Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Advertising designer and his wife are at odds over their canine brood: her four Dachshunds to his friendly, clumsy Great Dane. Noisy comedy from Walt Disney buttresses the endless husband-and-wife arguments with four-legged slapstick chaos and sight gags, some of which will no doubt please the impressionable. Slick, empty nonsense with unconvincing marrieds at the center; Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette, sleeping in separate twin beds, lovingly refer to each other as "Dear" and "Darling" without any genuine affection between the them. Everything is cued-up in advance, processed for infantile reaction, and then cleared away without anything to remember the next day. *1/2 from ****

i don't think anyone but a hardcore Disneyphile would make a argument for this as great cinema. however there is enough adorable doggie scenes to make it memorable. hardly the outstanding family classic that 'Old Yeller' is, but it's still one of the cutest 'doggie' flicks produced.when the movie begins with footage of the newborn puppies in a box at the vet's with their eyes still unopened, any true dog fancier is going to get to get hooked in a little. the cuteness doesn't end with the sleepy newborns, it just keeps coming in major doses. Disney always did make some of the most satisfying "animal lover" films of all Hollywood products. this film is most certainly commercial product then actual cinema, but it knows what it's selling and it does it with economy and efficiency. probably not as easy as it appears on screen given the extremely lightweight subject matter.i saw this film a couple of times while growing up and was curious to see it again after many years. i was pleasantly surprised that it offered more for the adult viewer than i had remembered. there are no children's roles in this movie, which is a good thing since it mostly aims for a "kiddie flick" audience and it's taste in comedy is purposely low brow and slapstick in order to appeal to the younger set.not that the slapstick chaos isn't funny. as a kid i always thought this film was a real hoot. now that i'm much older i was surprised that the "canine comedics" actually seemed funnier and even a bit more real. as a pet owner myself for many years, i can only attest to the destructiveness and trying behavior of household pets. especially undisciplined and untrained ones. the evolution of Great Dane Brutus from overgrown oafish slob to champion dog show society, was very amusing and all too real. especially in the hilarious moment when he leaps onto the bed with Suzanne Pleshette in order to gain attention from the little Daschunds she is coddling.even though the adult relationship between Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette is one dimensional and superficial, it is adult enough to distract older audience from all the canine cuteness. there are even some good statements about sharing and equality in married relationships that are accurate and insightful enough as to be a learning experience for more mature viewers. not to mention Jones and Pleshette are likable and charming and very "human". their "humaness" seems especially essential to a film where the doggies are the true stars.competently handled by Disney director Norman Tokar, the movie holds true even today and is a primed example of efficiency if not ground breaking cinema.Disney always did warmth and sentimentality better than most of the other studios which tended to shy away from such congeniality. something essential when making a film not just about animals, but about our ever lovable, and sometimes annoying, household pets which are so near and dear to so many of us.

Here it is, forty years later, and I could talk about Disney's minor effort in The Ugly Dachshund, a bland little quickie of a family movie that features not a single fresh idea or character. It does have cute dachshunds (which I appreciate) and a great dane (two votes from my wife and daughter; no taste there!), Dean Jones, Suzanne Pleshette, and Charlie Ruggles.The story is unimportant and, unfortunately, is not very well pieced together; usually live-action features from Disney in the 60's and 70's were pretty tightly plotted. The movie just has one opportunity after another for the dogs to destroy the best efforts of humans. It's all so dumb and gentle and uninvolved that you'll want to slap a blue ribbon for mediocrity on the side of your TV--Blandest in Show! But who cares, anyway? It has Suzanne Pleshette. I watched the whole movie and griped about the dozen minutes or so lopped off by Hallmark for a two hour time slot. That meant there was footage of Pleshette missing! Throughout the movie, she appears in one lovely outfit after another, looking like a gift from Heaven (and she falls on a Japanese fellow at one point--he's laying on his back after collapsing from his fear of the great dane--and she's got these tight pants on and . . . ).Wooeee . . . was I gone long? Just leave it to me to smut up a review of a Disney movie! By the way, when Pleshette falls on the Japanese guy, he has this little grin on his face that made me think he went to the director and told him to forget paying him for the day--it was all worth it.

As an adult, I watch it over and over again! This is indeed one of the cutest movies I've ever seen and not to mention the best. If your child likes dogs, this is a MUST see film. Some films involving animals have some terribly sad tragedy included but this film keeps it light and fun. It still contains a happy ending and you'll giggle all the way through!