Bringing together three generations of actors - Vijayakumar, Arun Vijay and Arnav Vijay, Oh My Dog is a film by the families, for the families. It is specifically targeted towards kids as the film has no gruesome violence and imparts important lessons of love and kindness.
Backed by Suriya and Jyothika's 2D Entertainment, Oh My Dog was released on Amazon Prime Video on 21 April. It is Sarov Shanmugam’s directorial debut, with music composed by Nivas K Prasanna.
Oh My Dog starts with Fernando (Vinay Rai), a rich dog owner who breeds the best dogs and trains them for international dog competitions. He believes strongly in the survival of the fittest but lets his physically disabled younger sibling live for asset reasons. He asks two subordinates (that are intended by the film’s director to be comic characters) to kill a blind pup from one of his champion dogs. The two men prove that they are incompetent in both the assigned tasks.
The pup escapes the killers, has a cool hero introduction shot like Simba from Lion King, meets Arjun (Arnav) who rescues it from a muddy pit. The compassionate kid Arjun hides his pup from his family due to the track record of his naughtiness and the financial pressures at home. However, he eventually lets Simba win over his friends and family’s love and support. He treats Simba’s blindness and trains him for a dog competition. Can the little boy Arjun take on a big-time professional dog breeder and a trainer who is thirsty for a world record? That is the rest of the story.
The acting of the lead cast including the bunch of kids who come as Arjun’s friends deliver adorable performances. Vijayakumar who plays Arjun’s grandfather in the film is convincing as a stereotypical Indian dad who has a love-hate relationship with his disgruntled son.
Arun Vijay has utilized the scope he had, especially in a couple of emotional scenes where he delivered a solid performance. Though the film is centered around the dog and kid, this is commercial Tamil cinema right? How can we not have an action sequence? But what made it quite interesting is the fact that it was not a typical fight scene that we are used to watching, rather it was visualized from Arjun’s eyes where he imagines his dad as the fictional character – Wolverine stabbing the goons.
However Oh My Dog leaves no bones unturned to bite you with a mawkish and a predictable screenplay. The conflict in the child’s world and how he tries to detangle from it with his strength is cute. But the resolutions come by a little too easily and it looks slightly childish.
When Arjun along with his friends crowdfunds for treating his dog’s blindness, ironically, a blind person that Arjun usually helps to cross the roads offers to give some money for the eye surgery of his blind dog. I know it might offend pet lovers but honestly, I felt bad for that person, if you know what I mean.
In addition, body shaming Manobala as a matchstick could have been funny back in the day but not anymore, especially in a film that is targeted at children teaching kindness.
Barring the cliches in the film, Oh My Dog is refreshing – the dads in the film try to teach their sons that if you believe in yourself, stay confident and honest, then you can win over anything in life. Most importantly, it sells the point that everyone deserves the right to live and to live with dignity. Hence, it asks us to choose love even when we are treated with hostility.
The title card animates from 'Oh my ‘GOD’' to 'Oh my ‘DOG’.' However right after watching the film, it makes us say, ‘Oh my God’ neither in awe nor in shock. It is somewhere in the middle as a decent weekend watch with kids around.
Oh my dog is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.
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