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

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

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

Did You Know?

Connections

References Victory (1981)

User Reviews

What did Olivia D'Abo Do to Deserve This?

This stinker is in mystifyingly frequent rotation on one channel here, and I've found myself watching in horror again and again. The script is like something one would come up with friends over several too many drinks, and the production values match admirably.

It's meant to be a children's movie, but features a grotesque (and poorly explained) kidnapping scene; the star dog has a lack of star quality equaled only by the other actors; and it in general has the look of being filmed in someone's backyard (the climactic soccer game features no more than three dozen extras sadly cheering in the background).

It even all wraps up with a budget-ran-out voice-over sequence when the story, to one's relief, simply stops. The high-raters here must be either the producers - or the majority of the extras from the soccer game!