Plot

Teenager Josh Framm becomes angry when his mother, Jackie, begins dating Patrick Sullivan, the town’s new veterinarian. It all starts when Sullivan innocently tosses Josh’s basketball-savvy dog, Buddy, a football one day, and he discovers that Buddy also has an uncanny ability to play the sport of football. Soon enough, Buddy begins playing on Josh’s Junior High football team. Meanwhile, two Russian dognappers kidnap Buddy in hopes of having him perform in the Russian circus. It is up to Patrick Sullivan to help Josh get his dog back; and in doing so, they bond and Josh becomes comfortable with Sullivan’s intimate relationship with his mother.

Rating

Prior to the film’s theatrical release, it was originally rated PG by the MPAA (as seen in the original theatrical trailer). When the film was released in theaters, it was re-rated G by the MPAA. The same rating history happened with Babe: Pig in the City, another 1998 film about an animal and also featuring a dog.

Miscellaneous

-Six dogs were used to play Buddy in the making of this film.

-The family at the NFL game at the end shows the Seahawks playing at an outdoor stadium. When this movie was made, they still played at the Kingdome.

-In some of Air Bud: Golden Receiver foreign releases, the movie was titled Air Bud 2.