*full reflections on each movie coming soon! :)
Welcome Back to Disney!👋🎉😊 I hope you enjoyed my last post on A Definitive Ranking of Every Disney Princess Film Sequel, because I have another great post for you today. One, to not only close out the month of August, but a post to also commemorate another ICONIC, VERY NOSTALGIC, and CLASSIC film series that also spawned multiple sequels, the Air Bud franchise.💛🐕👦🎥📺
Yes, for this Air Bud August, I watched (and for some, rewatched) EVERY Air Bud/Buddies movie and officially ranked them from WORST to BEST. Or, from my LEAST FAVORITE to my MOST FAVORITE. And, if you’re wondering about the name/title of this post, I chose to call this Air Bud August and post this intentionally in August, because the first film of this franchise was released August 1, 1997.🎉 So, it only made the most sense to post this in August, and to make the title of this post a nod to that special date. Even though I’m posting this on August 31st, and not August 1st. Oh, well. It still works.😊
Anyway, I’ve been wanting to rewatch some of these movies and create this post for a while now. So, I’m VERY EXCITED that I finally got around to watching these movies, and that I now get to share my thoughts and opinions about them here with you.😊 But of course, before we get into my ranking of these movies and my reflections on each of them, I’m going to give a brief history about this franchise for those of you who for some reason have never heard of these movies, didn’t grow up knowing them or watching them, and therefore have no idea who Air Bud is.👍
Like I’ve said before, many ICONIC films have originated from Disney. Especially from the 90s/early 2000s era of Disney. The Air Bud franchise being one of those live-action, BEST, ICONIC classics. This film series, I feel like isn’t talked about enough, because I guess you could say it was one of the hidden gems among the many family movies released in the 90s/2000s by Walt Disney Pictures and produced by Keystone Entertainment. The first Air Bud movie had commercial success, and in my eyes, is still a beloved children’s film from the 90’s regardless of its low and unacceptable modern reviews found on movie critique sites such as Letterboxd, Rotten Tomatoes, and IMDb. I mean, Air Bud was the FIRST, and honestly the only movie franchise I know of, that centered around a golden retriever (and later golden retrievers) as a main character.🐕 And these movies…Well, especially just the first four movies of the franchise, did it SO WELL. So, huge props for that.👏👏 Again, there are not many GREAT dog movies, but the FIRST FOUR movies from this franchise are TRULY some of the BEST movies I’ve ever seen. I mean, it was the success of the first film, Air Bud (1997), that led to the many sequels that came after it in the first place.
The Air Bud film series (also known as Air Buddies or Disney Buddies) is an American film franchise based on a sports-playing golden retriever named Buddy, portrayed by Buddy. Speaking of the dog actor who played Air Bud in the first movie, his actual real-life name was Buddy too, and he was the same dog who played Comet on the ICONIC, and one of my FAVORITE 90’s TV series of all time, Full House.💛🐕🏡 What a career that dog had, seriously.🏆 He played TWO of the BEST, MOST ICONIC roles in TV history.👏👏 Although, I will say, I always thought the dog (Buddy) from the first Air Bud movie was the same dog actor who played as Comet in the six seasons of Full House. But, it isn't.🤯 As according to IMDb, the dog actor from Air Bud only played as Comet in ONE episode of Full House, titled "Air Jesse". Which makes total sense, because in that Full House episode Comet plays basketball, which is exactly what the dog actor plays in the first Air Bud movie.🏀🐕 Take a look:
And, another FUN FACT, apparently in the three sequels to Air Bud (1997), they used more than one golden retriever to play Buddy. Which, I also just found out myself after watching some behind-the-scenes videos and interviews from the movies. So, it wasn't the same one dog the whole time!?!🤯 Anyway, back to the movies themselves, the Air Bud franchise began in 1997 with the theatrical release of Air Bud, followed by the theatrical release of Air Bud: Golden Receiver. Like I briefly mentioned before, Air Bud was a box office and home video success. But, following the box office failure of Air Bud: Golden Receiver, the rest of the films in the series were released in direct-to-video format. The Air Buddies or Disney Buddies spin-off series began in 2006 with the release of Air Buddies and it focuses on the adventures of Buddy’s talking golden retriever puppies.🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶
For those who were raised on this movie (Air Bud), you may remember some of these sequels dedicated to the golden retriever star of this series, Air Buddy. I mean, whether they were good or bad, how could one forget? However, some of you may be unaware of how long this dog-centered franchise lasted. I mean, I also didn’t know how long this franchise went on, until I looked at the full list of movies and what year it ended to create this post. And I can’t say I’m really surprised, either, because who doesn’t LOVE a GREAT dog movie? Speaking of how long this franchise lasted, as I also already mentioned before, the first film (Air Bud) was released in 1997, while the last film of the series (Super Buddies) was released in 2013. With the franchise consisting of fourteen films in total. The first five movies in the franchise focused on one dog, Air Buddy or just Buddy.🐕 While the other nine movies are dedicated to Buddy’s puppies, beginning with Air Buddies.🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶 What makes this franchise so ICONIC is the continuation of Air Bud’s endearing themes and the focus on a dog with a talent for sports. Yes, this film series is not just about a golden retriever, but a golden retriever who can play sports. TRULY ICONIC.🐕🏀🏈⚽⚾🏐But what makes the FIRST THREE movies of this franchise even more ICONIC and SPECIAL, and my favorites, is the relationship between the boy (Josh) and the dog (Buddy).👦🐕💛
So, as I briefly just mentioned, the first three Air Bud movies are about Josh growing up and playing sports with his dog companion, Buddy.👦🐕🏀 As in the first movie (Air Bud), Josh first meets Buddy and finds out that he can play basketball. In the second installment, Air Bud: Golden Receiver, Buddy learns to play football along with Josh.👦🐕🏈And in Air Bud: World Pup, Josh and Emma discover that Buddy’s ball-playing skills apply to soccer.👦👧🐕⚽ However, in the fourth movie (Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch), the focus is turned on Josh’s little sister Andrea, who plays baseball with Buddy as he (Buddy) makes the team and becomes the star player.👧🐕⚾ And in the fifth installment, Air Bud Spikes Back, Josh is completely out of the picture with even more of the focus on Andrea, but a different actress playing Andrea.😞 And in that fifth movie, Andrea and Buddy tackle volleyball.👧🐕🏐 Then came the Air Buddies movies.🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶
The first sequel to Air Bud, Air Bud: Golden Receiver was another big success for the franchise despite the even lower ratings. According to sources, it’s still a notable sequel that’s almost as fondly remembered as the emotional first installment. Interestingly enough, the sequels to Air Bud and Air Bud: Golden Receiver gained moderate reviews, and modern ratings even give them a higher likability rating than the previous two films. Again, however, most fans of the original have not seen all the sequels or do not recall them as fondly as the first two installments. I mean, Air Bud is the most memorable of the five films starring Buddy, because it has to be one of the saddest and emotionally compelling kids’ movies from the 90’s. Having said that, the success of the earlier Air Bud films definitely paved the way for the later additions, with many audiences watching them because of the iconic dog character(s).🐕🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶And, at least I would say, also for Josh and his sweet relationship/bond with Buddy.💛👦🐕In other words, the dedicated fanbase of the five Air Bud movies (well, I would say of the FOUR Air Bud movies) paved the way for the more modern-day franchise (Air Buddies) inspired by the originals.
So, let's talk a little bit more about the modern-day franchise inspired by the original Air Bud movies, which were all direct-to-DVD/Blu-ray releases. Air Buddies was actually inspired by the third installment of the Air Bud franchise, Air Bud: World Pup. ‘Cause in that movie, Buddy meets another golden retriever and they have puppies.🐕💘🐕🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶 The first Air Buddies film also began a trope that would be continued throughout the various additions, in that the golden retriever puppies can talk. Which began a modern sensation surrounding these talking puppies, consisting of several movies in which they go on various adventures, from venturing to the North Pole❄🏔🎄🎅 , to Alaska🛷❆, to traveling to outer space🪐🌎✨, going on an Indiana Jones-style adventure🏜💰, to even the puppies becoming superheroes🦸. Speaking of adventure and the North Pole, Santa Buddies spawned a whole new doggy main character, Santa Paws, which also began a whole other Christmas spin-off series for the Air Buddies series, and resulted in two movies, The Search for Santa Paws and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups.🐕🎄🎅🤶 Though, the buddies are not seen in the Santa Paws movies.
Except for the parentage of the puppies and the occasional appearance of the puppies’ parents, the Air Buddies movies have little connection to the sports-focused original franchise. They’re really like two separate franchises. In fact, these Air Buddies movies seem to have more of a connection to films like Look Who’s Talking Now or Dr. Dolittle. But still, these movies are the legacy of the ICONIC 90’s Disney hit (Air Bud) that popularized beloved golden retriever main characters. Even more unusual than the sequels to Air Bud, is these Air Buddies movies’ modern take on adorable dogs. Which is charming for young viewers, but much, much younger viewers. This talking puppies franchise also focuses less on the sports-driven, dramatic and emotional stakes, and more on the charming quality of some heroic, comedic and fun-loving puppies.
All in all, Air Bud is a surprisingly vast franchise among some of the most ICONIC 90’s films. The movie series has come a long way since its first installment, straying away from the boy-and-his-best-friend sports movie to feature epic adventures with talking puppies as heroic saviors and world travelers. There’s no doubt that this dog-centric movie series took sort of a bizarre turn and may have lasted longer than it maybe should have, or longer than anyone initially expected it to. But, on the other hand, it’s admirable that a seemingly unremarkable movie about a basketball-playing dog would create a long-lasting legacy for generations of viewers to watch. ‘Cause that, it certainly has done. So, what are we waiting for? Let's get into A Definitive Ranking of Every Movie from the Air Bud Franchise (Air Bud August)!💛🐕👦📺🎬🎉😊
Just a brief note before I begin: Like I mentioned before, I watched ALL fourteen movies from the Air Bud/Buddies franchise and ranked them ALL here, INCLUDING the holiday movies such as Spooky Buddies, Santa Buddies, The Search For Santa Paws and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups. I just had to mention this, because usually I don’t like to include and won’t normally include holiday themed episodes or movies in my rankings, but just like for the Barbie movies post I did, it also just makes sense to include the holiday movies from this franchise in this ranking, too. Also, I just want to say I don’t really like a lot of animal centered movies, because I do really care about animals and how they are treated. So, sometimes it’s hard for me to watch movies like these because they are dogs put in certain situations to act for cameras. But after watching at least the first four original Air Bud movies, and the behind-the-scenes of them, I didn’t get the sense that they mistreated the dogs in the movies. At least, I really hope not. ‘Cause I WOULD NOT and DO NOT support any movie that mistreats its animal actors. So, basically what I’m trying to say is that I really hope no dogs (or any animal) was harmed during the making of these movies. Now, for real this time, let’s get into A Definitive Ranking of Every Movie from the Air Bud Franchise (Air Bud August)!💛🐕👦📺🎬🎉😊
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Well, that concludes A Definitive Ranking of Every Movie from the Air Bud Franchise (Air Bud August)! 💛🎉👏😊I really enjoyed getting to go back and rewatch these movies, and for some, watch for the very first time. Like I mentioned in my reflection of each movie, I will definitely be going back to watch the first four Air Bud movies, because those truly never get old and are just some of the BEST movies EVER. And I feel like those specifically are movies that people of all ages can watch and enjoy, unlike the Air Buddies ones. 'Cause, like I also mentioned in my reflections of each of these movies above, you won’t see me going back to watch all the Air Buddies movies. I’m definitely just not the target audience for those anymore, and they weren’t that great. Again, probably because I’m not the target audience for them. I also just felt more bad for the animals in the Air Buddies movies for some reason, which I don’t like. Again, I really hope no animals were harmed during the making of any of these movies.
You know, I had seen some of these movies before going into this rewatch, but I didn’t think I was going to be that into the first four Air Bud movies as much as I was this time around rewatching them. And I also just found a new favorite when it comes to Air Bud: World Pup. In other words, I definitely found a new love and appreciation for the first FOUR movies in this franchise. They definitely left an impact on me. As they are just so heartwarming, emotional, feel-good wholesome family films with great messages/lessons and relatable storylines that you definitely don’t see much of these days when it comes to movies and TV. The NOSTALGIA definitely hit real hard watching the majority of these movies, though. And the emotions. ‘Cause watching all these movies with dogs made me think of my dog, Abby, who passed away a few years ago.😢😞 I couldn’t help but see her cute little face in Buddy’s at times, because although she was a girl dog and a lab/Australian Shepherd mix, she looked pretty similar to Buddy. At least, in the face. So, I dedicate this post to you, Abby. I LOVE and MISS YOU SO MUCH!🤎🐕
If you’ve never seen these movies before, or you have and just want to rewatch them, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you watch/rewatch the first four movies of this series. And it wouldn’t hurt to also maybe watch the Air Buddies movies, too. At least once, just for fun, if you're bored. ‘Cause maybe you’ll find more joy watching them than I did.😊 Although, I do still LOVE the Santa Paws ones. Those are also GREAT. Especially the first one. Okay, now I’m just rambling and repeating things I’ve already said before. Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this post just as much as I did creating it. Hit the follow button so that you get notified when my next post goes up, and come Back to Disney soon for more!✌💛😊👋
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