Josh already killed it in 2007 with the successful Bridge to Terabithia, but he had one more release up his sleeve that year - Firehouse Dog*.
Confession time: I'll admit...I definitely judged this film based on the title. I thought it would be a cute, feel-good movie without much to it. However, I was wrong! Was it cute and a feel-good movie? Well, yes, but there's more to this movie than meets the eye!
We have a couple different things going on plot-wise: a famous, movie star dog goes missing and winds up befriending Baby Josh's character, Shane, the mischievous son of a fire chief. There's another layer added when we find out that there is nefarious business going on in the area: the corrupt city manager has been purposely setting fires to please corporate buyers. One of these fires results in the loss of Shane's uncle, which once again gives Baby Josh the opportunity to wow the audience with big emotions. Shane is ridden with guilt over the loss, admitting that he felt relief that it was his uncle who passed instead of his dad.
These complex emotions, Shane and his dad taking on the bad guy (and by the way, if you're a Desperate Housewives fan, that evil dude may look a little familiar), and the missing movie star dog angle was a lot to pack into just under 2 hours.
While it doesn't seem that critics agree with me, I feel this was done successfully and I did genuinely enjoy this film. Is this my favorite Josh movie ever? No, but I don't feel its low Rotten Tomatoes score is warranted. It sounds like critics didn't appreciate its comedy, but I found myself constantly giggling from jokes like "Didn't you see him in the Fast and the Furriest?".
With that little rant out of the way, let's talk about how this movie relates to Josh's overall career. Firehouse Dog marks the end of an era...what I've been referring to on my blog as the "Baby Josh" era. From 2002-2007, Josh sports a certain look, and, given that he was a kid, his voice isn't the deeper one we recognize now. (That's all gonna change in the next film - stay tuned!).
If you're reading this and you're NOT Josh Hutcherson, I bet you're sad to see the term "Baby Josh" retire and if you're reading this and you ARE Josh Hutcherson, I bet you're very happy to see the term retire. (Honestly, Josh, it could've been worse - I almost used "Fetus Josh".)
Want to watch Firehouse Dog? At the time of writing, this movie is available with an Amazon Prime subscription, or for sale through Apple TV & Google Play Movies.
Now...on to 2008!
Peace and Joshperity,
G
*Fun Fact: Apparently, this was filmed in 2005, but released in 2007.
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