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.
