Eric Roberts playing the president of the United States?!? That's some really bizarre casting. As it turns out, the top billed Roberts only has about fifteen minutes of footage in the entire movie, and given the general quality of the movie, he got lucky being given just a small part. Except for Tommy "Tiny" Lister, who gives a surprisingly warm and likable performance as a trucker who befriends the youthful protagonist, the level of acting in this movie is quite dire. But in fairness to the cast, they weren't working with a professional script or direction. The story is really garbled at times, seemingly missing whole scenes or linking footage that might have made things make more sense. Also, the screenplay can't make its mind whether the title mutt is intelligent or dumb. Mostly dumb, as it turns out, like the human characters, some of who could have ended the story much sooner if they were able to think logically. As for the direction, it suffers from bad continuity and a really cheap feeling. I know this movie was aimed at young children, but I think even the target audience will see this movie doesn't have all of its marbles.
