Paws (1997)

This flawed but watchable family comedy means well and essentially it is bright, breezy and good natured. The script has its weak spots, Nathan Cavaleri is rather bland as Zac, the story is rather standard and the pace is uneven a little too rushed for my taste. But the film is enjoyable thanks to a cute and appealing little Jack Russell terrier named PC voiced brilliantly by Billy Connolly and some inspired physical comedy and action. It is nicely filmed and the direction is not that bad. Sandy Gore has fun as villainess Anya too.Overall, "Paws" has a lot of problems but it is a harmless and fun family film. I will say if you want a more adorable, heart warming and fun Australian family film I recommend "Napoleon". 6/10 Bethany Cox

When I heard that a great Scottish comedian was voicing the canine hero of this film, I was quite looking forward to seeing what it is like. Unfortunately, it is not what I hoped for, in terms of a talking animals film also. Basically PC the dog witnessed the villain, French wig-wearing Samantha (Emilie François) killing his master, who in his dying moments tells him to take a disk with him. PC finds a place to hide in the house of a moved family, with son Zac (Nathan Cavaleri). But PC still can't tell anyone what has happened, so he learns to type onto a computer keyboard and speak. Zac decides to make this ability more accessible by putting a special growl translating speaker in a bow tie so that PC can talk, with the voice of Billy Connolly. The film until towards the end (well, that is bad as well) just has mucking about and too much chat. In the end, the disk reveals a treasure, that Samantha is looking for, and it has a stupid location. The only good thing about this film is Billy Connolly voicing the dog, other than that, it is absolute rubbish. Pretty poor!

PAWS is a generally great film. It, of course, has its bad points. But THE EXORCIST and other classics weren't perfect either. Then again, maybe I shouldn't be comparing a gruesome horror movie to a funny, Australian yarn. But I have, and that's that.The movie follows a dog called P.C., which leaves me wondering why the movie was named PAWS. Nevertheless, the dog is named P.C. and is owned by a man called Alex. He knows the whereabouts of one million dollars, so surprisingly scary Anja raids his apartment to get it. Alex sees her coming and hides the answer on a disk - which he then gives to P.C. The dog scampers off, beginning a quest to find Susie, who apparently needs the disk. Unfortunately, he's hit by Susie's new neighbour's car and needs to get her the disk without dying, and all the associated pain and suffering this usually causes.The acting is generally good. Zac could use a few acting lessons, and his little sister is enough to send you on a murderous rampage. One thing that really twits me: The Australian accents. God, I am an Australian myself (my profile tells lies)and even I find them annoying. Thank god Samantha sounds like a Brit. Hooray for the English!But then, we have some relief from the Australians in the form of Billy Connolly voicing P.C. However they got Billy Connolly to voice a character in such a small Australian movie I don't know, but anyway. How can a dog talk, you may wonder? He doesn't, actually. Zac the computer genius rigs him up with a special microphone that can understand his whimpers and barks, which then transfers them to a speaker which is hidden in a stylish (cough) orange bow tie. Surprisingly Sci-fi for such a movie, but what do you expect?The answer to the money's whereabouts will keep you guessing right until the end - and even then you will be wondering how in the hell they characters figured it out. A great movie - very underrated.Watch with the kids and get ready for a laugh.

Nice to see another great Australian film come out of our film industry. Acting was quite good for some unrecognised Australian(?) actors and an outstanding performance by comedian Billy Connolly.This is the second great animal flick to come out of Australia in recent years. Napoleon (1995) being the other.