Soccer Dog

James Marshall, Olivia D'Abo

1998, Callisto Entertainment

What makes this more than an "underdog" movie (i.e. - a losing soccer team that magically makes the championship to win) and "sports-animal" movie (a la Airbud et. al.) is the fact that there are minor characters who are simply too weird - and that's a good thing, because that gives this movie a "tongue-in-cheek" feel that elevates it above the other standard fare that I have mentioned previously in this ridiculously elongated sentence.

Actually, the style of the weirdness and oddity of the characters reminded me slightly of Better Off Dead, and by "slightly" is because BOD was on a trip worthy of Salvidor Dali - Soccer Dog probably would have been even better if it had just thrown off the self-imposed reins and just gone for it. But what do I know?

All in all - it's a really cute movie, and good for the whole family, and it's a very nice afternoon well spent.

VG