Meanwhile, savvy G-dog Agent Eleven (animal actor Bob) and his FBI partners (foremost among them Duncan) bust a crime lord (Sorvino), who orders his two goombahs (Scirripa and Viterelli) to “put the whack on the pooch.” One botched hit and several mechanical plot twists later, Agent Eleven is hiding out in Gordon's bachelor pad strewn with Chee-tos, charming boy and man alike while the Mafiosi lumber along in bumbling pursuit.
So when increasingly contrived circumstances strand her outside of town on a never-ending business trip, Gordon takes the kid in, feeding him Cap'n Crunch and teaching him to use texturizing gel. Slovenly, cynophobic Seattle postman Gordon (Arquette) pines boorishly for his neighbor, a willowy single mom (Bibb of TV's Popular, struggling in vain to make the character spring into three dimensions) with a nebbishy tot (Jones). Kids' movies just don't get much more by-the-numbers than this live-action cartoon, which somehow manages to lower the bar for the "smart dog/stupid human" subgenre, already scraping the ground thanks to entries like 1995's Top Dog (Chuck Norris meets loveable Briard) and 1989's middling K-9 (Jim Belushi meets intrepid German shepherd). So if you want a thoroughly enjoyable light comedy with a dog theme, go rent it: you won't be barking up the wrong tree, I guarantee it.See Spot Run is the kind of witless comedy that plays its all-ages audience like a concertina, expecting them to laugh together at animal flatulence and bitten-off testicles and cry together at an ersatz, heart-tugging conclusion.
How they trained the dog to do some of those stunts that he did is way beyond me! This movie will probably best be enjoyed by families with young kids, and also by dog-lovers, as this film definitely made man's best friend look really, really good (in spite of the fact that they had about a whole five minute sequence devoted to the hilarious consequences of someone stepping in dog-doo at precisely the wrong time.). And last but not least, let's not forget the dog himself, who was at least as compelling as any or all of the other members of the cast. Other roles in the film were also very well played. Anthony Anderson, whom many of you may remember as Jamaal Baileygates (one of Jim Carrey's sons in "Me, Myself and Irene") was extremely likable, and I was glad to see him in a role where he was not required to resort to vulgar language like he did in "Me, Myself and Irene". The kid's mom, Stephanie, played by Leslie Bibb, was also quite charming (and always good to look at, even when she was covered in mud). Jones, is really quite adorable, in fact I was surprised at how winning a personality he has (I don't always like child actors, sometimes they can be horrendous brats, but this kid was truly exceptional). Michael Clark Duncan is really the sympathetic character here, playing a HUGE (and highly muscular) FBI agent who has an almost over-the-top attachment to the dog.
David Arquette, whom you wouldn't ordinarily consider a comic, in fact does surprisingly well with the physical and often-times slapstick humor in the film. The cinematography was just fine, the setting was beautiful (filmed in and around beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia - a city I've been lucky enough to visit more than once in my life), and the actors were all (to me, anyway) quite likable and enjoyable in their roles. I thought the film had some quality film-making behind it. But it still delivers some quality goods. It never set out to be a "Schindler's List" or a "Gone With the Wind". But first let me emphasize, that it really helps if you come to this film with no other preconceived notion other than that it is intended as a rather light, perhaps kid- or family-oriented sort of entertainment.
I actually thought the movie was pretty good.