 Firehouse Dog apparently does not exhibit restrained taste. Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel remarks that he "could've lived without the shot of the dog doing his 'business' in a pot of stew. And breaking wind multiple times." But defending the movie, Bruce Westbrook writes in the Houston Chronicle that although some "potty humor" occurs, "it's not overdone. Just because times have changed since Rin Tin Tin doesn't mean they've gone to the dogs." Still, many reviews include warnings: "You'd be better off taking your kid to visit a dog run for a couple of hours," writes Kyle Smith in the New York Post. "A kid would have to be pretty desperate to leave the house -- and waste allowance money -- for this modest distraction," writes Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News. On the other hand, Alex Chun writes in the Los Angeles Times, "Though it never completely catches fire, there's enough earnestness and warmth that makes it a welcome alternative in a family film arena dominated by computer animation and associated toy lines." And Bruce Macaulay concludes in the Philadelphia Inquirer that the movie is "touching, family-friendly," that is "barking up the right tree." |
