Fluke (DVD)

...hope when I heard that Fluke was to be shown on TV the other week. Still, the dog-rats made me laugh on more than one occasion so I gave it a try and for the most part it was fun. :o)

I suppose I should point out that the main actors in this movie are ermmm...dogs. You see, when Matthew Modine’s car is run off the road by his partner after an argument he is reincarnated as a pooch and the movie follows his life as he tries to make ...
...streets, he is aptly renamed Fluke by a tramp who befriends him as a puppy and eventually falls in with a much older, wiser dog voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. Living on the streets Fluke has flashbacks to a past life and gets a notion in his head that the people he sees are real, used to be his wife and child and are in danger from his old partner. He vows to find them and save them and goes through many adventures on a voyage of self discovery...
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When James Herbert released his novel “Fluke” it was something of a departure for an author whose previous work had been firmly rooted in the realms of horror fiction. Fluke, still retained a supernatural element of sorts, but was a much more mellow novel focusing upon a man who has been reincarnated as a dog and which posed a few interesting questions about reincarnation and spirituality in general. Of course, it never actually did any exploration of those areas itself, but Herbert hinted at the question and got on with the business of spinning a good yarn, which is what he is best at. Anyway, if you want to read a book review there’s plenty of them around the web but you won’t find one here because this is my take on the critically maligned, but ultimately entertaining film made from it.

James Herbert books have always made for a quick, enjoyable read in my eyes but they’ve also made for some pretty poor movies in the past. The worst of which would be made from his most enduring novel The Rats, which would feature dachshund dogs in rat costumes as the protagonists which didn’t give me too much hope when I heard that Fluke was to be shown on TV the other week. Still, the dog-rats made me laugh on more than one occasion so I gave it a try and for the most part it was fun. :o)

I suppose I should point out that the main actors in this movie are ermmm...dogs. You see, when Matthew Modine’s car is run off the road by his partner after an argument he is reincarnated as a pooch and the movie follows his life as he tries to make sense of the memories in his head and make contact with his wife and child. Born on the streets, he is aptly renamed Fluke by a tramp who befriends him as a puppy and eventually falls in with a much older, wiser dog voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. Living on the streets Fluke has flashbacks to a past life and gets a notion in his head that the people he sees are real, used to be his wife and child and are in danger from his old partner. He vows to find them and save them and goes through many adventures on a voyage of self discovery...

That’s it put simply, not hugely different from the novel as I remember it (but it was a long time ago when I read it!), but with copious dollops of “cute” replacing everything else. Its quite strange when watching to think this actually made it into the movie theatres across the Pond because, despite an all-star cast, its not very well made and does feel a lot like a movie made directly for a television audience. The main cast are of course dogs, whilst the only actor here of any real note in human form is Matthew Modine, who does OK in his very brief flashback human appearances. also on the cast list however, is Samuel L. Jackson as his older wiser friend, who spins his street smart lines well, but will be keeping this movie quite low down the list on his resume. To be fair, they are given a pretty awful script to work with in the first place, but even so, neither is particularly effective.

The story is deeply sappy and general ‘ugh’, in the kind of way which you’ll either hate with a vengeance or be carried along with - kids will probably love it. Just think how deeply sappy it is in premise - man reborn as a dog, so he can gain some kind of redemption/learn a lesson about how he should have spent more time with his family and perhaps save them from his mean old partner - you’ll know whether its for you or not. Expect also throughout its running length to be subjected to some seriously cringe-worthy, eye rollingly bad bits of cheesiness which include the moment where a chimpanzee saves a puppy from an animal testing laboratory and erm, ummm....well most of the movie really, especially when Fluke comes come to his family. It definitely aims for the “awwwww” factor, so I this is the kind of thing which elicits a gag response in you then you will NOT like this movie at all. Personally, I loved it for the animal cast which I’m a sucker for, but everything else is quite dire.

I’m not sure whether you’d call this a kids movie or not to be honest. Its certainly rated PG but there are scenes in which animals seem to be hurt and one where a dog is shot dead, so be prepared to enter into discussions how they simulated it for the screen - I used to drive my parents crazy with 101 questions about these types of movies - especially (erm make that *only* actually) if it was animals looking as though they were getting hurt(I think humans were fair game!). Just in case you need arming for such an event the AHA were on hand during filming and have detailed what steps were taken to assure no animals were hurt of put through unacceptable levels of discomfort during filming:

http://www.ahafilm.info/movies/moviereviews.phtml?fid=6098

Be warned however, that this site also gives away virtually the ENTIRE story, right down to the ending which is a bit dumb and does so frequently with its other reviews too. Be prepared also to explain things about death and dying, because despite its sappy premise and poor handling, this is a quite a thought provoking movie, which emphasises the importance of family above all else and introduces the ideas of reincarnation and proposes an idea of ‘why’ people might be put back on Earth - to learn some lessons they missed first time around.

Would I recommend Fluke? Yes, I would, if you can deal with the sickening levels of sentimentality and ludicrous ideas, its actually a lot of fun and very cute. There is no middle ground here, you’ll either love it or hate it, trust me. Ultimately this is a movie aimed at kids so don’t expect much in the way of deep and meaningfuls from the script, nor anything more than the hammy acting and slightly patronising/preachy tone, but do expect to be entertained if you can stomach the cuteness of it all.  

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