SYNOPSIS: Finn on the Fly is a comedy about friendship, loyalty and learning to trust your instincts.  When a botched science experiment turns a 13-year-old boy's best friend, Finn the dog, into a human, he learns about the importance of friendship and believing in yourself.

EDITORIAL REVIEW: In Finn on the Fly, a dog is turned into a man who barks, slurps from the toilet, chases squirrels and treats the backyard like a fire hydrant.

If that sounds about as appetizing as a bag of kibble, this Canadian-made comedy is actually a breed above -- too sweet and well-intended to qualify as much of a critic's chew toy.  But it's also strictly kids' stuff: Recommended for children under 10 and parents who don't want their kids exposed to anything more corrupting than adorable boy-and-his-dog clichés.  If that passes for praise, then you can blurb me on that.

Matthew Knight stars as Ben, a shy 13-year-old recently transplanted to a new city and school (so he's actually Benito, from Barcelona).  His only real friend is Finn, a hyper-intelligent border collie who catches Frisbees, unhooks fence gates and proves himself a star among the neighborhood mutts.  But when he sneaks into the basement of Dr. Madeline Madsen (former Saturday Night Live cast member Ana Gasteyer), the mad scientist who lives next door, he accidentally laps up a potion that transforms him from a canine into a man.  It doesn't take long for Madeline to figure out what happened -- or for her to conspire to capture Finn for her own nefarious purposes.  In the meantime, Ben is happily bonding with his new best pal who has learned to speak English with startling speed.  That in turn helps Finn teach Ben a thing or two about how to run with a pack, get the girl and form lasting friendships.

A little hard to stomach, Finn on the Fly is, but you have to remember this is for kids and it's wholesome family entertainment.  Thankfully the level of gross-out humor is limited (save for the pre-adolescent fart jokes), and at least some of the performances are ok (although far from award-winning).  Cynics stay away, all others enjoy the warm and fuzzy feeling you'll get at the end.

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* This DVD will play WORLDWIDE.  This is NOT a DVD-R.

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STARRING: Matthew Knight, Ryan Belleville, Ana Gasteyer.
DIRECTOR: Mark Jean.
AVAILABILITY: In stock! Ships within one business day.
LENGTH: 100 minutes.
LANGUAGE: English, with OPTIONAL FRENCH DUBBING.
SPECIAL FEATURES: 1.78:1 (16:9 Widescreen); 5.1 Stereo; 1 disc; Chapter selection; Fun with Finn (behind the scenes dog training; Trailer; Uncut.
VIEWER DISCRETION: No objectionable content!
PICTURE QUALITY: Excellent picture quality. (what's this mean?)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada (2008).
ALSO KNOWN AS:
DATE ADDED TO OUR LIBRARY:  July 17, 2009.
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