dakotajolong Review of Fluke

Fluke (1995)

The dog's a great actor, but the movie's a waste of time.

[1/10 · 15 October 2005]

Was this supposed to be a two-hankie family film, or a violent drama? The writers and producers apparently couldn't make up their minds. The cute "Milo & Otis" tone of early scenes yields to turgid, slow melodrama, a disturbing personality change in the dog, scenes of violence, and an extremely disappointing, sad ending. The photography, the music, all details including the acting -- specially by the dog or dogs in the title role -- were fine. I'll blame the writer. I regret having spent two hours of my life waiting for this movie, as shown on the Animal Planet cable channel, to reach its disappointing, sad ending. May I offer a suggestion? For a much more entertaining canine reincarnation tale, look for "Oh, Heavenly Dog," in which private eye Chevy Chase comes back to Earth as Benji. O.K., it has some violence, too, but it's lots more fun, and the filmmakers aren't trying to sucker tears out of the audience.