Product Description

The first live action movie ever produced by Walt Disney is on DVD for the first time ever! Fred MacMurray heads an all-star cast that includes Jean Hagen, Tim Considine, Kevin Corcoran, and Annette Funicello in her big screen debut. After years of on-the-job clashes with cranky canines, mail carrier Wilson Daniels (MacMurray) sees man's best friend as his worst enemy. This makes for one hairy situation when a magical ring accidentally transforms his teenage son Wilby (Kirk) into a lumbering sheepdog! Can Wilby break the spell and foil a team of international spies, or will both he and his dad wind up in the doghouse? Packed with sidesplitting antics, slapstick chases, and hilarious sight gags, this madcap adventure will tickle the funny bone of every two- (and four-) footed member of your family!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18922 in DVD
• Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
• Released on: 2006-03-07
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 104 minutes

Features

• Wilby Daniels (Tommy Kirk) is just an ordinary teenager until a magical ring accidentally transforms him into a lumbering sheepdog . whose owner is the leader of a plot to destroy the Space Program! This hilarious madcap adventure was the first live-action comedy Walt Disney produced, with a story full of slapstick chases, sight gags, hot rods, spies, and spells! Fred MacMurray helms an all-star

Amazon.com
Unlike the fly in the 1958 horror classic, they never really explain what happens to the neighbor's sheepdog when young Wilby Daniels trades places with it. The dog just vanishes, or is subsumed or assumed or something, leaving Wilby (Tommy Kirk) to explain to his dog-hating, allergic, mailman father (Fred MacMurray) that he's turned into a canine. The Shaggy Dog seems like the first instance of Disney packaging, as most of the principals were either Mouseketeers or had been in the short Disney segment Spin and Marty or a previous Disney film. As successful as The Absent Minded Professor for humor, Dog follows Wilby and a rival as they vie for the hand of the new French girl in school, and the girl next door (Annette Funicello). The exchanges with Wilby's younger brother, Moochie (Kevin Corcoran), who always wanted a family dog, are alone worth the price of the tape. Indeed the most successful element of this overall endearing film is the re-pairing of the two actors as brothers (they had done so before in 1957's Old Yeller). This is family fare that's diverting without pandering, a feat that the later Disney regime would have a difficult time re-creating. --Keith Simanton

Customer Reviews

A favorite from my remote youth...
I understand that Tim Allen has "reimagined" this film, but I don't know how it can compare to the original. Fred MacMurray, always reliable and loads of fun, is not the central character. The Mickey Mouse Club supplied the main characters. Indeed, Tommy Kirk & Kevin Corcoran carry this film, with able support from Tim Considine, Annette Funicello & Roberta Sherwood. There's also delightful support from Jean Hagen & Cecil Kellaway. I have no end of admiration for this original. Certainly, there are plot holes, but who really cares? I have the VHS, and then I saw the DVD and snatched it up. The DVD has 2 versions: a colorized version, but I have no use for that; the B&W is in a slight Widescreen. This is one of Disney's first live action comedies; Tommy Kirk is especially good, and had just completed "Old Yeller"; Kevin Corcoran was later excellent as "Toby Tyler". Disney studio were famous for their animated features, and wonderful documentaries ("White Wilderness", etc.). Mr. MacMurray later proved a hit in "The Absent-Minded Professor" and it's sequel, "Son of Flubber". My big concern is WHY anyone thinks they have to remake these wonderful capsules of Hollywood treasures. Robin Williams in "Flubber", and now Tim Allen in a remake? The originals are GREAT; the lazy studio heads should start looking for wonderful new material. We all know there's plenty of it out there. Those Sundance darlings, if promoted correctly, could kick some serious butt. Still, I encourage anyone with kids to check this out. It's WAY too much fun to be ignored. BTW: Remember the Mickey Mouse Club...the Hardy Boys...Spin & Marty? I do. I was especially intrigued with the Hardy Boys' "Mystery of the Applegate Treasure". Wouldn't that be fun on DVD? Anyone agree? PS~The DVD has a fond, loving tribute to Fred MacMurray. Worth seeing; as well as remaining cast interviews, commentaries, etc. UPDATE: Disney finally released the Hardy Boys (Applegate) and Spin & Marty. How smart of them! Now, we true lovers just have to wait for "Song of the South". Hey...it could happen...(?)

A pleasant (and rare) suprise from Disney!
In the hit and miss world of Disney Home Video DVD releases we are treated to a rather suprising move by Disney. "The Shaggy Dog", a genuinely delightful fare, will be released in its original glorious B&W, widescreen format, as only Walt would have it. Also included is a colorized, pan & scan version for those who folks who just can't seem to tolerate those "black bars". This combined format should have been done with "The Absent Minded Professor". This seems like a no-brainer as this production should satisfy everyone. So why the hack job on the more modern "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken"? (which BTW is in its OAR in Region 2) You have a better chance of winning "Mega Millions" than guessing which Disney film will get proper treatment.

Update: 03.08.06

The B&W widescreen version is fabulous with sharp contrast and good lighting. Included with the B&W OAR version is commentary from the Shaggy Dog "Kids". Their remarks are delightful and clue us in on where many pieces of apparel in the colorized version don't match the original colors; i.e. one of Francesca's gowns was originally gold but colorized to a sickly blue in one scene changing to an equally pallor green in the scene to follow. So much for the dreaded colorization process.

It's an apples and oranges comparison between the Colorized, Pan & Scan and the B&W OAR editions. I'm just ever grateful that Disney (hopefully) finally has heard the pleas of the Region 1 consumer; at least for this classic. We can live in hope that they continue in this reponsible manner. Robert Iger, I hope comments like these reach your desk because writing Disney directly gets nowhere.

Just hilarious.
This is one of the funniest Disney movies they ever made. The adults are goofy, the kids adorable, and the exchanges between the two brothers....priceless. I'd forgotten how much I love it.