The Shaggy Dog (1959)

“I’d rather not know how you get your gossip. Uh, what else do you know about them?” – Wilson Daniels

Number of Times Seen – at least five times (Cable in the 80’s and 6 Apr 2019)

Brief Synopsis – A teenager finds a magic ring in a museum that turns him into a dog.

My Take on it – This is a film that I recall seeing a few times as a kid on cable and remembered the overall premise but not much beyond that.

The overall idea of this film is a very interesting one, but since this was made by Disney and they wanted to cater more towards the younger generations, the story is presented in a very shallow and hollow way which hurts things a lot.

The story has too many plot holes where they expect the viewer to guess about what is behind much of what happens and that makes watching this movie even more frustrating.

I’ve always been a big fan of Fred MacMurray and he plays a great character in this film.

He is able to make this “father” seem uniquely different than many of the other personas he has played onscreen over the years.

The very basic idea for this film is one that should have been explored much more deeply and that would have, in turn, helped make this film feel even more intriguing to watch because the elements for a great story are all there yet they are not utilized properly enough for us to see THAT version of things.

Bottom Line – Interesting idea that is presented quite shallowly. They don’t manage to explain things well enough and expect the viewer to guess much about what is happening along the way. MacMurray is always fun to watch on screen and his character is eccentric and unique enough that he seems different than many of the other personas he has taken on over the years. The basis of the idea for this film is one that could have been explored much deeper and that perhaps would have made this film even better to watch.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The first live-action feature comedy produced by Walt Disney.(From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)