Firehouse Dog
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This article is about the 2007 film. For the type of dog, see Dalmatian
| Firehouse dog | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for Firehouse dog |
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| Directed by | Todd Holland |
| Produced by | Michael J. Maschio |
| Written by | Claire-Dee Lim Mike Werb Michael Colleary |
| Starring | Josh Hutcherson Bruce Greenwood Dash Mihok Steven Culp Bill Nunn |
| Music by | Jeff Cardoni |
| Cinematography | Victory Hammer |
| Editing by | Scott J. Wallace |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | April 4, 2007 |
| Running time | 111 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Firehouse Dog is a family film produced by Regency Enterprises and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Directed by Todd Holland, it stars Josh Hutcherson, Bruce Greenwood, Dash Mihok, Steven Culp and Bill Nunn. It was released April 4, 2007, in the U.S.
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[edit] Plot
The film starts in the tour bus of a celebrity dog Rexxx. He is about to film a secret agent skydiving movie scene, but appears depressed and refuses. After some persuasion, he is seen on the plane. A storm brews and lightning hits the plane, knocking Rexxx out of it and removing his parachute. He lands in a tomato truck and ends up as a stray on the streets, nearly being captured by a dogcatcher but outsmarting the man with his super dog moves. He soon meets a boy named Shane Fahey (Josh Hutcherson), who is ditching his science class. Because Rexxx helps to capture truant Shane, the boy hates Rexxx and calls him "ugly stinking mutt," and "The Mutt from Hell". As Shane is taken to the fire station by his two friends and firefighters, Rexxx stays in the basement of a textile building. Shane confronts his dad, the station captain, Captain Connor Fahey (played by Bruce Greenwood), who is currently dealing with a crisis. His station, engine 55, also known as Dogpatch, is notoriously late when dispatching and responding to fires. The city manager intends to close the station down.
As the siren blares for yet another fire, the Dogpatch crew, engine 55, arrive last at the scene due to a faulty fire engine. Dogpatch is in competition against fire station Greenpoint who is always first to dispatch and is led by Jessie Presley. Engine 55 arrives at the fire with Shane who spots Rexxx, on the roof of the burning building. Rexxx jumps from the roof onto a trampoline held by the firefighters. Dogpatch temporarily takes the dog, who they call Dewey because of his ID tag, while Capt. Fahey orders Shane to make found dog fliers. Shane makes the fliers with a huge amount of frustration due to Dewey, who never stands still at camera, cleans Shane's room, and steals Shane's bed. The next day, while Shane is putting up the fliers, Dewey does some special stunts with Shane's skateboard.
Amazed, Shane brings him to the firefighter's picnic where there is a dog stunt competition, very similar to dog agility. After watching his friend J.J. (Jessie Presey's daughter) compete flawlessly with Greenpoint's female Dalmatian Sparky, Shane decides to try it out. The whole crew is surprised as he effortlessly maneuvers the course, beating Spary's time by several seconds. Dewey is about to win until he reaches the last obstacle, where Sparky is standing with a shocked J.J. Dewey is mesmerized by Sparky, who looks similar to his ex-girlfriend. His time runs out, and Dogpatch is still proud of Dewey and Shane, despite being taunted by Greenpoint for losing. Shane half-heartedly congratulates J.J., who informs him the "the better dog lost".
With less than a week left until closing, the Dogpatch crew and Shane bond weith Dewey, who happens to have a special talent for rescuing people trapped in fires. In the meantime, Shane asks one of Dogpatch's firefighters why Dogpatch is closing. He tells Shane that all the houses and buildings of the dying town have either been sold or burnt. Months earlier, his uncle and Captain of Dogpatch, Mark Fahey, had gotten killed in a saw mill fire which was suspected to be arson.
While the firefighters begin to pack, they are informed that Dogpatch does not have to close because Dewey has raised the stations publicity. Everyone is happy.
While looking through the captain's office, Shane takes the sawmill mystery upon himself and examines the evidence. One of the photos is of a "BOUTINE" wrist watch, which is later revealed to be the same brand that which had been used to start the sawmill fire. Also, he organizes his dad's pushpin map of fires into a map on a computer. Shane's dad comes home and tells him about a gala being held that evening, but Shane does not show any expression, and then his dad looks at Shane's "research" of the mystery and map. He compliments him, saying he is strong, etc., but Shane starts to cry when he talks about Uncle Mark and the arson fires to his dad. He feels like a bad person because when they said a firefighter had been missing that day, he thought it was his dad. When it turned out to be his uncle, he was happy because it wasn't Connor. The two hug, then Dewey cheers them up by his snoring.
After heroically rescuing Jessie Presley of Greenpoint, in a tunnel fire, Dewey makes his first public debut as the Dogpatch mascot. Dogpatch then makes huge news and Dewey begins to be called "Wonderdog". The mayor decides upon keeping Dogpatch open and asks Shane to appear with Dewey at the firefighter's gala. Shane decides to show the audience what Dewey can do. He asks the city manager to give Shane his wrist watch, which Connor Fahey hides in the potted plant nearby. Shane asks Dewey to find the watch, relying on its owner's scent, and return it to him. Instead Dewey finds his past owner Trey who had desperately searched for him all that time. After Dewey is reunited with his owner, Shane and Connor are both exceedingly disappointed. Then, Shane disheartedly returns to the gala and gives the watch back to the city manager. He notices that it says "BOUTINE" on it. After following the city manager into the kitchen, he hears him plotting with another firefighter, an old firefighter of Dogpatch who now works for the city, to burn their next target. Shane rushes to the station to reach his dad who, as he later finds out, is currently responding to a harbor fire on a garbage barge. Dewey, who hears the sirens, jumps out of the hotel he and Trey are staying at. Dewey rushes to the fire and helps to put it out.
Meanwhile, Shane looks at his dad's city map which displays all of the zones of buildings in the city that have either been burned or sold. To his surprise, Dogpatch is the only building left. After several failed attempts to reach his dad, he contacts JJ, Captain Presley's daughter. He tells her of the scheme and they realize that the fire on the garbage barge at the harbor was a decoy to occupy all engines and that the real target is Dogpatch, the fire station.
Shane hears something upstairs and realizes that the old firefighter, now revealed to be the arsonist, is upstairs setting fire to the station. He hangs up on JJ. Shane goes upstairs and hides under the bed. As the firefighter is about to leave, Shane confronts him with a fire extinguisher by spraying at him. They fought but was interrupted when a huge explosion occurred sending them to the ground. At the harbor, Dewey senses something going on at the station. He dashes all the way to Dogpatch and sees the firefighter, Zach, about to leave. He growls and threatens Zach. Zach locks himself in a phone booth to keep away from Dewey. Dewey then spots Shane who was unconscious and wakes him up. Zach was first to be rescued. Shane, with Dewey, frantically tries to escape, but the only exit left is the kitchen. He gets to the kitchen but the door is sealed shut. Finally, with his father's help, he manages to break through. His dad ushers a choking Shane out of the building, Dewey in the lead. As his dad puts an oxygen mask on Shane, he twice pushes it away to gasp that Zach Hayden set all of the fires, even the one that killed his uncle. Hayden is quickly turned over to the police.
Corbin Sellars' scam is revealed to the news and the Dogpatch crew members each receive a medal of honor. They also renovate the station and receive a dreamed-of 900 hp. Chrysler Hemi engine for their firetruck. Trey reclaims Dewey and realizes that Dewey is destined to be a firehouse dog, not an actor. He says that after Dewey has been a real hero, he can't pretend to be a hero in the movies. He gives him back to Shane, and then Shane and the whole fire station crew are all happy. The movie ends with Engine 55 going to a fire, Dewey tagging along.
[edit] Production notes
Rexxx/Dewey is played in the film by four different Irish Terriers named Arwen, Frodo, Rohan, and Stryder, named after the characters/location from The Lord of the Rings story.
The film was shot in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.[1]
[edit] Cast
- Josh Hutcherson as Shane Fahey
- Bruce Greenwood as Captain Connor Fahey
- Claudette Mink as Captain Jessie Presley
- Hannah Lochner as Jasmine "J.J." Presley
- Bill Nunn as Joe Musto
- Scotch Ellis Long as Lionel Bradford
- Mayte Garcia as Pep Clemente
- Teddy Sears as Terrence Kahn
- Steven Culp as Zachary Hayden
- Dash Mihok as Trey Falcon
- Bree Turner as Liz Knowles
- Arwen as Rexxx/Dewey the Dog
- Frodo as Rexxx/Dewey the Dog
- Rohan as Rexxx/ Dewey the Dog
- Stryder as Rexxx/ Dewey the Dog
[edit] Distribution
This movie was filmed in 2005 but was released in 2007. The dvd was released July 31, 2007.
[edit] Release dates
[edit] Reception
Firehouse Dog received mainly negative to mixed reviews from film critics. It garnered 31% positive reviews on the film-critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, and a 43/100 on MetaCritic. Justin Chang of Variety called it, "A likable but ungainly mutt of a movie".[2]. Ty Burr in The Boston Globe found "the human scenes in Firehouse Dog are perfectly acceptable on the level of a heartwarming family B-movie" but "that dog—or, rather, that digitally enhanced replicant—is just plain creepy".[3] While Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer called it "a touching, family-friendly entertainment about a dog and his boy",[4] Chris Kaltenbach of The Baltimore Sun felt it was "too busy being inspirational and cuddly to be funny or pointed" and "plays out as though its plot was stuck in molasses".[5] Frank Lovece of Film Journal International capped his review by suggesting that, "Firehouse Dog should be put to sleep before it can do the same to audiences".[6] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune (April 11, 2007) says: "Once it figures out it is more drama than comedy, "Firehouse Dog" exceeds your limited expectations....While the movie's ad campaign suggests wacky antics all the way, a surprisingly affecting and well-acted father/son relationship develops."
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Internet Movie Database - List of Films shot in Hamilton, Ontario. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
- ^ Variety (posted April 3, 2007): Review by Justin Change
- ^ The Boston Globe (April 4, 2007): "'Firehouse Dog' needs some real warmth" (review by Ty Burr)
- ^ The Philadelphia Inquirer (April 4, 2007): "From dog star to star of a boy's life" (review by Carrie Rickey)
- ^ The Baltimore Sun (April 4, 2007): "'Dog': smoke, no fire and no new tricks" (review by Chris Kaltenbach)
- ^ "Firehouse Dog": Review by Frank Lovece, Film Journal International, April 4, 2007.
