The Shaggy D.A.

At no point in this movie did I know how much time was left; the plot is so shapeless that, when I thought there were fifteen minutes left, there was at least half an hour, and when I thought there were ten minutes left, there were two. Beyond that, it's the same kind of bland humor as all 70s live-action Disney comedies, but the ridiculous man-in-dog-suit shenanigans are at least entertaining, and the kid character, while his lines are delivered badly, is gleeful enough to provide some fun.

Man has his house robbed twice and decides to run for District Attorney. He also confesses to his wife that he once read an inscription on the back of a ring and turned into a dog - now he's afraid it'll happen again (it does happen again). Every bit as stupidly absurd as it sounds, and nowhere near as entertaining as I wanted it to be. Directed by Robert Stevenson (Mary Poppins, Bed Knobs and Broomsticks), it has a similar flavour, but none of the charm. I'm just thankful it wasn't a musical.

Silly family comedy is easy to take, but the heavy handed slaptstick digressions have aged badly; as a relic from the 70s Disney stable, it's enjoyable enough and distinguished by a pretty good cast, though Conway and Jones too often seem to be vying for lead funny-man.

Typical of this era in Disney family films, this is some drek they should have been ashamed of filming. The man in the dog suit is hardly convincing, and the plot holes are large enough for even a child to notice.

It was unmitigated crap like this that probably formed my gimlet-eyed view of the world as I was growing up.