A lawyer is transformed into a dog, and he must stop an evil scheme at his job to find his way back to human form. Dave Douglas is a lawyer, whose job consists of trying to get pro-animal-rights activists, fighting against pharmaceutical company Grant and Strictland, thrown into jail... which, needless to say, angers his animal activist daughter, Carly. It turns out the activists are right to try to fight against G&S: Strictland has working for him a mean doctor named Kozak who kidnapped a sacred dog from a Tibetan monastery. This dog, Khyi Yang Po, allegedly can live an incredibly long time; if Kozak can tap into his genes, they can possibly make a product selling eternal life. However, it seems that whatever medicine they whip up, Khyi Yang Po's DNA alters the DNA of its host, turning it at least partially into a version of himself. When Khyi Yang Po escapes, he is rescued by Carly, who brings him home to Dave. Dave, less than pleased, tries keeping him in the garage, but then he gets bit by Khyi Yang Po, transferring some of the DNA into Dave's system. Shortly, Dave begins acting like a dog in human form: angry at other dogs, eating without his hands at the dinner table, and even licking his wife. He even begins turning all the way into a lookalike of Khyi Yang Po. While he's a dog, he begins to hear what his family thinks of him when he's not around: his son is angry that his dad only wants him playing football, and his wife and daughter think he never listens. When he breaks into G&S and finds Kozak paralyzing Strictland so that he can take over the company himself, this leads to him getting captured with the other animals that they had been experimenting on (not before he bites Kozak, however, mutating Kozak's DNA in the same way as his). With the help of the other animals, he learns to calm himself down to return to human form, he frees the other animals, and he breaks into the court case, exposing Kozak for who he really is. He asks his family's forgiveness, and they end by going on a big trip to Hawaii-- and we see Khyi Yang Po surfing on vacation with them.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
Best part of story, including ending:
It's innocuous enough, but it's so incredibly bland that it really doesn't sniff other live-action Disney movies-- including the original Shaggy Dog.
Best scene in story:
When Dave is driving to the final courtroom hearing with all of the other animals in tow, some of them are pretty funny-- such as the cobra who pants with his big dog tongue hanging out of his mouth.
Opinion about the main character:
Dave is a cliched Disney hero who doesn't appreciate family until the end. I'm pretty tired of this character at this point, and this script doesn't give him anything new to play with.
