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Air Bud 3 (V) More at IMDbPro »Air Bud: World Pup (original title)

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13 reviews in total

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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Ranges between boringly bland to laughably poor, 13 February 2006
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

With a new term comes another football season to get through but this year a new player from England (Emma Putter) offers some hope to the team of no-hopers who's previous best player was a dog. Josh however immediately falls for his new teammate – just as his dog has fallen for her dog. As Josh frantically tries to control his hormones and still play for the team, a pair of thieves are eyeing up Air Bud as a good money spinner if they can kidnap him away from the Framm's. However things are even more complicated by the news that Air Bud is much, much better than Josh at convincing females to have sex with him and thus puppies are on the way.

Having watched one Air Bud I yet again showed the world how stubborn and stupid I am by returning to watch part 3. Obviously I was worried about how I would cope picking up the narrative having missed out on seeing Golden Retriever. Essentially the plot is a lazy mess of Home Alone criminals, dogs hitting balls with their noses and teenagers fumbling awkwardly towards their first awkward fumble. Needless to say it is a fairly uninteresting and uninspiring film that will keep your young children entertained but, when you think about it, so would a rattle snake but would you put your young 'uns in front of that? The film is boring and it pretty much falls flat at every step. The plot is rubbish; the teenage romance is bland as you like and the attempts at humour would have failed too but luckily the film decided not to even try to be funny. The sports action is same old same old and is not enough to cover all the cracks.

The cast range from the serviceable to the hilariously bad. Zegers is bland but suits this type of film as a clean-cut youth. However he performs like Orson Welles in his prime when compared to his co-lead Bouck who leads a family of bad accents with a terrible version of English that would have given Mr Fogg a run for his money in terms of how fast she takes it round the world – is it LA? English? Irish? Australian? She is cute but she wanders all over the place and the nearest she gets to English is a sort of forced posh cockney that would make Dick Van Dyke laugh. The rest of the cast are not as awful as her but nobody marks themselves out even though this is the sort of film where some adult normally gives knowing winks all the way through to at least appeal to the adult audience.

Generally rubbish then but I suppose the very young children it is aimed at will like it – but are you really so hard up for kids entertainment that you need to put them in front of this? Laughably basic at times and boringly bland at others, this is one to just ignore.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Ruff!, 3 July 2002
Author: JoeytheBrit from www.moviemoviesite.com

Harvesting what is, by now, very fallow land, the makers of Air Bud turn to football in a cynical attempt to squeeze even more kiddie-bucks out of a franchise that really never should have prospered in the first place. By now, the movies were going straight to video which, hopefully, suggests that Bud will very soon be paying Rin Tin Tin and Lassie a visit in the Hollywood home for unprofitable dogs.

Sport plays a secondary role in this episode, as the so-called plot concentrates on Josh's ham-fisted attempts to woo Emma, a football-playing English girl (who, incidentally, could easily pass for 21, while Zegers can still pass for a pre-adolescent 14-year-old).

I can't help feeling that any boys suckered into watching what they might be forgiven for believing is predominantly a sports-related movie, will feel particularly cheated when they find themselves sitting through a cloyingly sentimental teen-romance flick. In fact, many of the pre/early teens at which this movie is aimed will be disappointed: the romance will bore the younger viewers, while the childlike humour will turn off the teenagers. Poor direction, which fails to generate any kind of excitement, merely serves to compound the shortcomings. Avoid (unless you're a very undemanding 10-year-old).

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Disney never lets a series die, 18 May 2010

Author: Arlis Fuson from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

You guessed it...it's soccer this time. Little Sister Andrea has grown up and her new English female coach intrigues young Josh so he and his buddy Tom join up with the soccer team, only to learn quick that Buddy is a great player. Would you be shocked to find that there is someone trying to dog-nap Buddy..wow! yes, a dog catcher is trying to steal him, for some strange reason. Buddy has met soccer girl Emma's dog Molly (the dogs real name is Emma - hmmm weird)and he knocks that bi-atch up (hey thats not a curse word she is a female dog). Anyway 6 puppies come along and the dog nappers are in Heaven. The kids go on a mission to save the doggies and just like parts 1 and 2 Buddy comes last minute to save the team and take them to the championship...awe how sweet.

This was horrible, Kevin Zegers is the only reason to watch it. All of the rest of the cast has been replaced anyway except the referee's and his sidekick Tom played in all 3 films by Shayn Solberg. Shane returns later too, but this is Kevin's farewell to fur film. They even have a different house here, which might be because Patrick is in the picture (but in later films you will see the old house is back and a whole different story told as if this film didn't even happen). I hate how cheesy this film is. It's so much like those crappy Disney TV shows with kids that can't act and bad music and cheesy songs that even Miley Cyrus would gag at. The direction was so basic and dull and the dog can't play soccer and the editor must have had to work like crazy to make it look like he could be a goalie. The whole game scenes are ridiculous, the people playing doesn't even try, it's so cheesy. At least in the first two films they tried to make the games believable.

All three are basically the same movie with minor differences. This movie was silly, it ripped off 101 Dalmatians AGAIN. The whole dog catcher side story was stupid. At one point the dog catcher is setting outside the mansion wanting a dog and Josh blows a dog whistle and dozens of dogs come to the mansion and the catcher doesn't even notice them. Another stupid thing was when everyone was looking for the missing dogs and the kids were missing their game to look, the parents go on to the game...umm yea, you just know the dog's gonna come and join the team the last few minutes and win don't you? Oh wait thats right you have seen this happen before at the basketball as well as the football game..my bad! Kevin Zegers is the only reason to add this film to your collection, he is an amazing actor, most of the cast are once again a bunch of nobodies, Miguel Sandoval did do a great job as the coach..

worst of the three, just for kids, nothing new....2/10 stars

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1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Air Bud, 14 February 2007

Author: gymgirl1330 from United States

I really enjoyed this movie. I have seen most of the other air buds and am wondering what sports they will come up with next. Tennis, Gymnastics? well i am a soccer player and really did like it, especially as a kid. In the movie it also makes a point that no matter what you are you can do anything. Out of all of the Air Buds, this is by far my favorite. I suggest it for family's. Also another good Air Bud movie I liked was Air Buddies. Some people may not like that one because the dogs talk but that was my other favorite. It is more for kids than adults but some may still enjoy it. i don't know what to write so i am just typing stuff sorry. I hope you enjoy this movie and find this helpful.

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1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Choppy Cheese, 15 July 2006

Author: Brandt Sponseller from New York City

At least if you're a Disney fanatic (well, of the variety who loves their live-action films as well as the animated stuff), if you're a kid, if you're a kid at heart almost to the extent that you hardly realize you're an adult, if you love absolutely any film that features animals, especially when they're doing tricks, or if you're just not too demanding, Air Bud: World Pup is somewhat enjoyable to watch. I'm a Disney fanatic. I enjoyed this film enough, and I'll gladly watch it again.

But boy does it have a lot of problems. The main flaw arises from a combination of too many characters, too many plot threads and not enough time to take care of them all. In the space of 82 minutes, we've got adults getting married, teens falling in love and trying not to be awkward at it, teen competition for love and jealousy, preteens playing spy games, dogs falling in love, dogs playing soccer, dogs having puppies, manipulative parents who'll do anything to make their kids win being taught a lesson by their kids, housekeeper dilemmas, and crooks cooking up and executing elaborate plots. I'm probably forgetting something, but that's 10 big plot issues to be dealt with, with less than 10 minutes per thread to deal with them, and presumably weave them into a coherent whole that's both not too complicated--this is a kids' film, after all--and that's also humorous and heartwarming. Not surprisingly, director Bill Bannerman, on his first turn being completely in charge (he has a lot of previous second unit experience), wasn't quite up to the task. I'm sure it didn't help that there were at least three screenwriters involved, and probably dictating producers, as well.

The end result is that Air Bud: World Pup is extremely choppy. Events occur with little justification, and worse, often little explanation. People figure out and do things primarily because they need to--and fast--so that everything can arrive where it needs to arrive in less than 90 minutes. From one cut to the next, time might jump ahead six months or so. We have both adults who seem like maybe they're mentally disabled and kids who just intuitively figure out what a dog is thinking and rush into some unexpected action. Some of the threads should have simply been removed, because it's difficult to become too engaged in the film when as soon as you're introduced to an idea, it's already passed you by.

Also not helping is the fact that one of the threads is basically a rip-off of One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), minus a Cruella De Vil character. And another problem is that given the way the film is edited, I have to assume that the dog, Air Bud, probably couldn't do much with the soccer ball. Unlike the first two films, a dog playing a sport is almost an afterthought here, and when we see him, it's in very quick glimpses; every once in a while, these snippets appear to be even aided by computer animation.

Yet, for someone like me, there's a cheesy charm to Air Bud: World Pup. The script and performances often teeter between ridiculous, hokey and kinda clichéd. I tend to like that combination. It makes the film both a bit predictable and subtly bizarre. And at times, like the ending, when the film completely abandons consistency and basically becomes a commercial for the U.S. Women's Soccer Team, Air Bud: World Pup is so blatantly tacky that you can't help but love it.

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0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Cute feel-good movie, 14 December 2006

Author: elizabeth_author from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A great feel-good movie for the family, but make sure you have cotton wool ready for your ears because the kids will start squealing at the adorable puppies. This film pretty much has the same concepts and basic plot line as the first two. Buddy and his owner Josh start playing soccer, and Buddy falls for a new golden retriever in town (and Josh for her owner). Buddy becomes a father and a couple of horrible men try to steal the puppies to sell them. Not exactly brilliant cinema, but it is almost guaranteed to put a smile on dog lovers' faces, and kids and younger teens will love it (the latter not least because the boy who plays Josh is really cute).

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0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
honey, not a horrible kid movie, romantic and fun rolled into one, 23 June 2002
Author: bcf123 from S.C., USA

This is Air Bud's third sports movie. this time Josh is playing soccer, and to help him improve, yep, Air Bud will help him every step of the way. though he finds himself stuck in sports and his love, a female golden retriever. with his newborn pups, Shooter,Zak,Duke,and Striker. the sports generation has never looked so good!

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2 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Not a horrible kiddie movie, 2 February 2001

Author: echo_37 from Canada

I suppose that to say this is an all-out terrible movie would be unfair, but it's pretty bad. The sub-Disney storyline involves dogs playing soccer and falling in love (aw, how cute!) The acting isn't bad, but definitely could be better, especially that of young Canadian actor Kevin Zegers, who, during the whole movie, looks embarrassed, like he doesn't even want to be there. Anyway, kids will love it, but parents beware!

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0 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Not as good as the first Air Bud, 21 April 2002

Author: michael-367 from Wales, United Kingdom

This movie is good, but disappointingly is nowhere near as good as the first airbud. The storyline is predictable and cheesey and you don't even see much of Josh Framm's legs! The hot teenage Kevin Zegers is the best thing in this movie.

Michael (aged 17)

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2 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Same old 'Air'., 29 April 2001
Author: Christopher Smith

If you've seem either AIR BUD or AIR BUD 2: GOLDEN RECEIVER then you've seen AIR BUD 3: WORLD PUP. It has the same storyline as the first two. Josh discovers that his dog, Buddy is extremely talented at soccer so Josh and Buddy join the soccer team. The team goes on a winning streak. I liked AIR BUD and AIR BUD 2, but now the series is just getting tired. There have been way to many animal movies over the past few years. If studios stop making animal movies for a while maybe a fourth Air Bud movie will be refreshing. If there is an Air Bud 4 then it better be better than this!

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