Basketball Movie Review
Air Bud
A golden retriever joins a school basketball team because apparently nobody wrote a rule saying a dog couldn't play, launching an entire sports-animal franchise in the process.
Ridiculous, sincere and absolutely part of 90s basketball-kid culture; the store would be pretending to be cooler than its audience if it left Air Bud out.
Movie details
1997 · 1h 38m · Comedy · Family
Director Charles Martin Smith
- Kevin Zegers — Josh Framm
- Michael Jeter — Norm Snively
- Wendy Makkena — Jackie Framm
- Charles Martin Smith directed Air Bud, which stars Kevin Zegers as Josh and the real dog Buddy as the basketball-playing golden retriever.
- Buddy had previously appeared performing basketball tricks on television, and the 1997 film's success launched a long-running Air Bud franchise.
01
The Take
Air Bud works because it never acts embarrassed by the premise. Josh is lonely, Buddy can put a ball through a hoop and the movie simply keeps moving until the dog is part of organised basketball. The emotional story is basic, but for a generation of kids the image of a golden retriever in a jersey became permanent sports-movie language.
02
Does the Basketball Hold Up?
Nobody should use the film for rules interpretation or player development. The useful basketball idea is belonging: Josh finds confidence around the team and Buddy turns the gym into a place of connection. The actual dog-hoops mechanics are exactly as plausible as you remember and exactly as important to the movie's charm.
03
Best Basketball Moment
Buddy first demonstrating that the circus-dog trick actually translates to a basketball hoop, the point where everyone watching either accepts the movie's rules or leaves forever.
04
Ball Cred
The film places Buddy and Josh inside a school-team season and uses basketball as the relationship that brings the boy, dog and community together despite the deliberately impossible premise.