This movie is a cross between Herbie the Love Bug remake and the Shaggy D.A. remake.....It tries to be serious then it gets to be surreal. The script was awful and the flashback sequences made it hard for young children to watch and follow. Even though the narration of the film is from the boy, there are flashbacks from everyone including the dog. For most young ones it is impossible to see movies that are not linear. Everyone in the film has a flashback or a "vision". Add on top of it the need to show the dogs bodily functions. Why the film has to have a dog crapping scene? Plus the dog had as much gas as anyone in any National Lampoon movie. I don't know if this was meant to be a child's movie, but it wasn't. In the final scheme, a children's film that tried to be adult but wasn't and wasn't children enough to be a children's film.....