Don't Skip this one

"My Dog Skip"
Overall Rating: ***


"My Dog Skip" is a nice movie. It promotion seems to be targeting kids, but it is not strictly speaking a kids' movie. This is a sentimental, boy-grows-up-with-his-dog movie.

"My Dog Skip" takes place in Yazoo, Mississippi, during World War II. There, Willie Morris (Frankie Muniz) is a shy, bookish child who is ostracized because he doesn't play football. His only friend, is his next door neighbor, Dink Jenkins (Luke Wilson)--the town's star athlete; only Dink, who is many years Willie's senior, is about to go off and fight in the war. Though Willie's father (Kevin Bacon) is opposed to the idea, his mother (Diane Lane) decides to get Willie a dog for his ninth birthday, to keep him company in Dink's absence. Soon, Willie's dog Skip proves to be the hit of the town.

The movie has a number of extraneous elements. The way the movie handles--or rather, doesn't handle--segregation is a case in point. Skip occasionally wanders into the black neighborhoods, with the narrator commenting that perhaps the dog, being "color-blind," was wiser than the people. There are also occasional debates as to whether Dink Jenkins really was better than the black high-school's star athlete. That's as close as the film gets to condemning the Jim Crow laws; the movie isn't primarily about segregation, however, and the subject is forgotten almost as quietly as it's brought up. Dink Jenkins becomes another case-in-point. His return to the town turns out to be very awkward, and the question soon becomes whether he'll ever find his place in the town; in fact, we never get an answer to that question: the movie ends before Jenkins finds his place again. Not having read Morris' autobiographical memoir--the basis for the movie--I don't know if it shares the movie's tendency to bring up themes and subplots only to abandon them. Morris may not have known what happened to Jenkins, for instance.

The animal trainers deserve credit for their efforts in "My Dog Skip." Skip is as cute a dog as you could hope for in any movie, The highlight is a scene where Willie has Skip perform various tricks--but Skip, while doing each trick perfectly, does the wrong trick every time. One thing is certain--Skip's performance leaves no doubt as to why everyone loved the little dog.

Among the human actors, Kevin Bacon also deserves credit. Jack Morris is a stern man, but not completely heartless. Bacon manages to keep his character from seeming like an ogre--not an easy task, considering that Willie's father is the main obstacle between Willie and Skip,

There are some nicely handled sequences. For instance, an episode in the woods is a good red herring--leading you to think something will happen later on.

Whether or not "My Dog Skip" is a kids' movie, it is fairly safe for the whole family. There is a little strong language--though very little. There are also a couple of scenes where there is some violence--though the film suggests much more than it shows. Parents may also want to know that there is a fairly bloody hunting sequence, and a scene where a student in Willie's class brings an antique musket to show and tell.

I suspect my feelings for this movie are influenced somewhat by my school days. Like the young protagonist of "My Dog Skip," I was constantly teased in school--that is probably a constant for nerds. Nearly every other particular of my life is different from the movie, however, and, while "My Dog Skip" is endearing, it's not nearly as endearing to me as any of my cats.


Title: "My Dog Skip"
Release date: 1/12/00 (limited) / 3/6/00 (nationwide)

MPAA rating: PG
Overall rating: ***

Aprox. run time: 95 min.
Director: Jay Russell
Writers: Willie Morris (book), Gail Gilchriest
Stars: Frankie Muniz, Diane Lane, Luke Wilson, Kevin Bacon


Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/7045/Dog_Skip.htm
Added to blog site: 7/30/09