Good Boy!
MGM Home Entertainment | Release Date: October 10, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
14
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Entertainment WeeklyScott Brown
Little is asked of talking-animal movies, save charm, heart, and at least one scene where said animal wears a lampshade. Good Boy! has all those things, plus a winning story line. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneEllen Fox
A tearily adorable canine valentine. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
This furry family comedy about a boy and his border terrier is irresistible, if not exactly in the league of "Babe." Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The film is touchingly firm about leveling with children, drawing a careful, crucial line between fantasy and reality, without patronizing or haranguing them. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Mostly, Good Boy! exists for the middle section where youngsters and dogs speak the same language. These escapades, all taking place under the adults' radar, generate many sound laughs. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
This latest offering from the Jim Henson stable puts a cheerfully broad new spin on the boy-and-his-dog franchise. Read full review
70
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
When it comes right down to it, the talking animal thing is sort of secondary to what is, at heart, just a simple but perfectly satisfying little story about a boy who wants to keep his dog. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Surprisingly nimble and fun to watch, mostly thanks to the magnificent dogs Hoffman has found to portray his lead characters, and thanks to the actors he cast as the animals' voices. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldChristine Dolan
No, this isn't the stuff of a kiddie classic like "Holes." But, to quote from another movie with a vocal four-legged protagonist, it'll do. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
No new ground is dug up in Good Boy, but the story is well-paced, sweet and lively, filling a void for very young filmgoers. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A charming runt of a movie. It's not all it could be, but it's the best the pound had to offer this week. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Undeniably charming -- a dog movie that's more lovable mutt than stately pedigree. Read full review
60
Film ThreatKevin Carr
Just what it says -- good. Not great, but not really bad, either. Read full review
50
VarietyLael Loewenstein
Passable kiddy fare that, although it strenuously underscores its message of friendship and loyalty, doesn't revitalize the genre. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverDavid Ehrenstein
Yes it's a "family film," of the sort we've become increasingly accustomed to these days; cute dogs for the kids to coo over, and a plot just complex enough to keep the parents who've accompanied them to the theater from dozing off. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaul West
Fairly good- natured and not as awful as it sounds, but it lacks distinction. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesGene Seymour
As long as you keep thinking of "Babe," you can't help thinking that there's no excuse for movies like Good Boy! to merely push the usual buttons, deploy the usual poop jokes and carry out the usual sight gags. Read full review
50
New York PostMegan Lehmann
The movie is saved by its well-trained four-legged stars and the likable Liam Aiken ("Road to Perdition"), who plays 12-year-old loner Owen Baker. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderTed Shen
The special effects aren't too polished but the script is larded with cutesy life lessons to warm the hearts of dog lovers Read full review
50
Portland OregonianChris Hewitt
Doesn't add much to the oft-told story of a boy and his dog, and it never establishes the rules of the dogs-in-space myth it creates, but it is perked up by the gentle intelligence of writer/director John Hoffman. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A promising idea turns into nothing, and we're left with a painfully dull kids' picture. Read full review
50
Village VoiceRichard Gehr
Former SNL-ers Molly Shannon and Kevin Nealon play the kid's Stepford parents in this Jim Henson Pictures happy meal. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It’s ingratiating in that nice doggie way, but the dogs, who have had their lips enhanced via CGI to aid in the illusion of speech, don’t have much more on their minds than where the next stick is going to sail in from. Read full review
40
The New York TimesAnita Gates
As children's film premises go, this is a cute one, but the execution is a failure. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
While Aiken couldn't be cuter or more-well suited for his earnest role, the script is utterly predictable and often falls into the saccharine trap. The pooches add a little life to this otherwise lackluster effort. Read full review
40
EmpireNick De Semlyen
In the hands of bolder storytellers this could have been a witty take on "E. T." Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
In the right hands, Good Boy! might have been a ripe bit of mischief. But except for an endless drum roll of fart jokes, what we get is stuffy liberal humanism that would bore the Oshkoshes off Al Gore's littlest nieces and nephews. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Sometimes it works to show their lips moving (it certainly did in "Babe"), but in Good Boy! the jaw movements are so mechanical it doesn't look like speech, it looks like a film loop. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Talking dogs were cute, once. It's a tad disconcerting, however, when a canine starts lip syncing to the voice of Carl Reiner so it can complain about flatulence. Read full review
20
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Includes a few half-hearted ironies about how people are really serving dogs, not the other way around, but even those gags are cribbed from a retired Seinfeld routine. Read full review
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