Super Buddies is the seventh film of the Air Buddies series, a spin-off the Air Bud film franchise that has started in 1997, Sadly, the spin-off suffers from lots of issues, like making the animals talk, disregarding the events of its parent series, and worst off, each title after the first was a different cliché.
In this one, Disney decides to go and try the old superhero dog cliché again, as the Buddies find rings that give them superpowers. However, they are tracked down by an evil alien who wants them for his own evil plans, and must team up with another alien who has disguised himself as a dog to stop him.
Basically, the first problem with the film is its superhero theme. Being released six years after the box office bomb that is Disney's Underdog, you'd think Disney would take the time to learn what went wrong with that film and either fix them or avoid repeating them with Super Buddies. In fact, replace Captain Canine with the 2007 incarnation of Underdog, replace the Buddies with puppy characters who gain superpowers, and replace the villain with an alien-themed Underdog character like Overcat and you'd have the perfect recipe for a DTV disaster known as Underdog 2.
But no, this film has the same problems as its license-based predecessor and a lot more. The Rings Of Inspiron, the source of the Buddies' powers, are basically just a Maguffin, since the villain wants them to rule an alien planet, and Captain Canine, a.k.a. Captain Megasis, wants to bring them back to the planet Inspiron. Also, the movie has too many superhero clichés that has been done to death, and the aliens, who are done in CGI, look like they were originally created for a failed attempt to reboot Eureka's Castle (I mean, I saw the end with the princess, and she moves as if she was a full suit Muppet).
While this film may be a hit with kids, adults and superhero fans will see how stupid it is. Thankfully, after this was released, Disney had the common sense to finally put this series down, letting Air Bud finally rest in peace with what little dignity it has left. There are way better superhero cartoons and movies for kids out there that I would recommend over this franchise killer, like The Incredibles, The Lego Batman Movie, and even Big Hero 6.
In this one, Disney decides to go and try the old superhero dog cliché again, as the Buddies find rings that give them superpowers. However, they are tracked down by an evil alien who wants them for his own evil plans, and must team up with another alien who has disguised himself as a dog to stop him.
Basically, the first problem with the film is its superhero theme. Being released six years after the box office bomb that is Disney's Underdog, you'd think Disney would take the time to learn what went wrong with that film and either fix them or avoid repeating them with Super Buddies. In fact, replace Captain Canine with the 2007 incarnation of Underdog, replace the Buddies with puppy characters who gain superpowers, and replace the villain with an alien-themed Underdog character like Overcat and you'd have the perfect recipe for a DTV disaster known as Underdog 2.
But no, this film has the same problems as its license-based predecessor and a lot more. The Rings Of Inspiron, the source of the Buddies' powers, are basically just a Maguffin, since the villain wants them to rule an alien planet, and Captain Canine, a.k.a. Captain Megasis, wants to bring them back to the planet Inspiron. Also, the movie has too many superhero clichés that has been done to death, and the aliens, who are done in CGI, look like they were originally created for a failed attempt to reboot Eureka's Castle (I mean, I saw the end with the princess, and she moves as if she was a full suit Muppet).
While this film may be a hit with kids, adults and superhero fans will see how stupid it is. Thankfully, after this was released, Disney had the common sense to finally put this series down, letting Air Bud finally rest in peace with what little dignity it has left. There are way better superhero cartoons and movies for kids out there that I would recommend over this franchise killer, like The Incredibles, The Lego Batman Movie, and even Big Hero 6.