Taglines: Every family needs an optimist.
Willie Morris as an adult is looking back on his childhood in the early 1940s and how it was colored by his dearly beloved dog, a Jack Russell Terrier whom he had named Skip (Enzo). In the beginning, Willie (Frankie Muniz) is a lonely 9-year old child with a gruff, proud father (Kevin Bacon), a Spanish Civil War veteran, and a charismatic, talkative mother (Diane Lane), a housewife, but he is an only child and small for his age with few friends. His one companion is a young man who lives next door, Dink Jenkins (Luke Wilson), who is the local sports hero in Mississippi. However, when Dink is drafted to go to war, Willie’s mother decides to buy him a dog, against his father’s wishes, in order that he should have some company.
Willie and Skip become firm friends very quickly. However, Willie gets bullied at school by Big Boy Wilkinson, Henjie Henick, and Spit McGee, until Dink sends him a German helmet and belt from the front line. The other boys demand he play ball in order to win back his belongings. Skip leaps in to help him. That same day, the three boys talk Willie into spending the night in a graveyard, where they claim a witch is buried. If he stays there, he gets to join their gang and also keep the ball Dink Jenkins signed for them, and if not, he has to give them his German helmet.
Willie stays there for a number of hours, until he hears two moonshiners who are loading crates into a crypt. Skip jumps on Millard, one the moonshiners, until the second one, Junior, comes at him with a spade. Willie uses a slingshot to hit Junior in the nose with an acorn and attempts to escape the graveyard with Skip. They are soon captured by Junior. He tells Willie not to move before sunrise or he will kill Skip. Then the two men leave. The three boys return in the morning and accept Willie into their group for spending the night in the graveyard.
My Dog Skip is a 2000 family drama film, directed by Jay Russell and starring Frankie Muniz, Diane Lane, Luke Wilson, and Kevin Bacon with narration by Harry Connick, Jr. Based on the autobiographical novel of the same name, the film stars Muniz as 9-year-old Willie Morris as he is given a Jack Russell terrier for his birthday, and how the dog fundamentally changes several aspects of his life. My Dog Skip was released on March 3, 2000, by Warner Bros., receiving generally positive reviews from critics. The film earned $35,547,761 on a $4.5 million budget.
My Dog Skip (2000)
Directed by: Jay Russell
Starring: Luke Wilson, Frankie Muniz, Kevin Bacon, Diane Lane, Susan Carol Davis, David Pickens, Bradley Coryell, Cody Linley, Lucile Doan Ewing, Polly Craig
Screenplay by: Gail Gilchriest
Production Design by: David J. Bomba
Cinematography by: James L. Carter
Film Editing by: Harvey Rosenstock, Gary Winter
Costume Design by: Edi Giguere
Set Decoration by: Tracey A. Doyle
Music by: William Ross
MPAA Rating: PG for some violent content and mild language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: March 3, 2000
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