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"\"Firehouse Dog\" begins as a wacky spoof of the four-legged superhero fantasy of big-screen animal stars. Rexxx is Lassie gone Hollywood, a spoiled superstar canine with a signature toupee that makes Burt Reynolds' coif look natural, a plush trailer worthy of Tom Cruise, and a temperament the size of his fictional box office hits (those \"Jurassic Bark\" movies were so successful). But like the scruffy mutt who plays Rexxx, this is a mixed breed of a movie: part exaggerated animal comedy, part firefighter adventure (complete with an arson conspiracy mystery), and part heartwarming boy-and-his-dog family drama. Little dog lost Rexxx lands in an anonymous big city where he's just another stray on the streets. Adopted by a resistant teenage kid (Josh Hutcherson) with attitude problems, he becomes both guardian angel to his boy and mascot to the hard-luck firehouse run by the kid's dutiful but distant dad (Bruce Greenwood). This \"mutt from hell\" saves lives with the aplomb of a born hero, heals emotional wounds with his devotion, and cleans house like a neat nut. Not just man's best friend, he's a live-in maid, and his antics are the most entertaining part of the film. Hutcherson is all attitude and no personality and Greenwood is effortlessly paternal, which leaves no one putting an effort into the central father-son drama. Television veteran Todd Holland (\"Malcom in the Middle\") directs the most ridiculous sequences with a colorful wit (the dog's flashbacks to a shattered romance with the canine answer to Bo Derek) but brings nothing to the tired human story. This larger-than-life cartoon of a trained dog has more character than the two-legged co-stars."
<https://www.seattlepi.com/ae/movies/article/Firehouse-Dog-Only-the-dog-will-make-your-day-1233161.php>