Who says best friends have to be human? Not Willie Norris (Frankie Muniz), who receives a talented terrier named Skip for his birthday. With Skips remarkable and unconventional help, Willie and Skip turn bullies into friends, tangle with hapless moonshiners, and even win the affections of the prettiest girl in school. Shining with warmth and humor, My Dog Skip unleashes a story that will have the entire family sitting up and begging for more!

Review

"This boy-and-his-dog movie, a nonpareil family film, is, as one of the characters so aptly puts it, "a heartbreak waiting to happen." Frankie Muniz, winning over audiences in the TV series Malcolm in the Middle, has competition in My Dog Skip--Skip himself (adorably played by a total of six Jack Russell terriers). Muniz, an inveterate charmer, stars as Willie Morris (from whose memoir the film is adapted), a gawky, awkward boy growing up during World War II under an overly protective father (Kevin Bacon). When his mom (Diane Lane) gives him Skip on his 9th birthday, his life is changed in every way for the better. Previously disinterested peers become pals, and he experiences puppy love with a girl named Rivers (Caitlin Wachs). There are plenty of high jinks and rah-rah touches of Americana, and the film also attempts to deal with sophisticated emotions--Willie's boyhood hero turns out to be less than heroic--but its devastating emotional core comes, simply and obviously, with Skip's eventual aging and demise. Dog lovers will be wiped out; those who don't care for canines shouldn't even be bothering to read this review." (Ages 8 and older) --David Kronke