Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch

The fourth film in the Air Bud franchise is definitely the runt of the litter. Running a long 93 minutes (which feels more like the 651 minutes in dog years), this fetchingly titled entry features (briefly) lone original cast member Kevin Zegers as Josh, owner of star golden retriever Buddy. When Josh heads off for college, dog sitting duties are left to sister Andrea (Caitlin Wachs), who benefits from Buddy's talents when the latter pitches in to help her become a hit on her junior high school baseball team. Meanwhile, the requisite bumbling kidnappers steal Buddy's five puppies to extract the "sports gene" or some such nonsense. From ham-handed slapstick to cuddly footage of Buddy and her pups in action, all the bases are covered in this lightweight comedy, but in such formulaic fashion that we cannot recommend it. [Note: DVD extras include an "Air Bud: Batter Up!" set-top matching game (with easy to follow directions and two challenge level options), a brief "Behind the Bases" featurette that showcases the cute canine stars, a "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" Sing-Along, and a short "Gag Reel" of doggone funny animal and actor antics. Bottom line: unfortunately, some decent extras can't save this dog.] (K. Lee Benson)