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Pudsey The Dog: The Movie review

Check out our review of Pudsey The Dog: The Movie - for undiscerning young children who like cute dogs

Pudsey poster

Pudsey The Dog: The Movie

Certificate: U

Starring: Pudsey, Izzy Meikle-Small, John Sessions. Voice by David Walliams

Release date: 2014

2 out of 5

2

Pudsey, in case you don’t know, was the cute performing dog whose twirling on command won him the big prize (a huge bag of Pedigree Chum?) on TV’s Britain’s Got Talent. Producer Simon Cowell obviously thought he was onto a winner with the pooch (after all, you’re not going to get a dog asking for a bigger percentage of the box office) so now the cuddly canine is the star of his own movie.

The trouble is, kids who are still young enough to find performing dogs cute are probably too young to know or care who Pudsey is, while any child over the age of six who does remember the mutt’s finest hour will find the movie too babyish.

The plot is pretty straightforward – Pudsey is now with single mum Gail (Jessica Hynes) and her three kids, who are moving from London to a cottage on a farm. It’s there that Pudsey has to foil a plot by evil, dog-hating Mr Thorne (Sessions) to tear down the idyllic home and replace it with a supermarket.

Sessions overacts to the point he may scare small viewers with his mugging, while the dodgy talking dog effects are inexcusable when you remember how great the talking animals were in Babe nearly two decades before. Adults will hate the movie with a passion, older kids will stay away, but maybe a few very young children who like cute dogs will manage to stay the distance to the end credits.

Is Pudsey The Dog: The Movie suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...

Very young children may find Mr Thorne a little menacing.

If you like this, why not try: 101 Dalmatians, The Adventures Of Greyfriars Bobby, Babe, Air Bud, Beethoven,