Air Bud 3: World Pup (2001)

Director: Bill Bannerman

Cast: Kevin Zegers, Dale Midkiff, David Glyn-Jones

Synopsis: A boy and his dog take on the world of soccer.

Harvesting what is, by now, very fallow land, the makers of Air Bud turn to football in a cynical attempt to squeeze even more kiddie-bucks out of a franchise that really never should have prospered in the first place. By now, the movies were going straight to video which, hopefully, suggests that Bud will very soon be paying Rin Tin Tin and Lassie a visit in the Hollywood home for unprofitable dogs.

Sport plays a secondary role in this episode, as the so-called plot concentrates on the ham-fisted attempts of Josh (Kevin Zegers – Fifty Dead Men Walking) to woo Emma (Brittany Paige Bouck), a football-playing English girl (who, incidentally, could easily pass for 21, while Zegers can still pass for a pre-adolescent 14-year-old).

I can’t help feeling that any boys suckered into watching what they might be forgiven for believing is predominantly a sports-related movie, will feel particularly cheated when they find themselves sitting through a cloyingly sentimental teen-romance flick. In fact, many of the pre/early teens at which this movie is aimed will be disappointed: the romance will bore the younger viewers, while the childlike humour will turn off the teenagers. Poor direction, which fails to generate any kind of excitement, merely serves to compound the shortcomings. Avoid (unless you’re a very undemanding 10-year-old).

(Reviewed 3rd July 2002)