandering around the complex… and right onto the shuttle. They’re launched into space and zero gravity.
Dr. Finkel has programmed the computer to make it seem like it the shuttle’s fuel tanks were fully filled when one tank wasn’t filled. Mission control now has ten hours till the tank is empty to figure out how to refuel the tank and not abort the mission (allowing Finkel to take over). His flight crew, Slats (Lochlyn Munro) and Astro (Ali Hillis), find out an old Russian space station is still in space and manned by the nutty Yuri (Diedrich Bader) and his dog Spudnick (Jason Earles).
Yuri is content to stay in space, but Spudnick misses his boy back on Earth. When the Buddies arrive they try and help Spudnick get back to planet Earth, but Yuri thinks that he’s been given five new companions to keep him company on the space station.
Of course, the first movie parodied when they get into space is 2001: A Space Odyssey when classical music plays during the pup’s weightlessness. 2001 this ain’t, but your kids might think it’s the second coming of Kubrick.
The Buddies series has been a bit of silliness that features some cute dogs - surely a combination that every video viewing rugrat can appreciate. Too bad that mom and dad have to watch too. It’s cute enough but the CGI is grating. I appreciate it when Disney does animated films with animals, but CGIing mouths onto the dogs just doesn’t feel right to me.
Not that it will matter to the kids that eat these films up. The comedy runs towards fart jokes and the acting is the kind is what you’re used to seeing on Power Rangers. The kids will love it, the younger the better.
Space Buddies is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.78:1). Special features include 3 minutes of bloopers in high definition. The “Backstage Disney” section contains the 12 minute “Disneypedia: The Buddies Guide to Space Travel” (high def) and a pop up “Buddy Facts” track that gives you trivia during the film.
“Games & Activities” has a Buddy Finder game that you can play during the film. “Music and More” has the 3-minute “Dancing in the Moonlight” music video (high def). There are also sneak peeks of other Disney films as well as BD-Live functionality.
Space Buddies will impress the kids, but adults might have to grit their teeth if they don’t rot out from the “cuteness” of the Buddies. If you tykes loved the other Buddies movies then they’ll be delighted. If you didn’t, prepare to take one for the kids.
Space Buddies [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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