Retired mailman Fred MacMurray's teenage son Tommy Kirk is always getting into shit. Last week, he mistakenly reported a new school employee to the cops because the fellow looked like a wanted poster Tommy saw at the post office. Just this morning, he blasted a rocket through the roof of their house, but that's nothing compared to what happened when he read aloud the inscription on a cursed ring: he turned into the neighbor's dog! What the fuck? That doesn't even make sense, but who cares, I just want to be entertained. And for an old Disney movie from 1959, THE SHAGGY DOG is pretty good. I mean, you're not going to hurt yourself laughing, but it's still an entertaining film.
The whole switching-into-a-dog thing is never fully explained and throughout the film, Tommy randomly switches back and forth to be a dog without any rhyme or reason. At first, it's kinda funny and he gets into all kinds of different hijinks, like turning into a dog during a dance or having his little brother trying to put a dog collar on him, but then things take a darker turn towards the end when Tommy (in dog form) discovers that his neighbor is a foreign spy!
Overall, the story is completely nuts, but the acting is good, the special
effects are nice and the pace moves along quickly. Recommended for fans
of older family movies. I was especially delighted by the unexpected
appearance of Strother Martin.
Part 2 - The Shaggy D.A. (1976)
Part 3 - The Return of the Shaggy Dog (1987)
Remake 1 - The Shaggy Dog (1994)
Remake 2 - The Shaggy Dog (2006)
