Tomato the Cat’s Summer Movie Reviews
July, 2002
If you’re spending your summer vacation at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, you’ll certainly want to take some time out at the movies. So here are some of my picks and pans for what’s playing at Dogtown and Kittyville.

Spiderdog
Starring the MontyMan

As the plot of this year’s major blockbuster unfolds, Monty the Dog, a stray who’s been picked up off the street and brought to Best Friends, is bitten by an irradiated mutant Chihuahua and transformed into Spiderdog – able to climb fences and escape from any dog compound.

The script is quite faithful to real life. After all, when Monty was being fostered by Dogtown Manager Sherry Woodard, she took him home to get him used to being in a house with people.

“He ran in the house,” says Sherry, “peed on the couch and bed, chased the cat around the house, jumped on the my kitchen counter, and then bolted out the back-door, jumped right over my fence, then circled around to stand at the front gate again, waiting for me to let him in – all in a total of five minutes. It was a long night!”

Beyond that, however, the movie takes major liberties with the truth. Just for starters, Spiderdog’s girlfriend is supposedly starstruck by him. But the dogs here at Dogtown seem to relate to Monty as a bit of a dork.

And while he has no problem racing around Dogtown, chasing away invisible monsters, Monty has never quite been able to face down Henry, an America Schmoozehound, who hangs out in the adoption office schmoozing with visitors and having his photo taken. Monty just cannot abide him.

Anyway, it’s just a movie, and Monty is indeed spectacular when he’s doing his Spiderdog number over the fence.

Even when the movie is over, Monty will doubtless remain a permanent fixture here, faithfully protecting Dogtown from Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, or Electro, should they dare to show their ugly mugs here in the sunny Southwest.

I give this movie three stars – if only for the fence-climbing bit.

Next: Divine Secrets of the Ba-Ba Sisterhood

Spiderdog
Divine Secrets of the BaBa Sisterhood
Kitty Wars – Attack of the Clones
Dogs in Black – 2
Stuart Little – 2
Scoop, the Stallion of Angel Canyon
More Alien, Mutant, Monster Movies