Snow Buddies
Encyclopedia
Snow Buddies is a 2008 direct to video in the Air Bud
series. It was released on DVD on February 5, 2008. The movie was shot on location in Canada at Mount Seymore and the town of Ladner, British Columbia.
.
In Alaska, the Buddies meet Shasta, a young husky
whose 11-year-old owner is determined to win the Alaskan sled dog race. Jean George is a very mean, irritable, cantankerous man with a bad temperament, and would readily take victory away from fellow competitors and possibly also hurt them if they try to get their victory back. The puppies take a vote to help a grateful Shasta to pursue his dreams. Unfortunately, as Shasta has no parents, this puts the puppies in a predicament as there is nobody to teach them how to become snow dogs and the local population of older puppies sneers at the thought of them learning how. Luckily, they find Talon, his father's mentor, in the mountains. Although initially reluctant, Shasta manages to persuade Talon into teaching the uncanny puppies into becoming his new protégés by reminding him that "It's not the size of the dog that counts but the heart of the team".
When Shasta introduces his owner, Adam, to his new sleigh team, the child is delighted at the prospect of his dreams coming true and the team pursue vigorous training routines often to comedic effect.
Adam begins building a new sleigh with his team of hard-working puppies. Talon proudly watches as the team's efforts come to fruition and it seems as though they are cooperating as a team. The older town huskies, however, are not impressed and begin to plan their downfall. They reveal to the Buddies that Shasta's parents died when the ice beneath them shattered to dishearten them.
Back in Washington, Buddy and Molly find Budderball's toy American football on the back of the ice-cream truck and proceed to take the same route the puppies did to Alaska.
Talon calls the puppies to the mountain lake one night to view the Northern Lights before he departs telling Shasta that he knows all he needs to know and that he can become the great leader that his father was. The following morning, the puppies enter the race with Adam. After being reminded by how treacherous the race is by the sheriff
, the puppies begin their trek.
Meanwhile, Buddy and Molly go looking for the puppies in Alaska where the rescue dog Bernie informs them of their participation in the race and, without further hesitation, the trio try to find the puppies. Adam's father also begins looking for his son.
The team manage to make it to the midway checkpoint without much difficulty.
The sheriff finally checks his email and finds out that the puppies in his town are actually the missing puppies from Washington. The snowstorm becomes more and more dangerous as Adam's father gets snowed in and Adam's main competitor and owner of the rival snow dogs begins cheating by sabotaging the competing sleds. Adam and the team take shelter in an igloo
provided by an Inuit
until the storm subsides. They come head to head with their opponent, Jean George, and Adam gets injured.
Adam then recovers. Jean George's dogs, the bullies from earlier get into trouble when the ice beneath them shatters. Jean George continues and abandons his dogs while Adam and the puppies begin a rescue operation despite Shasta's fears of his parents' deaths. The puppies pull the dogs out of the icy waters and Jean George continues the race without any gratitude and abandons their rescuers.
Budderball can't believe that Jean George would abandon them, and he describes Jean George's actions as betrayal. Budderball angrily describes him as an obnoxious, dirty freak. Rosebud says that she and the rest of the Buddies must be betrayal-free, and that her team continue the race without giving up. Buddha confidently emphasizes their speed and endurance, and Budderball confidently emphasizes their strength.
Jean George's dogs realize they owe nothing to their owner and everything to Shasta and the Buddies, and so, slow down causing Jean George to lose the race.
Adam is victorious and the Buddies reunite with Buddy and Molly. Jean George gives out to his dogs and they respond in kind by chasing him around the Arctic. All seven Buddies return home via airplane. They land and live happily ever after.
, against which puppies are usually vaccinated at 8 weeks of age. At least 15 puppies showed signs of the illness, including parasitic infections of giardia and coccidia, and all were removed from the set. Three were euthanized
for intussusception
before the parvo outbreak, one for suspected parvo (but not confimred by necropsy) and one puppy who was returned to the breeder without being used reportedly died of parvo. The American Humane Association enforced the removal of the first two sets of puppies, and after a four week delay, during which time all puppies were quarantined until they were healthy, Disney hired 8 older puppies to continue filming. These puppies were joined by puppies from the second group who did not get ill from parvovirus and filming was completed. Five puppies died during the making of the movie.
Air Bud
Air Bud is a 1997 American family/dramedy film that sparked the franchise centered on the real-life dog, Buddy, a Golden Retriever. The film's title may in fact be wordplay with "Air Jordan", a nickname of basketball superstar Michael Jordan. It is the first film to be distributed together by...
series. It was released on DVD on February 5, 2008. The movie was shot on location in Canada at Mount Seymore and the town of Ladner, British Columbia.
Plot
The movie follows the story of Buddy and Molly's offspring in Washington. After saying goodbye to their owners one morning, the puppies decide to play hide-and-seek when Budderball finds an ice-cream truck. Rosebud spots her brother and follows him in an attempt to help. "Hilarity" ensues when Buddha finds them both in the truck and B-Dawg and Mud-Bud end up in the truck which is shipping to outside the town of Ferntiuktuk, AlaskaAlaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
.
In Alaska, the Buddies meet Shasta, a young husky
Husky
Husky is a general name for a type of dog originally used to pull sleds in northern regions, differentiated from other sled dog types by their fast hard pulling style...
whose 11-year-old owner is determined to win the Alaskan sled dog race. Jean George is a very mean, irritable, cantankerous man with a bad temperament, and would readily take victory away from fellow competitors and possibly also hurt them if they try to get their victory back. The puppies take a vote to help a grateful Shasta to pursue his dreams. Unfortunately, as Shasta has no parents, this puts the puppies in a predicament as there is nobody to teach them how to become snow dogs and the local population of older puppies sneers at the thought of them learning how. Luckily, they find Talon, his father's mentor, in the mountains. Although initially reluctant, Shasta manages to persuade Talon into teaching the uncanny puppies into becoming his new protégés by reminding him that "It's not the size of the dog that counts but the heart of the team".
When Shasta introduces his owner, Adam, to his new sleigh team, the child is delighted at the prospect of his dreams coming true and the team pursue vigorous training routines often to comedic effect.
Adam begins building a new sleigh with his team of hard-working puppies. Talon proudly watches as the team's efforts come to fruition and it seems as though they are cooperating as a team. The older town huskies, however, are not impressed and begin to plan their downfall. They reveal to the Buddies that Shasta's parents died when the ice beneath them shattered to dishearten them.
Back in Washington, Buddy and Molly find Budderball's toy American football on the back of the ice-cream truck and proceed to take the same route the puppies did to Alaska.
Talon calls the puppies to the mountain lake one night to view the Northern Lights before he departs telling Shasta that he knows all he needs to know and that he can become the great leader that his father was. The following morning, the puppies enter the race with Adam. After being reminded by how treacherous the race is by the sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
, the puppies begin their trek.
Meanwhile, Buddy and Molly go looking for the puppies in Alaska where the rescue dog Bernie informs them of their participation in the race and, without further hesitation, the trio try to find the puppies. Adam's father also begins looking for his son.
The team manage to make it to the midway checkpoint without much difficulty.
The sheriff finally checks his email and finds out that the puppies in his town are actually the missing puppies from Washington. The snowstorm becomes more and more dangerous as Adam's father gets snowed in and Adam's main competitor and owner of the rival snow dogs begins cheating by sabotaging the competing sleds. Adam and the team take shelter in an igloo
Igloo
An igloo or snowhouse is a type of shelter built of snow, originally built by the Inuit....
provided by an Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
until the storm subsides. They come head to head with their opponent, Jean George, and Adam gets injured.
Adam then recovers. Jean George's dogs, the bullies from earlier get into trouble when the ice beneath them shatters. Jean George continues and abandons his dogs while Adam and the puppies begin a rescue operation despite Shasta's fears of his parents' deaths. The puppies pull the dogs out of the icy waters and Jean George continues the race without any gratitude and abandons their rescuers.
Budderball can't believe that Jean George would abandon them, and he describes Jean George's actions as betrayal. Budderball angrily describes him as an obnoxious, dirty freak. Rosebud says that she and the rest of the Buddies must be betrayal-free, and that her team continue the race without giving up. Buddha confidently emphasizes their speed and endurance, and Budderball confidently emphasizes their strength.
Jean George's dogs realize they owe nothing to their owner and everything to Shasta and the Buddies, and so, slow down causing Jean George to lose the race.
Adam is victorious and the Buddies reunite with Buddy and Molly. Jean George gives out to his dogs and they respond in kind by chasing him around the Arctic. All seven Buddies return home via airplane. They land and live happily ever after.
Voice roles
- Josh FlitterJosh FlitterJoshua Alexander "Josh" Flitter is an American actor. He is known for playing Corky in Nancy Drew, Eddie in The Greatest Game Ever Played, and voiced Rudy in the 2008 animated film Horton Hears a Who!.-Life and career:...
as Budderball - Henry HodgesHenry HodgesHenry Hodges is an American actor and singer. Beginning his acting career in regional theatre at the age of four, Hodges is best known for his musical theatre roles on Broadway; starring as "Chip" in Beauty and the Beast, as "Jeremy Potts" in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and as "Michael Banks" in Mary...
as Mudbud - Liliana MumyLiliana MumyLiliana Berry Davis Mumy is an American teen actress and voice actress. Her most notable roles are as Jessica Baker in the Cheaper by the Dozen movies with Steve Martin, Lucy Miller in The Santa Clause sequels with Tim Allen, Mertle Edmonds on the Disney Channel original series Lilo & Stitch: The...
as Rosebud - Skyler GisondoSkyler GisondoSkyler Gisondo is an American teen actor probably best known for his roles as Bryan Pearson on The Bill Engvall Show and Tommy Doyle in Rob Zombie's Halloween.-Awards:...
as B-Dawg - Jimmy BennettJimmy BennettJames Michael "Jimmy" Bennett is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles as a child actor in Daddy Day Care, Hostage, Poseidon, and more recently in Orphan and as young James T. Kirk in Star Trek...
as Buddha - Dylan Sprouse as Shasta
- Tom Everett ScottTom Everett ScottThomas "Tom" Everett Scott is an American film, theatre and television actor. His film work includes a starring role as drummer Guy Patterson in the film That Thing You Do! .-Career:...
as Buddy - Molly ShannonMolly ShannonMolly Helen Shannon is an American comic actress best known for her work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1995–2001 and for starring in the films Superstar and Year of the Dog. More recently, she starred in NBC's Kath & Kim from 2008–2009 and on the TBS animated series Neighbors from...
as Molly - Kris KristoffersonKris KristoffersonKristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
as Talon - James BelushiJames BelushiJames Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...
as Bernie - Paul RaePaul RaePaul Rae is an American film and television actor.Rae was born Paul Rae Stuart in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Jean Rushing and Norman Stuart, and was raised in Bogalusa, Washington Parish, Louisiana...
as Phillipe - Lothaire Bulteau as Francois
- Whoopi GoldbergWhoopi GoldbergWhoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
as Miss Mittens - Lucas Zayonc a.k.a plug as Joel
Controversy
Disney imported 20 under-aged golden retriever puppies from New York State, into Vancouver, Canada for the filming of the movie. A second group of 8 puppies, of eight weeks of age were brought to set one week later from Washington State. Many of the puppies contracted the highly contagious parvovirusParvovirus
Parvovirus, often truncated to "parvo", is both the common name in English casually applied to all the viruses in the Parvoviridae taxonomic family, and also the taxonomic name of the Parvovirus genus within the Parvoviridae family...
, against which puppies are usually vaccinated at 8 weeks of age. At least 15 puppies showed signs of the illness, including parasitic infections of giardia and coccidia, and all were removed from the set. Three were euthanized
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
for intussusception
Intussusception
Intussusception may refer to:* Intussusception * Intussusception...
before the parvo outbreak, one for suspected parvo (but not confimred by necropsy) and one puppy who was returned to the breeder without being used reportedly died of parvo. The American Humane Association enforced the removal of the first two sets of puppies, and after a four week delay, during which time all puppies were quarantined until they were healthy, Disney hired 8 older puppies to continue filming. These puppies were joined by puppies from the second group who did not get ill from parvovirus and filming was completed. Five puppies died during the making of the movie.