THINK LIKE A DOG

 

Publicity photograph of Josh Duhamel, the lead human star of Think Like A Dog (photo © unknown to me despite detailed online searches – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 4 May 2023, I watched two very different movies. One of them was The Last Unicorn (which I subsequently reviewed here at Shuker In MovieLand), a classic, thoroughly exquisite animated fantasy feature film. The other one, in homage to my well-known love of offbeat flicks – and this is just about as offbeat as they get! – was Think Like A Dog.

Directed and written by Gil Junger, and released in 2020 by Lionsgate, Think Like A Dog presents a truly surreal comedy/sci fi-themed plot that opens with 12-year-old American high school science prodigy Oliver Reed (played by Gabriel Bateman, hitherto a young but seasoned veteran star of horror movies) working online with his friend and fellow prodigy Xiao (Hou Minghao), based in China, to create a thought-reading device. Oliver then demonstrates their device at his school's science fair in the hope of winning the top prize on offer there.

Unbeknownst to Oliver, however, a rival has coerced the human subject in Oliver's demonstration to lie about what he is thinking, so Oliver's demonstration inevitably fails – much to his embarrassment, especially as he was hoping to impress his internationally-renowmed scientist hero Mr Mills (Kunal Nayyar), who is in the audience.

That night back home, after being consoled by his parents Lukas (Josh Duhamel) and Ellen (Megan Fox), a still-perplexed Oliver tells Xiao online what has happened, and as neither of them can explain their device's apparent failure they decide to try it out again, this time in Oliver's bedroom. But there is a problem – they don’t have a human subject to use in the trial this time – so Oliver decides to use his dog, Henry, instead, wearing a thought-transference cap and collar. And this time (as there is no rival around to sabotage it), their device works – boy, does it work!

Suddenly, Oliver can hear all of Henry's thoughts! And to his equal surprise, he learns from Henry that all dogs can fully understand what humans are saying! Consequently, dog and boy can now communicate directly with each other – Henry via telepathy (his thoughts voiced by Todd Stashwick), Oliver simply by speaking out loud to Henry as usual.

Plenty of jokey dialogue follows, during which Henry imparts all manner of canine secrets to Oliver, many of which concern why dogs are so fond of sniffing certain objects and localities (I'll leave you to guess what and where!). More significantly, however, Henry offers Oliver his considered – albeit often highly comical – opinions as to how Oliver should deal with a troubling family issue. Namely, the recent announcement by his parents that they are probably going to separate (as they have been drifting apart for quite a while now, despite still living together).

But that's not all. Although he doesn't realize it at this present time, Oliver also has a second, totally separate yet equally disturbing problem to deal with. In order to fire up their device earlier that evening, Xiao had hacked into one of the world's biggest computers – but when the exceedingly high-level Global Cyber Protection Agency discovers that its security has been breached, it swiftly dispatches two undercover investigators (Agents Munoz and Callen – Julia Jones and Bryan Callen) to trace the source of the breach and identify whoever is responsible. Not only do they soon trace Xiao in China, they also home in on to Oliver's location in the States. But these are not the only ones interested in Oliver and Xiao – so too is Mr Mills.

While currently unaware of their device's success using Henry, Mills had already seen enough at the school science fair to interest him, despite its seeming failure there, and had been sufficiently impressed with Oliver, for him to contact Oliver and Xiao separately in order to learn more about their device. He even pays Xiao a substantial amount of money to get him on side. But when Mills's assistant Bridget (Janet Montgomery) alerts him after having covertly observed Oliver and Henry communicating directly by way of it, he becomes even more intent upon obtaining their device's technological secrets – by whatever means necessary!

The remainder of the movie thus features a succession of harum-scarum chases and all manner of amusing chicanery as Oliver, assisted by his doggedly devoted best pal Henry, not to mention a veritable pack of Henry's canine compatriots too, does his utmost to elude Mills as well as the two agents while also striving to publicly reveal their machinations.

Although Think Like A Dog is buoyed by the presence of such major acting names as Duhamel and Fox, there is no doubt whatsoever who the real star of this movie is – a certain animated shaggy rug on four legs with a long wagging tail, a big black wet nose, and an even bigger, longer tongue that comes dangerously close at times to licking Bateman's entire face off! Yet, criminally, this marvelous mutt who plays Henry so captivatingly, winningly encouraging us to willingly suspend all disbelief and simply enjoy the magic and the madness too, is never named in any of the publicity material that I've seen for this film. Even in publicity posters, only three names are present – Duhamel, Fox, and Bateman – with that of the extremely talented canine thespian who played Henry being conspicuous only via its absence! Shame, I say!

Seriously, though, Think Like A Dog is a charming family-friendly movie, albeit with a completely zany, utterly crazy storyline, and which I therefore enjoyed immensely. As for its true star: whoever 'The Dog With No Name' was who played Henry, he is indescribably adorable, an absolute peach of a pooch, in fact – Lassie, Benji, and even the latest CGI-engendered incarnation of Scooby-Doo, eat your hearts out!!

And if you don't believe me that it's a doggone delight, be sure to click here to watch an official Think Like A Dog trailer on YouTube.

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

A publicity poster for Think Like A Dog (© Gil Junger/M-Star International/Mad Chance/Lionsgate – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

PAULIE

 

My official UK DVD of Paulie (© John Roberts/Mutual Film Company/DreamWorks Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

My movie watch on 18 January 2022 was a thoroughly charming and at times surprisingly moving fantasy family film entitled Paulie.

Directed by John Roberts, and released by DreamWorks in 1998, Paulie is named after its star, a small green parrot (a blue-crowned conure, to be precise) who can actually talk (voiced by Jay Mohr, who also plays Benny, one of the movie's human characters), as opposed to merely parroting (pardon the pun!) words spoken to him. Not surprisingly, Paulie's unexpected talent and associated brain power get him into a lot of trouble, especially from those who want to use his abilities for purposes most foul (or fowl?).

His story, and that of the movie itself, begins when an infant Paulie is purchased to be a companion to another youngster – a little girl named Marie, whose stutter means that she has been unable to make friends with other children. Paulie helps her to gain confidence to talk, but unfortunately her parents disbelieve her that he too can talk, and her father, who has always disliked Paulie anyway, finally sells him, after which Marie's family moves far away.

The rest of the film charts Paulie's long, determined attempt to find Marie again, helped by some kind people along the way. They include an elderly widowed lady, Ivy (Gena Rowlands), but her failing eyesight means that Paulie willingly stays with her for quite a time in order to be her eyes, until the inevitable day arrives when Ivy's time is over, and Paulie is alone again, forcing him to set forth once more into the great unknown by himself, recommencing his search for Marie.

As I noted above, there are some very touching, poignant scenes in this movie, but also some high comedy, especially with Paulie's garrulous yet not always polite or diplomatic turn of phrase, and during his hectic, highly eventful ownership by petty but not unlikeable thief Benny who steals him from a friendly Mexican street entertainer in Los Angeles, where he had been performing with a troop of trained conures. There are also some grim scenes, conversely, in which Paulie finds himself caged and hidden away inside a research institute.

Above all, however, Paulie is a feel-good family film, so I'm not giving anything away when I say that it ends in the expected, time-honoured, positive way for Paulie and Marie, thanks to the assistance of a kindly Russian janitor named Misha (Tony Shalhoub). However, there is one final twist that has been cleverly hidden in plain sight as the movie progresses, and which I've actually alluded to here in this mini-review – did you spot where and what it was?

Paulie is one of those inspiring films that effortlessly lifts your mood, and the seamless blend of no fewer than 14 different real-life parrots all playing Paulie in various scenes, as well as an animatronic Paulie and a puppet Paulie, collectively engender a truly magical, endearing character that you root for every second of this wonderful movie. Then again, bearing in mind that it was produced by Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks company, that really should come as no surprise, now should it?

If you'd like to make the acquaintance of Paulie, be sure to click here to watch an official Paulie trailer on YouTube.

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

NAPOLEON AND SAMANTHA

 

The official UK VHS video release of Napoleon and Samantha (© Bernard McEveety/Walt Disney Productions/Buena Vista Distribution – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

In recent times, I've succeeded in tracking down a fair few movies that I'd fondly remembered from childhood but whose titles I could no longer recall. On 1 September 2021, I added another one to my tally of rediscoveries, finally identifying after a mere 49 years a mystifying Disney film from my distant past.

Back in the 1960s and early 1970s (possibly later too), whenever as a child I went to the cinema with one of my parents to watch a classic Disney animated movie, it was always part of a double-bill (great value for money!), being partnered with one of Disney's lesser-known live-action movies.

On one such occasion, I remember that the live-action movie in question was about a young boy running away into the wilds of North America with a pet lion (as you do!), together with his only friend, a little girl, seeking a young man aged in his 20s who was a family friend, wore denim, rode a motorbike, and would look after them all, which he did when they eventually found him.

Unfortunately, that sparse little précis was the sum total of my memories concerning this movie, and was all that I had to call upon, therefore, when trying to identify it in later years – except, however, for one additional, intriguing little fact about it that I'd read somewhere way back then.

The little fact in question was that the actor who played the young man was the son of a very famous Hollywood actor and had recently begun following his famous father into the acting profession – but instead of helping me identify the movie, this fact actually led me astray. That was because I had it in my mind that the young actor was Patrick Wayne, son of John Wayne, because I knew that Patrick had indeed starred in some Disney movies from that same time period. But after reading up on them, I realized that none of their plots matched my memories of the film that I'd seen as a child. Consequently, I remained resolutely puzzled down through the decades, until just over a month ago, when this mystifying movie came to mind yet again.

So, just like I'd done several times in the past, though always without success, I entered some relevant words into Google Image's search engine to see if anything that looked familiar came up – and this time, lo and behold, something did. Up popped some photographic stills of a young boy and girl with a lion, and the same young boy with a young man dressed in denim (one of these latter photos is included at the end of this present blog article), as well as some of the man riding a motorbike, plus the all-important information identifying which film these photo stills were from!

At last, I'd tracked down and identified the elusive film – it was Napoleon and Samantha, a Disney movie from 1972, directed by Bernard McEveety. And I'd been correct in remembering that the young man was the son of a much more famous actor – the only problem was, I'd misremembered who the famous father was!

It wasn't John Wayne after all. Instead, it was Kirk Douglas, and his son who was just starting out in acting was none other than Michael Douglas, as the photos from Napoleon and Samantha called up by Google unequivocally confirmed. Another movie mystery duly solved!

Since then I've been looking out now for a decently-priced DVD or VHS video of Napoleon and Samantha, as it would be nice – and nostalgic – to watch it again and add it to my Disney collection, and a few days ago I finally succeeded in purchasing its official DVD. So I now look forward to revisiting this tenaciously recalled movie from my youth.

Incidentally, in case you haven't seen this movie and are wondering about the names in its title, Napoleon is the boy (played by Johnny Whitaker), and Samantha is the girl (played by a young Jodie Foster no less, in her big-screen debut). The lion's name in the movie is Major, and Michael Douglas's character is the impressively-named Daniel Arlington Williams III (or simply Danny, as the children called him).

As for director Bernard McEveety, he went on to carve out a major name for himself in TV, directing and/or producing such classic 70s and 80s shows as Knight Rider, The Fall Guy, Petrocelli, The Incredible Hulk, The Dukes of Hazzard, and Charlie's Angels, with earlier, pre-Napoleon and Samantha credits for the likes of Rawhide, Bonanza, The Virginian, and various other Western-themed shows.

Another interesting little snippet, especially for animation fans and historians is that although Napoleon and Samantha is a live-action movie, its executive producers were none other than William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who were famous for their animation studio and its prodigious output of TV cartoon shows. These included such perennial favourites as Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Scooby Doo, Wacky Races, Pixie and Dixie, Secret Squirrel, Atom Ant, and, further back in time, Tom and Jerry for the big screen.

If you'd like a preview of Napoleon and Samantha, be sure to click here to view an exciting scene from it on YouTube.

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

Danny (Michael Douglas) and Napoleon (Johnny Whittaker), in a scene from Napoleon and Samantha (© Bernard McEveety/Walt Disney Productions/Buena Vista Distribution – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

THE WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME & THE AMAZING PANDA ADVENTURE - TWO BLASTS FROM MY MOVIE PAST VIEWED AND REVIEWED AT LAST!

 

Publicity posters for The Wizard of Speed and Time and The Amazing Panda Adventure (© Mike Jittlov/Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment / (© Christopher Cain/Lee Rich Productions/Warner Bros; – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

During my epic movie-watch that I began shortly after the first covid lockdown way back in March 2020 here in England, I've not only purchased and viewed many new movies (mostly on DVD) but also finally got around to watching movies that I'd owned unviewed for the best part of 25 years. Two more from this latter category that I've recently seen at long last are The Wizard of Speed and Time and The Amazing Panda Adventure.

Directed, written, and starring real-life special-effects movie maestro Mike Jittlov, The Wizard of Speed and Time was released in 1988 and is basically a much-expanded, 95-minute version of an earlier, 3-minute-long sfx production by Jittlov, released in 1979, much of which appears in the climactic scene of this movie (click here to watch the original 3-min version on YouTube). Its storyline focuses upon an sfx movie wizard and his frenetic efforts to get a sfx movie made and screened by a major TV company, as well as highlighting in comedic manner the problems experienced by anyone attempting to do so independently of Hollywood's varied (and numerous) film/TV unions.

Jittlov basically plays a fantasised version of himself (and also, in the movie within this movie, the eponymous green-costumed Wizard of Speed and Time). So as you'd expect, the special-effects on show are great. Unfortunately, however, the movie itself plays like a feature-length version of one of those manic TV shows for very young youngsters where the acting is totally OTT throughout, the villains are of the slapstick boo-hiss variety, everybody shouts A LOT, hyper-exaggerated mayhem reigns supreme, and the mood is unrelentingly, wholly unrealistically optimistic, with uncoralled, hurricane-force zaniness the order of the day.

Indeed, I had to pause the movie halfway through in order to stop my poor reeling mind from spinning, before gamely ploughing through the second half. However, over-active 3-year-olds will no doubt love it, I'm sure.

By comparison, The Amazing Panda Adventure is a rather more serious affair. Directed by Christopher Cain and released by Warner Bros in 1995, it concerns an American boy named Ryan (played by Christian Slater's brother Ryan) visiting his estranged zoologist father Dr Michael Tyler (Stephen Lang) in China where he works at a giant panda reserve, but which is facing imminent closure by government officials as its wild pandas are apparently not breeding.

In fact, one adult female giant panda HAS recently bred, but when she becomes trapped by a leg snare set by poachers and her cub is then kidnapped by them to sell to a zoo, all of the main staff from the reserve set off in pursuit, during which Ryan and Chinese girl Ling (Yi Ding), who works for Ryan's father as a translator, become separated from the others and are stranded together in the wild. However, after trailing the poachers, Ryan and Ling succeed in rescuing the panda cub, and then try to find their way back with it to the reserve's headquarters, chased by the poachers and undergoing all manner of perilous experiences en route, while also bonding with each other as friends.

The Amazing Panda Adventure contains some enchanting sequences featuring a truly adorable real-life panda cub (named Moon Shema), but a robot version is naturally used for all of the dangerous scenes and stunts. Shot entirely on location in the highlands of central China, this pleasant movie features awe-inspiring Sinian scenery that is beyond beautiful. But as a downside, Slater does not appear to have been blessed with the same level of acting ability as his more famous brother, his character tending to come across simply as an irritating brat rather than, as presumably intended, a youngster initially bemused by but gradually coming to terms with and ultimately embracing the fascinating cultural differences between his American background and life in rural China.

Never mind, The Amazing Panda Adventure is still a lovely family-friendly movie with enough thrills and spills to keep the viewer engaged for its 84-minute running time. Plus, how many movies can you think of that feature real giant pandas as the major stars?

By kind permission of Mike Jittlov, The Wizard of Speed and Time can currently be watched for free on YouTube by clicking here; and an official trailer revealing the beauty and charm of The Amazing Panda Adventure can be viewed here.

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!

 

BLACK PUMAS IN THE MOVIES

 

A digital illustration of a melanistic puma's possible appearance, by cryptozoological artist William Rebsamen, which appears on the front cover of my book Mystery Cats of the World Revisited (© William Rebsamen)

As I have documented on my ShukerNature blog (click here), physical evidence for the reality of melanistic (all-black) pumas Puma concolor (aka cougars, mountain lions, painters, etc) in North America is conspicuous only by its absence. Certainly, large all-black cats often nicknamed panthers or black panthers (names more correctly applied to melanistic specimens of the leopard Panthera pardus) have been frequently reported from many parts of the United States and Canada too, but none has ever been made available for scientific examination resulting in a confirmed identification (even outside North America, I only know of two verified dorsally black, ventrally paler pumas – one shot in Costa Rica, the other in Brazil; I know of no verified all-black pumas from anywhere). Yet at least on first sight, black pumas have featured in two movies – or have they?

Several times in recent years, correspondents have drawn my attention to a certain brief clip of film, which keeps appearing, disappearing, and reappearing on YouTube. It's not there at present (however, see later below for a means of viewing it), but judging from the comments that were posted beneath it when it was last there, viewers seemed to think that it showed a genuine film of a genuine all-black puma attacking and killing a dog. The reality on all counts is very different.

For reasons that I shall give shortly, this is clearly not a genuine all-black puma, it is simply a normal one that has been dyed black all over in order to resemble North America's elusive mystery black panthers of cryptozoological acclaim. Nor is this a real, non-fiction video – it is merely a clip from the 1977 'Wonderful World of Disney' television movie entitled The Ghost of Cypress Swamp. Directed by Vincent McEveety, it stars Jeff East as dog-owning youngster Lonny Bascombe, and Vic Morrow as wild man Tom Stone, with the puma having been supplied by the company Gentle Jungle to appear in it.

 

The official home video of The Ghost of Cypress Swamp (© Vincent McEveety/Walt Disney Productions/National Broadcasting Company – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

As a massive life-long Disney fan, I used to watch this series avidly as a youngster, as well as its equally excellent predecessor, 'Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color', and as you'd expect, I can still remember seeing the black puma clips from this particular movie. Even so, I have to confess that prior to re-watching it on YouTube in relation to the black puma segments, the rest of it was somewhat of a haze, more than 40 years having passed by since I last viewed it. Curiously, although shown in England, this movie has apparently never been released in the USA, its unfamiliarity therefore possibly helping to explain why clips from it featuring the cosmetically-created black puma have been mistakenly assumed by some online viewers to depict real scenes featuring a real black puma.

The whole movie can presently be viewed online here, with the clip in question beginning at 1.25:07 and continuing (with a brief break during which Lonny goes home to get his gun) for the next couple of minutes before the dog is rescued alive and well by Lonny. This is, after all, a Disney family movie, so naturally all ends well for the dog.

As for its general storyline, The Ghost of Cypress Swamp is set amid swamplands in Georgia, USA, and centres upon a youngster named Lonny, whose dog is attacked by a black puma called Weakfoot. Later, Lonny is captured by a wild man living in the swamps and believed to be dead.

 

Screen shot of the supposed black puma in The Ghost of Cypress Swamp (© Vincent McEveety/Walt Disney Productions/National Broadcasting Company – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

So, why do I not think that this all-black puma is genuine? In a few clips in the film, the black dye has seemingly rubbed off or has been licked off by the puma from parts of its face (or had not fully stained to begin with?), especially around the eyes, and on the mouth and nose (most noticeably at 15:41), revealing its normal paler fur. As already noted above, the only confirmed black pumas were dark dorsally but paler ventrally, not uniformly black (i.e. they were not true melanistic pumas). And if this cat had truly been a black puma, it would have been so valuable and rare that it would have been one of the biggest, most famous stars in Hollywood in its own right, as famous as Lassie and Rin Tin Tin.

So, as film cops always say at the denouement of a crime case: move on people – nothing to see here.

Incidentally, the source for Disney's above-discussed movie was a novel entitled Weakfoot, written by Linda Cline and first published in 1975. It was reprinted a year later, retitled as The Ghost of Cramer's Island. The novel takes place in the early part of the 20th Century, and is set in and around the Okefenokee Swamp, which straddles the Georgia-Florida border in the USA. In the novel, Weakfoot is an adult female black puma who is eventually shot, but her cubs survive, and they too are black.

 

Futura paperback reprint of Weakfoot by Linda Cline (© Linda Cline/Futura – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Continuing with supposed black pumas in movies: the infamous John Wayne/Susan Hayward movie The Conqueror (1956), documenting the life of Genghis Khan and directed by Howard Hughes, also originally contained a segment featuring what looked like a puma with all-black pelage. So I duly watched the movie, only to discover that the segment in question had been largely excised. However, I later learnt from Facebook friend and fellow crypto-enthusiast Ian C. Thomas that the cat was indeed a puma, but once again dyed black. Here is the relevant information, as excerpted from the website Poseidon's Underworld (click here to access it in full). Thanks, Ian!

She [actress Susan Hayward] was supposed to have a scene involving a black panther (a tiny snippet of which still remains) in which she kicked it in the rear, but there were many issues. The panther was so ill-tempered [but wouldn't you be if someone was trying to kick you in the rear?!] that it went to maul her, then it was replaced with a puma painted black, but the beast kept licking all of the paint off itself!

 

Susan Hayward with the black panther from The Conqueror (© Howard Hughes/RKO Radio Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

And below is what an article on this film that appeared here on the London Telegraph newspaper's website had to say about that particular scene's attempt to utilise the original black panther:

At some point a distinctly non-indigenous black panther was shipped in to ‘liven up’ the background of one scene. Except that it then attacked Susan Hayward, attempting to take a bite out of her arm.

Several other corroborating accounts concerning the black panther and the dyed-black puma that replaced it in The Conqueror can be found online.

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!

Further information concerning the likelihood (or otherwise) of black pumas existing can also be found in my three books on mystery cats – Mystery Cats of the World (1989), Cats of Magic, Mythology, and Mystery (2012), and Mystery Cats of the World Revisited (2020).

 

My 32^nd book, Mystery Cats of the World Revisited, with front cover artwork by William Rebsamen (© Dr Karl Shuker/William Rebsamen/Anomalist Books)