Honestly now, is there a movie out there that has more unappealing actors in it than appear in "Cool Dog"? I come at this from having watched Tod Browning's "Freaks" more than once in my lifetime and that film actually has more engaging characters. What's with the Mom (Christa Campbell) in this story? Was she supposed to be a mean spirited stepmother to Jimmy (Jackson Pace) on purpose, or am I just being too sensitive? Not to be outdone of course by characters like Muriel and Reuben, the landlords from hell, Big Game Gostavo and all the other weirdos that populated this film. Even the kid Jimmy didn't seem all that appealing to me, but gee, did they have to pack him in a wooden crate to ship off to Mexico? Who thought that was a good idea?So here's the thing - my seven year old granddaughter laughed herself silly watching this flick, so there's something to be said for bad films that offer young kids a good time. The message of perseverance on the part of Rainy the German Shepherd is a good one, reinforced by young Jimmy's loyalty to the family pet who he never gives up on. Those are good values to expose one's kids to, so if you have to suck it up for an hour and a half to watch along, it's better than having them turn out to be juvenile delinquents.

I agree that the acting is terrible, but I watched it just because the story is good. I don't want to add any "spoilers" so will just say that it's difficult to stomach some of the bad acting, and the gross parts are really not necessary... guess they were trying to be funny. It didn't work, but a good story idea anyway.On the other hand, if I had kids, I probably would add this to my collection of family-type movies. I love stories with dogs in particular, and I fell in love with Rainy for sure. So I imagine I would recommend this movie to someone who loves dogs, but I would always warn them that the acting isn't too great. It certainly doesn't do justice to the actors, some of whom I've seen in other movies or TV shows, so maybe it's the fault of the director rather than the actors.

The acting is awful, the plot is predictable. And excuse me, but when did Louisiana get mountains? The ONLY so called mountain in Louisiana is actually a summit called Driskill Mountain that is in reality a tall hill. Then there is the small fact that NO ONE even sounded like they were from Louisiana! I tried to figure out just what Parish of Louisiana they were trying to portray but as none of the main characters sounded southern and there was that mountain in the background it was impossible. The only person that even tried to sound southern was Kent Jude Bernard and he just had a very small part. Even my grandchildren got bored with this movie! Now maybe, and I mean just maybe, this movie would be good if you were having a bout of insomnia and needed something to put you to sleep. Most likely though it would just annoy you to the point of not being able to sleep so forget that idea! Just don't even bother with it is my advise.

This is a horrible, horrible movie. Every agonizing second is so unbearably corny, contrived, and clichéd. The acting, the writing, the editing, the directing...everything here was the worst it could possibly be. This is not an exaggeration...this film (if you want to call it that) is just as bad as any other kid's film you're likely to see.Jimmy's dad just got a new job, and poor little Jimmy isn't allowed to bring his hero dog Rainey. So Jimmy, his dad, and his mean step-mother move from a small town in Illinois to New York city, meanwhile leaving the dog behind. Jimmy's new apartment is run by a couple of creepy and seemingly evil landlords who hate dogs and children. Meanwhile, Rainey escapes from the state fair where he was left back in Illinois and basically hitchhikes all the way to New York. Rainey makes it to Jimmy in New York somehow, and those mean landlords find out about it. Turns out the landlords are illegally selling animals on the side, and this dog is messing up their style. Ridiculous chaos ensues.The actors here must've learned their technique from elementary school plays. Jen Kober and David Jensen play the two landlords, coming off as second rate Home Alone villain rejects. Kober seems to be channeling Rosie O'Donnell for her overall appearance and voice, but even Rosie would look brilliant compared to this woman. The main kid here is awful, the dad is awful, as is the step-mom. Sadly, the dog probably gave the best performance, and even the dog isn't that great.Try to dumb yourself down for the next few paragraphs to try and understand the hilarity of the jokes. Uh oh, the dog is stuck at the county fair with the new mean owner. But whoaho, the guy falls over and the dog escapes. The gate closes and the guy has to climb over the five foot fence to get out. Derher, he fell down and we get a hilarious cartoon sound effect. Always classic. And then a bull farts on him...funny stuff. And then the dog, instead of running away, plays hide and seek, knocking over bales of hay on this guy, and being goofy. Then a cow burps...ahahaha, you can't write this stuff. Several fart and burp jokes are featured in the film, each one more clever than the last.The dog in this movie is funny. Not only does he save a girls life, he stops purse snatchers, shoots tennis balls at some punk kids, attacks some New York thugs, covers his eyes during scary movies, plays checkers (and wins), plays guitar, plays piano, orders hot dogs and pays the hot dog vendor with the dog holding the money in it's paw, finds his way to New York city and plays hide and seek Home Alone style pranks on several different villains at various occasions. When he attacks the NY thug, the guy runs off yelling "Mommy!". When he attacks the punk kid, the kid begs the dog for forgiveness. (Makes sense?) When he plays hide and seek with the idiot bad guys, they run into each other and fall over and trip all over the place. This is the type of humor this movie features mainly. Idiots acting like idiots, with not an ounce of cleverness or freshness, to try to get four year olds at home to giggle.Brain damage can occur three to four minutes after not breathing...but at the end of the film the dog must've been "dead" for at least five. And then he comes back alive for no reason. I'd almost give this movie a point for having the guts to kill of the dog and keep a little bit of realism, but nope, dog's alive, just apparently been playing dead for a few minutes to "build" the "dramatic tension". Just one of about fifty scenes that featured an element that made no sense, could never happen, and was completely ridiculous.The editor of this thing sucks big time. The film here is constantly being slowed down, which always looks horrible when it's not shot in slow motion, and everything just looks sloppy. And the sound editing sucks too. Animals making noises that the animals clearly aren't making, and people saying lines that are clearly stuck in afterward. The editing is about on par with everything else in the film, so at least it isn't letting us down in comparison.It's hard to even write a review explaining why this was so bad, because absolutely nothing worked here at all. There was not one moment that wasn't cringe worthy, except for a few establishing shots (the brief reprieve from the rest of this mess). The character motivations don't make sense and this is just a big sloppy mess of a kiddie movie. Do not let your children watch this filth. It'll lower their IQ.My rating: BOMB out of ****. 88 mins. PG for brief mild language, and stupidity throughout.