No Heart for Shaky. Actually the Dog is the best part. I got to see this film at a special Screening at a film festival in a Suburb of Chicago. The writer and Director of the film did a small talk about the film was made. Including sights of the City we would recognize. He called Lake Shore Drive Lake Shore Street. Ill start with acting. OMG Bad. Why do adult actors think because this is a kids movie they don't have to try very hard. Yes you do. Even kids appreciate and recognize good work. Most of the adult Characters in this film are villains. And there are way too many of them. And they all have some sort of weird hate for Shaky that never really is explained. They are also so cartoonishly Evil, its just nuts. There is a restaurant owner who wears a cap and samples diners food and reviews the food like hes performing a Shakespeare play. There is the head of the Apartment board who you can barley understand because of the way she makes expressions which makes her barley open her mouth. There is also a rand red neck dude,(In Chicago?)who is there for about 0.5% of the film and we never hear from him again. This film was also screened in 3D. Not much of that in the film. I think only 3 Scenes had any fun 3D in them. Let me put it this way. The Kids in the theater didn't like it. The one demographic they went for and they didn't like it. No laughing, no giggling no excitement at all.

Chandler O'Neal (Rylie Behr) and her widowed chef father, J.T. (Steve Lemme) are moving from Toledo, Ohio to Chicago. Dad got a great job offer so, even though Chandler is nervous about making new friends, the two family members decide its for the best. At least, Chandler will have the support of her loyal dog Shaky. But, as they are carrying boxes into their high rise apartment, they learn, too late, that dogs are not allowed. So, Shaky goes off to a kennel run by a snooty woman (Beverly D'Angelo), who doesn't like mixed breeds. Also, Dad's boss, the owner of the elegant restaurant, travels with an entourage and has quite an eccentric personality. Ditto the woman who owns the apartment building. In fact, there are many unusual characters everywhere, from the high rise's super to the restaurant line cooks to Chandler's new classmates. So, the transplants sometimes feel they have entered the twilight zone. Worse yet, Shaky runs away from the kennel and ends up back at the apartment building, where Chandler tries valiantly to hide her pet. But, the super is a snooper and it won't be long until more trouble arrives, right? This is a not-so-good entry into the world of family films, unfortunately, and it cannot be recommended. Yes, the initial premise is fine, as are Lemme, Behr, and the adorable pooch. All the other actors have roles that are cartoonish, so even though D'Angelo, Steve Guttenberg and the others try, they don't succeed very well. More importantly, there are some other bad ingredients. The viewers find a crazed ex-military man who uses electric shock on dogs, adults who call each other moron or worse, a super who goes after someone with a power screwdriver and a lunchroom that is not attended by adults, where a food fight breaks out and goes on for a few minutes. So, how can one suggest a film like this? In short, dear parents, if you are looking for a nice Friday night film, don't be fooled by this cover. Stay away from Shaky, absolutely.

I can't believe they got so many "actors" to take money to play such moronic characters, the worst being the apartment manager, Ms. Willinger (Janet Ulrich Brooks), obscenely overacted. This could have been a decent movie if the writers and director would not have spent so much effort in distracting the viewers with stupidity. When will the makers of so-called "family" movies realize that they can't tug at the heart at the same time they crap on your brain! That said, I should also say that the little girl, Rylie Behr, was cute in her role as long as it was just her, Dad and the dog in the scene. She was one of the few people in this movie given a sane character to play. Hope she finds something more worthy of her talents in the future.