Good Boy!

Boy befriends cute creature from space and helps him communicate with his home planet. It might sound familiar, but this derivative kids' comedy hasn't an ounce of ET charm. This time, the alien is a talking dog, Hubble, though only young dogwalker Owen (Aiken) can hear him and the other local mutts speak. Suddenly, Owen is privy to canine meetings of intergalactic importance, for Hubble (voiced by Broderick) has been sent to ensure that dogs are ruling Earth as planned when they colonised the planet all those years ago. On discovering the horrible truth, he fears that top dog The Greater Dane (Redgrave) will return all mutts to the home star Sirius. It's unlikely, however, that anyone over the age of five will care (unless, perhaps, you share your home with a Border terrier). The dialogue is exposition-heavy, and both human and canine characters feel like ticked boxes. (From the novel Dogs from Outer Space by Zeke Richardson.) ASm.