Mark and Fran Garrison (Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette) are a young married couple who spend the entire movie at each other's throats. You really wonder why they remain married in the story and I really think this is a major problem with the film....the couple simply hated each other.
The story begins with the couple racing like the devil to get their pet Dachshund to the vet because it's in labor. Never mind that dogs have been giving birth for thousands of years without vets....the dog is apparently quite pampered. After having three puppies, Mark learns that the vet has a bit of a predicament...his Great Dane had too many puppies and one of them wasn't going to survive. Since the Dachshund only had three puppies, Mark agrees to take the Dane and have it nursed by the mama Dachshund.
So far all this makes sense. However, Mark doesn't tell Fran that their fourth puppy is a Great Dane...and it takes her several weeks to notice! This makes no sense...nor did it make any sense that Mark would not talk to his wife about this. In fact, this is THE model for the rest of the movie--with the couple not communicating and each using the dogs against the other. Mark loves the Great Dane and Fran always sides with her Dachshunds and scapegoating the Great Dane....blaming it for the damage generally begin done by her Dachshunds. What's to become of this bickering family? And, will Fran ever come to like and accept the Dane?
My oldest daughter and I loved watching the scenes with the doggies. However, when the story centered on the couple, the film bogged down because down deep they don't seem to love each other--and what fun is it seeing an arguing couple?! More dogs...less bickering couple and you would have had a better movie. Overall, very watchable but a film that manages to just miss the mark...and all of this has to do with the total lack of chemistry between the two leads.
The story begins with the couple racing like the devil to get their pet Dachshund to the vet because it's in labor. Never mind that dogs have been giving birth for thousands of years without vets....the dog is apparently quite pampered. After having three puppies, Mark learns that the vet has a bit of a predicament...his Great Dane had too many puppies and one of them wasn't going to survive. Since the Dachshund only had three puppies, Mark agrees to take the Dane and have it nursed by the mama Dachshund.
So far all this makes sense. However, Mark doesn't tell Fran that their fourth puppy is a Great Dane...and it takes her several weeks to notice! This makes no sense...nor did it make any sense that Mark would not talk to his wife about this. In fact, this is THE model for the rest of the movie--with the couple not communicating and each using the dogs against the other. Mark loves the Great Dane and Fran always sides with her Dachshunds and scapegoating the Great Dane....blaming it for the damage generally begin done by her Dachshunds. What's to become of this bickering family? And, will Fran ever come to like and accept the Dane?
My oldest daughter and I loved watching the scenes with the doggies. However, when the story centered on the couple, the film bogged down because down deep they don't seem to love each other--and what fun is it seeing an arguing couple?! More dogs...less bickering couple and you would have had a better movie. Overall, very watchable but a film that manages to just miss the mark...and all of this has to do with the total lack of chemistry between the two leads.