Soccer Dog: The Movie (1999)

A heart-warming comedy about the friendship between the new kid in town and a soccer-playing dog on the lam from the dog-catcher. It's up to these two underdogs to win the PeeWee Soccer League championship game.

Director:

Tony Giglio

Writer:

Daniel Forman

Stars:

James Marshall, Olivia d'Abo, Jeremy Foley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Marshall	...	Alden
Olivia d'Abo	...	Elena
Jeremy Foley	...	Clay
Sam McMurray	...	Coach Shaw
Burton Gilliam	...	The Mail Man
Billy Drago	...	(Damon Fleming) The Dog Catcher
Kyle Gibson	...	Vince
Evan Matthew Cohen	...	Sonny (as Evan Cohen)
Brocker Way	...	Berger
Bill Capizzi	...	Vito
Kirk Baily	...	Ref
Brad Grunberg	...	Fundersburk
Carrie Genzel	...	Reporter
Franklin Dennis Jones	...	Coach Brody
Douglas S. Ornstein	...	The Fan (as Doug Ornstein)

Storyline

A successful man with nostalgia for his days as a soccer player attempts to adopt an orphan so he can teach him all about his favorite sport. But soon after bringing the lad home, the new father is disappointed to discover that the lad is not interested in playing soccer. This creates tension, until a stray dog with a remarkable talent for playing soccer shows up and helps to bring father and new son together.

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Plot Keywords:

soccer | dog | soccer movie | boyfriend girlfriend relationship | animal actor | 

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Taglines:

He's a goal crazy mutt with some winning moves and he's on his way to the championship!

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild thematic elements

Did You Know?

Quotes

Vito: I hate that dog.
Mafia Goon: Want us to pick up some cement boss?

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Connections

Referenced in Best of the Worst: Elves, Santa Claus, and Christmas Vacation 2 (2013)

User Reviews

Some really funny tongue in cheek characters but over all a dull kids movie that takes itself too seriously

Loving couple adopt an orphan from a local orphanage. Alden tries to bond with his son by getting him involved in a local soccer team. However the team is poorly coached and can't win any games. When Clay's dog turns out to be a natural player he is put in the first team (at the expense of Clay) causing rifts in the team. With the team on a great cup run and the town gone Lincoln mad everything seems fine. However Clay feels neglected and a dog catcher seeks to catch Lincoln who have previously escaped him.

It's not a great premise at all, but with enough tongue in cheek humour this could have been pretty funny. The story is rubbish and the core of it is dull. The main bit relates to tension between Clay and his dad, and a rivalry between Clay and another team. Both these bits are dull and nothing new. However what is enjoyable is the occasional streak of adult jokes that come up.

The film's comedy come from the characters that represent various films. We have the mobster type father (just like Paulie from Goodfellas), we have the coach of one of the teams who rips off the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket, we have one of the players who talks like Vince Vaughn in Swingers – and we have a familiar face from Blazing Saddles and a referee who looks like Tony Blair! We also have a few scenes that spoof other films – the best being Ransom – but most of it isn't very good.

Foley is OK as Clay but Marshall is dull as the dad. McMurray is funny as the coach and the various film spoof characters are pretty funny. However the main characters are dull and Billy Drago has nothing to do and doesn't carry much menace. The scenes of the dog playing football are daft too, and not well done – the dog either follows a ball that is obviously being dragged in front of it or they use an absurd computer generated ball instead.

Overall this has plenty of funny characters but the core is really dull making this worth watching once, but don't expect it to be that good.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 July 1999 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Soccer Dog, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Pooch

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Callisto Entertainment, John Brister Productions, Watershed Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color