You will probably guess a talking cowboy, or a lion cub witnessing his father's death. Well I hate to say it, but you're wrong. The recipe for success is simple:
-Adorable child/children
-Underdog sports team
-Adorable pet/animal(s)
-Drunken abusive clown
Notice anything abou
t this list? That's right, the film Air Bud has all of these crucial components. But Air Bud combines all of the elements into a seamless package of children's movie glory.You have your adorable child/main character as a boy who does not have any friends and is too shy to go out and meet people. The audience can sympathize with Josh because he is visibly sad. Sad children=easy to sympathize with. I think Josh is upset because a wheel on his skateboard fell off. It's either that or because his dad suddenly passed away then his family moved to a different town. I'm not totally positive which one though.
Then you have two of the four elements wrapped into one. The adorable pet (Buddy) is owned by a drunken abusive clown (Drunken Abusive Clown). The D.A.C. uses Buddy as part of his act while he entertains children at birthday parties. At one party Buddy does not bring his A-game, so the D.A.C. locks Buddy in a kennel and drives him to the pound. But luckily for Buddy and the plot of the movie, the kennel falls off the truck and Josh finds his new best friend.
Naturally, Josh discovers that Buddy can ball. I got cut from the 8th grade basketball team but that dog is a basketball her0 for making a 6-foot jump shot? Unacceptable! I don't care if he has hands or not.
So Josh joins the school's basketball team and Buddy becomes the team's mascot/halftime entertainment . And what do ya know, the team starts winning some games. It could be because Josh and Buddy brought a new energy to the squad, or because the team got a new coach. It just so happens that a former NBA player worked in the school as a janitor or something. Arthur Chaney steps in as the new coach and turns the program around.
The reason the team needed a new coach was because Josh caught the old coach repeatedly throwing basketballs at a teammate. Not the most effective coaching method (fast forward to 5:30, and I hope whoever reads this understands Spanish).
Josh's team needs a new player for the championship game so Buddy steps in. I guess the league never made a rule against a golden retriever playing basketball. Of course, Buddy helps the team to a comeback victory- that's the underdog (pun very much intended) sports team element.
Then the D.A.C. comes back to get custody of Buddy, but the court rules that Buddy gets to decide who he will live with. Buddy jumps on the D.A.C. causing him to take a hard fall, then chooses Josh. I guess that dog can stand up for what is right in the world, and hit jump shots. I'm sure Buddy would have made my school's 8th grade basketball team.
I generally believe its the Drunk Abusive Clown that makes most kid movies enjoyable. The Lion King had Rafiki. Rafiki is a mandrill, the clown of the monkey family and there is no way you're telling me with the way he acts, he isn't drunk throughout the entire movie. Plus he's always hitting Simba in the head; abuse.
ReplyDeleteAir Bud was a very solid movie. I tried teaching my dog to play basketball but since the ball was bigger then him, he failed miserably. Stupid dog.
-Chris G