Air Bud: Spikes Back (Video 2003) Poster

(2003 Video)

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4/10
Just like red tick beer...Needs more dog.
paul_gladman9 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I will start by saying I watched this after watching the first 3 movies back to back (seventh innings fetch was stolen from from video store, but that's a whole other story). If you have watched any other Air Bud movies then you already know the basic script. If you haven't stop reading right now and go watch the first one because your life is incomplete.

Basic story line. Bad team gets great when Bud joins, he misses the final game then comes back before the end and they win, then he ends up playing with the worlds best.

What is different about this one is the main character is now Josh's sister after Josh has gone to college. She is a massive drainer the whole movie and try's to steal the movie from Air Bud. I think Bud really wanted to punch her in the face and turn this into a boxing movie but that is probably less family friendly story line.

Fist issue. At the start the bad guy's are trying to steal a gem which who even knows why that was even in Fernfield, no one ever went to see it. It just sat there in the school being guarded by an overweight security guard.

Second issue. The little kid eats approximately 20 ice creams across the 80 minute movie. So once every 4 minutes this kid is stuffing his face with more ice cream, I'm not picking on his choice of diet however not once during the whole movie does he get an ice cream headache. Massive let down there!

Third issue. I can't be exactly sure of the time but last time I checked I was 51 minutes into this movie and Bud hadn't even touched a volleyball. For a movie about a dog playing volleyball, I don't expect to wait over 3/4 of the movie to see a dog playing volleyball!

Finally the volleyball scenes were pathetic at best. They constantly looped the same shot of Bud setting the ball, followed by the tall guy jumping, followed by random person A and B diving in the sand and missing the ball. They probably could have got a few more different shots. The scoring is also all wrong the writers could have at least googled the rules of volleyball beforehand.

However in true Air Bud form you still get the same fuzzy feeling when you see him running in wearing the team colours for the first time and how excited he looks after winning a point. You can't help but still get excited watching him play sport.
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3/10
More like Air Bud: Set Backs Warning: Spoilers
First, the movie lost a star because of the inaccurate title. Buddy is a setter not a spiker. They even note that fact in the movie.

It was succinct and non-stop. Very little happened in the movie that didn't add to a character's motivation or advance the plot. Unless you consider the plot to be "Buddy plays volleyball" then nothing advances the plot the entire movie. That overlooks the true plot of the movie though, "Buddy robs a... museum?"

The subplot of the movie focuses on Marv and Stretch trying to steal a tennis ball sized piece of glass cut like a diamond from what is either a summer camp office, a ranger station, or a museum with a lot of sensors and a stereotypical fat rent-a-cop. How do you get past the lasers? A dog of course.

But, they fail. After setting off the laser they escape but have to chase Buddy and are recognized by the guard from casing the joint (or working in their daily job or something).

That's the first problem with the plan. It's unnecessary. Their main conflict could have been solved with a mask and some sprinting ability. They wasted weeks trying to dognap an MVP because they overestimated the security response. Sloppy.

The second is why Buddy? They saw him display the two skills necessary for the task (ducking and grabbing a ball) while his owner stood and made weird faces (the prize in this competition between an adult and a child was ice cream coupons, which is great for Kevin, whose primary diet is ice cream but would have been a real bummer for the adult if they won). That's helpful, but why not just get a new dog and train him on their own? A stranger's dog isn't going to behave for you. They spent a lot of time and money watching a little boy (risky if the town had more than a single elderly police officer). The plan wouldn't have worked if there were a leash law. If there was one, Buddy's owners simply didn't care.

They could have been successful had they taken a little extra time to think it through. They end up locked in the back of a police car in the sun on the beach while the officer officiates a volleyball game. Possibly to perish.

The other plot focuses on Buddy's owners, Kevin and Kat. Kevin is a toddler who is in charge of training Buddy and advancing the plot through negligence. Kat is a teen girl who is left behind when her best-friend moves to Kalifornia. Her parents won't pay to visit, so they're probably on the East coast. The only stale moment in this rip-roaring plot is a montage of her attempts to make money. Though it has more negligence from Kevin as he allows a dog to suffer a rash after heavy shampooing without rinsing.

Eventually through classic hijinks Kat has to use the money to payback merchants after Kevin let the dogs out and they destroyed some junk (and gave these shifty beach merchants a chance to gouge a child "let's round it up..." before skipping town). With a heavy heart, she writes Veronica a letter and tells her she won't be coming to Kalifornia (why a letter? It's 2003, she can get on AIM and chat with her. This question isn't explored).

So, instead of visiting California she hangs out with the whifro kid who moved into Veronica's house (Jughead). He plays volleyball. When a member of his team dies or something he tells Coach (an overenthusiastic 90s caricature who has more visors that say "Coach" on them than most people have shoes--maybe because it's his actual name and they're monogrammed) to let her play because he wants to "serve her" his "spike". Buddy teaches her how to play. Some would argue she should have learned earlier; some are right but the issue is never explored. Some would argue she shouldn't let a dog teach her sports, but have you seen Buddy's resume?

She plays and they do well. Or they lose. I think both occurred. They lose the last game, Betty--the team's "setter"--leaves the team to buy a sports bra. They need a fifth man! Luckily, there's nothing in the rulebook that says a dog can't play volleyball (well, no one ever checks, but the opposing team "Mouserat" never brings it up). So Buddy plays and does well. Now it's the one game tournament!

Buddy is late because he had to escape Marv and Stretch. The team was doing well (behind by three) despite being a man down and Buddy only touches the ball twice for the victory. You won't notice though because you'll be so pumped that Buddy is finally playing volleyball AND THEY'RE GOING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP.

Well, Buddy is. And Kat is there with Veronica. Oh because it's in Kalifornia. But Buddy is playing doubles with an adult we've never seen before despite the play-in game being teams with children. They should have spent a minute explaining any of this. They don't. The movie ends suddenly and all you have left are questions.

Overall, you just spent more time reading this review than it would have taken you to watch the movie. Don't be afraid to watch this movie, it will be over before you realize and since the whole thing is available on YouTube/Amazon for free there's no excuse. Unless they cut parts out. Which I'd believe because tons of it didn't make sense. If nothing else, every moment is worth it for Jughead's whifro.

Oh! That reminds me. Jughead skateboards. It's a big thing in the movie. I have no idea why.

The biggest downside of the movie is that Buddy plays fewer minutes of volleyball than it took you to load the IMDb homepage. Don't watch at your own risk.
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5/10
not bad, heartwarming
algebrahater8911 June 2006
Warning: Spoilers
OK well this movie did not stink!i liked it, i saw it at my dad's house when i was going to bed and i was 15 years old and it did not stink. First of all the plot is the same,but the story is different!i mean it's about friendship!!Poor andrea has to say goodbye to her bestfriend and the only way she can see her is by winning this tournament!I'ts heartwarming because it teaches one about friendship and how far one would go to not lose such a special friendship!Of course Air Bud once again was a natural at the sport, but that's the same concept in all the movies!!!I love the Air Bud movies they are heartwarming, and really do make one get closer to family!!The first one came out when i was 8 and it was sooo good they had to make it all over again!!!!So what if it's fantasy, so is Barney and the Teletubies and those really, really, really stink!!!Also Josh is super hot!!!
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1/10
As if one wasn't enough.
figure_four_headlock24 June 2003
ho lee crap. why did this get made? on top of crappy dog-spiking-the-ball effects, air bud 5 also tries to make us think anyone cares about competitive beach volleyball. sure, the activity is fun, and could be the basis of a bad episode of bay watch, but it isn't a movie. the movie also has a substory in which bud unwittingly steals a big diamond. that's great, only for the fact that it eliminates the chances of "air bud: k-9 catburglar" getting made. on the plus side, slower kids might like it because the dog does things that a normal dog wouldn't do. the smarter kids would say 'big deal', as he proved that when he dunked a basketball over five years ago. my opinion is, let the dog eat his alpo, shoot some hoops for old times sake and live out the rest of his life minus the well-digging, third-rate, kid-grabber sequels.
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2/10
Not again! Really common, how many of these have they made?
elsalsero117 June 2004
This is truly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Compared to the other "Air Bud" movies in this series, this one really makes you think, who wrote it? Plus you know that none of the these movies would ever happen in a million years. I know that the marketers and producers aim for it to be a "fun family film", and for kids to enjoy it, but I was a kid when I first watched these movies and I have to say that I wasn't amused, and I'm pretty sure that not many of the other kids that saw it were either. I have to admit though when I heard that they were coming out with one that had volleyball as the premise, I was curious to see it, being a volleyball player myself. Though I regret that I did because it was such a stupid film. The acting was mediocre, the plot and ending were so obvious, and not to mention every time Bud is playing any of the sports, it looks so fake. I don't know how someone could really pitch this story to a producer or company, because the plot is exactly the same as the other "Air Bud" movies, except there is a different location, and a different sport. I really suggest not renting this video.
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Utterly worthless pap
anxietyresister4 September 2003
I feel I do not need to see the preceding four films in this sorry series, as they all seem to be the same story retold with a different sport: Cute dog excels at soccer/basketball/croquet and wins every game going, while irritating pre-teens fall in love and well-meaning grown ups teach life-lessons. Why bother to replicate such an obvious formula four times? Because there are parents stupid enough out there to plunk their money down to watch the same rubbish again and again, and let's face it, the kids love the animals. They could put out a video of the main canine cast jumping around for an hour without a single human featuring in it and the rugrats would still lap it up. If you are over the age of 7 though and have the misfortune of being forced to sit through this, I can offer the following advice: 1: Sellotape your eyeballs down as they would otherwise get pretty sore, what with you rolling them every few minutes. 2: If you have a pet hound or your neighbour does, try and keep away from them at least a full day over the movie is over, or you might do something to it you'll regret.. On a closing note, I see this film had a budget of 5 million dollars, what a scary thought. Think how many starving kids could have been fed with that money, rather than letting it be spent on this disposable nonsense. It's enough to make you put your paws over your eyes and whine..
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1/10
Disney is turning in his cryogenic, anti-semetic grave.
cobrompton2 March 2006
The Disney company is a corporation, so we have no reason to expect them to keep from doing something that they shouldn't do if money is involved. Air Bud is a perfect example of how much money can be made off of sequels to incredibly stupid movie. I hate to brake it to you people, but the original Air Bud was not a good movie! Wow, what a revelation!!! But the fact that an Air Bud 5 even exists should be enough reason for God or Budha or Captain Crunch to come down upon the human race with fire and brimstone and giant, fire-breathing waterfowl that will kill whoever is responsible for destroying the imaginations and intellect of the children who watch these effortless films because their parents sit them down in front of the TV for ninety minutes so that they can have their "special time" to create more worthless children to cover our forsaken earth until were overrun with hopeless, sagging drones who vote for George Bush and watch reality television! phew... You already know the plot of this movie. Your children already know the plot of this movie. If they're going to watch something, have them watch a Disney classic, please, I really do fear for their future... (p.s. Not all those who vote for George Bush are idiots, but most are)
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1/10
LAME LAME LAME
soccer_shock19 July 2004
OK, this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I mean, why do these people even bother to do a FIFTH one of this. What's next? Tennis? Roller Blading? These movies are like exactly the same as the MVP series. Everything they can't teach a dog to do, such as play hockey or snowboard, they teach the monkey to do. It's the same freaking story every time, I feel sad for the people who actually pay money to go see these movies in a theater because these movies are completely obvious and I would rather spend my money on some other movie that is actually interesting. Also, I wouldn't recommend seeing and MVP movies unless you find it more amusing to watch a monkey play numerous sports.
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3/10
What a bad movie suitable for kids not for adults
zolezbrch2 July 2003
Warning: Spoilers
*may include spoilers but depends on your viewpoint*

3/10. Whooe. This stunk. I don't know if there was a plot, but here goes. Buddy does volleyball, is caught, and is used to steal a diamond, and then play volleyball. That's it. Now. Let's talk about the characters that can't seem to stay from movie to movie. There's even different directors for each of the 5 movies! Why couldn't Josh Framm be in this one? Maybe because he knew that it was going to be a flop, none of the characters were the same, and he was off doing something better than a straight to video movie. I could have sworn that Buddy had a new family cause no one looked a like. I was like what happened here? Then Kajita, or whatever her name is who plays the main character, wasn't even in the last movie. So, it gets hard to follow. The Tammy gal was in the last 2, so I thought I saw her from somewhere. The parents and gram gram are kind of clueless. The parents went on a veterinary clinic convention, and they were gone for most of the movie. Aren't conventions just a couple of days, not weeks? Now, what about a boy that likes to skate and play volleyball? Is that a weird combination or what? The Robbers were idiots, and were just plain out a worthless piece of time.

Well, now that the character follies are out of the way. Time for some technical follies. If you read license plates, it said Washington. Well, Andrea (that's the Kajita girl, the main character) said she would raise half of the money to go on a trip to visit her friend that moved away (Tammy). Yet, she is raising $600 by herself, thus making a trip like that $1200. I can understand from the East Coast but from Washington!?!?!? What happened to Buddy's children? They were in the last one. I guess it took up too much of their time to train 5 or more dogs again. Want me to keep going, cause I will anyway. Let's jump to the last game. You seem them constantly losing, and their morale is low because Buddy isn't there. Once Buddy comes, they're all happy and can beat the other team, but once you see a point played, they show you the score, and they're almost tied! So, if we see them constantly losing, how can we know that they were actually tied? Once again, this was a dumb storyline, and was probably made on a $5 million budget. Obviously, this was a cliche as the other 3 movies are too. The storyline was dumb, but hey, this is geared toward younger kids, not adults. Why do we need more Air Bud movies? The original ones is dead.They seriously need to stop doing these movies, but if they continue, here is a couple of ideas:

Air Bud Six is likely to be "Air Bud: On the Mat" where he becomes a wrestler. Air Bud: Bowling for Doggy Treats.

Air Bud : Pump the Gas (Car Racing - description : Buddy Team Up with his son (the one owning a gas station) to win the Indy 500)

Air Bud : En Passant (Chessmaster - description : became chessmaster and at the end beat the World Champ in 6 moves! to rescue Tammy)

Air Bud : Up In The Sky (Skydiving - description : he got to rescue Tammy by jumping from a plane to another)

Air Bud : On the Greens (Golf - descrption : beat Tiger, win the World Cup and save Tammy)

Air Bud : Vs MVP (Hockey - description : End Rivality with MVP and team up with the monkey to save the world(or Tammy))

Air Bud : Walk the dog (Yo-yo - description : play yo-yo at the same time stop mad scientist to clone Tammy)

Air Bud : With Poker Face (Poker - description : Buddy go to Vegas playing poker and he had to win to rescue his owner from the debt)

Coming next week to fox! All of these ideas came from IMDB.com. So thanks from there. Anyway, see the movie if you have a younger child but don't watch it yourself.
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3/10
Here we go again
ericstevenson11 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
We have another entry in the infinite Air Bud series and it's just as pointless as any other movie. We get Air Bud find out about volleyball and that's it. As with the previous movies, these guys try to kidnap Buddy and I'm not even quite sure why. I was about to say I was glad there were no farts in this. Instead there was vomit. Please stop this. This is lame even by the standards of direct to video sequels. Of course, the original film wasn't that good to begin with. Doug Walker must be happy he didn't have to watch these films for Disneycember 2016.

As usual, the movie ends with Air Bud going to the championship although I don't know much about volleyball competitions. Again, just show us how he got that far. The acting is quite bad especially this one scene where a kid just seems to be screaming for awhile for no reason. I don't notice or care if these were the same kids from the other movies. It's so repetitive I could have predicted it like a Michael Bay Transformers film. At this point, they might have run out of sports. I'm sooo glad I got to watch "Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil" to balance out the stupidity of Direct To Video Month. *1/2
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5/10
alright.
babyangel_maria30 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Well this movie wasn't all that bad but there were some very noticeable things first of all how can a dog play volleyball or whatever yes you can train a dog but why would they let a dog play and how would the dog learn the rules?Tammy is the worst actress in the movie,Andrea isn't as bad but she is the best one in the movie.The main reason i hate it because it was too long and i wish they would get it off family i mean I'm watching a good movie and guess what i see "airbud coming up next your watching family" its really annoying.well i have to fill 10 lines but i only have 8 so anyways if you like this movie then don't be mad at me go ahead and say airbud rocks but i don't think the same way OK bye!
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10/10
Air Bud is awesome!
Dalemssy24 June 2003
Buddy is back as a volleyball player. This movie is not the greatest movie if you want to see a lot of volleyball, this is a movie you would see for the cute golden retriever. I liked this movie not for the volleyball but for cute Buddy. If you like dogs you will love this movie.
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6/10
Piece of fluff
scribeworks15 July 2007
A piece of fluff to play as background audio visual while teenagers make out...they won't miss anything important during prolonged kissyfaces because the movie contains nothing important, just a cute dog, cute girls and a no-brainer plot. My brain enjoyed finding the factual errors, which are numerous, including how air head's team win a volleyball game while the opposite team is serving...screenwriter obviously has never played volleyball. The main character is a teenage girl but IMD for some reason list the principal "actors" as her parents, who appear only briefly at the beginning and at the end. The IMD reviewer might be related to the screenwriter, neither seem to have a clue what they are writing about...
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Cute, funny, inspiring
vchimpanzee8 August 2006
Andrea and Tammy are best friends. But now that school is out for the summer, Tammy is moving from Fernfield to San Diego, and both girls are SOOOO sad. Andrea vows to earn enough money for a plane ticket to see her best friend.

A large diamond is being delivered to the Fernfield museum to be put on display. The plumbers who are there to fix the toilet are not plumbers, and I doubt seriously that these morons could fix anything. They are there to steal the diamond. One problem: the diamond is guarded by laser beams worthy of "Mission: Impossible". There is a heating vent that leads right to the diamond, but it's too small for them. Maybe they could get a child to steal the diamond. Or a dog. When they see Buddy perform in a canine obstacle course competition, they know what they have to do. They have to kidnap Buddy!

Andrea figures out how to earn money. Her father is a vet and she is so good with the animals at his office. She can be a pet sitter. Of course, that's harder than it looks.

Another possibility: Connor moves into Tammy's old house. He used to play beach volleyball, and, yes, Fernfield has a league, but the team is not very good. For one thing, the coach is so dumb he makes the jewel thieves look like they could pull off The Italian Job. (Okay, I was exaggerating. No one could make those guys look smart.) If by some miracle (Buddy, perhaps?) the team wins the league championship, they get a trip to see Gabrielle Reece and other professionals in California. So Andrea joins the team along with Connor.

Andrea's parents go to a convention, and Grandma is left in charge along with her annoying parrot and lack of ability in the kitchen.

This movie had nothing that would make it inappropriate for children, which is a good thing because only children would watch it. Or perhaps adult Lizzie McGuire fans. Of which I am one. Andrea is almost as adorable as Lizzie (and she gets it from her mom). Her annoying little brother Noah is no Matt, but he seems like a real kid rather than a Hollywood version. Connor is not exactly Gordo, who had brains rather than athletic ability, but maybe he'll appeal to teenage girls.

I don't like dogs but how could anyone not like Buddy? The canine actor (actors?) is so talented in so many ways. But there was one unbelievable scene which would have been easy enough for an accomplished trainer, but come on! Dumb and Dumber could NOT have done that.

Pat Cranshaw was still going strong when this was made, which is hard to believe since he was ancient 20 years ago. He still had the same charm. And there was another sequel! I found this out looking to see when he died. Apparently it was his last movie.

The bumbling idiot jewel thieves are quite funny. And then there is the one man who stood between them and the diamond, the fat and lazy but friendly security guard Phil (hence the need for lasers).

There is plenty of comedy here, physical and otherwise, and several enjoyable but implausible plot lines.

It's a fun movie if you aren't looking for quality.
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10/10
For kids and kids at heart!
surveyman87719 January 2005
Now, I'm not much when it comes to writing so you're not going to see the outcome or a lot about the movie within my comments about this movie but I just wanted to comment because I feel too many people that are writing about it, are giving the other people the wrong picture about this movie! Of course, this movie is about Air Bud, the "wonder dog" if you want to label him as such...that seems to be able to play any sport that is thrown at him (pardon the pun) and yes, it is geared toward kids but what were the majority of the people that watched this, expecting? I'm a parent and have six kids and we all enjoyed this movie a great deal and yes, we've seen the other ones as well and since then, have seen the newer ones as well and they all have pretty much the same plot but we are talking about a boy and his dog (in general) here. If you're expecting freaky stuff to happen, may I suggest Sixth Sense but these movies are geared for kids and if you checked the rating on them, you'd know that so why all the whining! Maybe some of the characters have been changed but my kids didn't seem to mind...and they did notice...but that wasn't why they enjoyed the movie or why they were watching it. The main reason for watching the movie was for Air Bud and he was in each of them and he never did disappoint! Listen, if you have kids, you've got a great movie that they'll be watching on more than one occasion...and that goes for all of them so I say...BRING ON MORE AIR BUD for the kids, of course...lol Don B...
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An ok movie
hardyz_hotasfire31 October 2003
Well i just saw this last night. I enjoyed it despite it pretty much being the same concept form the previous films. Buddy is missing at the start of the Championship, but arrives to save the day as always. The one thing that was different is buddy got himself out of the trouble this time with out the help of the kids. One thing i will nitpick is Noah Framm why was his last name framm that was Josh and Andrea fathers last name. So Noah should have had a different last name(since they share the same mother but have different Dad), unless his father Patrick took the Framm name.

This is obviously 3 years after the 7th inning stretch taking into fact that in that movie Andrea was just going into middle school 6th grade. In this one , she was ending 8th grade. I guess that would make Josh going to be a senior in College

It's a film that most kids will enjoy, some adults might not simple due to its basically the same thing only different sports, and slightly different situation. This is the first they have ever done something during the `Summer' versus the school year so that was different
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