See Spot Run

Starring David Arquette; Michael Clarke Duncan, Leslie Bibb and Paul Sorvino
Screenplay by George Gallo and Dan Baron & Chris Faber
Story by Stuart Gibbs & Craig Titley and George Gallo
Directed by John Whitesell
website: www.see-spot-run.com

IN SHORT: Run, adults, run. [Rated PG for crude humor, language and comic violence. 85 minutes]

Way back in the 1970s we were introduced, in French class, to the concept of "masculine" and "feminine" words. We'd give examples but we don't remember a bit of any of it. The experience of taking our ten year old niece and eight year old nephew to see See Spot Run brought back memories of those language lessons. We learned, for example, that "poop" is preferred by the feminine member and "doodie" is preferred by her brother.

That refers to one of two gags you may remember from See Spot Run. The other involves a large animal and a lit match. Simply, single digit kidlets -- we were in a theater packed with 'em -- will discover a new kind of joke. They will bounce in their seats and applaud and grin with glee. Their parents will wish they were in the theater next door. One which is playing something more adult. Or they may just be enjoying watching the kidlets having a good time, cuz there is nothing happening on the big screen which would otherwise distract their attention.

The story, which involves a DEA dog smarter than almost every human it works with and the organized crimeboss (Paul Sorvino) he's pissed off. The boss orders the dog dead. The only uniform in the way belongs to the local mailman (David Arquette) who carries a variety of self-made defensive tools, which would be called silly weaponry if this weren't a kidflick, to defend himself against the vicious canines on his route. "Agent 11" is not one of those canines, though his preferred method of attack is the only gag out of place in this comedy. Suffice it to say that you may have to explain why a testicular attack by a canine's canine may cause supreme pain. The gag went over the head of our eight year old. The ten year old already had a basic understanding.

There's also a cute single mom (Leslie Bibb) who wants nothing to do with the mailman whose heart thumps mightily for her. She has to leave her cute little boy (Angus T. Jones) in his care when a last minute business trip calls her out of town and into a series of physical calamaties all her own. Rounding out the cast is a tough FBI agent (Michael Clarke Duncan), who loves the dog more than is humanly healthy and a sensitive postal worker pal (Anthony Anderson) to fill out the story.

None of 'em can out act the dog (Bob, a bull mastiff). We don't put ratings on a kidflick 'cuz they'll all wind upin the VCR in a couple of months. There's nothing here to make adults want to go in kidlet-less.

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