mike48128
Wiliby Daniels (Dean Jones) grows up to be an attorney and runs for D.A. of a city plagued with petty crime and grand theft auto. In this sequel, the Magical Borgia Ring is stolen by 2 small-time crooks from the museum where is was safely protected in a glass showcase. Soon almost everyone seems to know about the doggy-tranmuto power of the ring, as the Ice Cream Man (Tim Conway) has his sheepdog change several times. It's a mild "werewolf" transformation here and it's very well done and not scary at all. Movie "magic" with a trained dog, Dean Jones in make-up and a talented stuntman in a dog suit. Hans Conried is the eccentric museum curator this time. Suzanne Pleshette is the loyal wife. There's a cute kid, but he doesn't measure up to "Moochie". Co-staring Jo Anne Worley, Dick Van Patten, Vic Tayback, and Keenan Wynn (as the crooked D.A). Pat McCormick plays the bartender. It finishes with a wild car chase and the dog driving the ice cream wagon; somewhat similar to the first film. All the stray dogs are rescued from the dog pound and Wiliby becomes D.A. The dog pound scene might be a bit intense for very small children. George Carlin does some of the doggy voices. Also, there is a surprise "doggy" ending!
gcd70
From regular kids flick director Robert Stevenson ("Bedknobs and Broomsticks", "Blackbeards Ghost", "Mary Poppins" and two Herbie films) came this better than average comedy about a prospective District Attorney who suffers an unfortunate curse that turns him into a shaggy sheep dog periodically.Dean Jones and the support cast (including Suzanne Pleshette) have fun with this one even though they never set the world on fire. Tim Conway provides great light relief as a bewildered ice-cream man.Oh, you've gotta hand it to the animal wranglers. Was to be Robert Stevenson's last cinematic release.Sunday, September 6, 1998 - Video
wes-connors
When his house is repeatedly robbed, Dean Jones (as Wilby) receives no assistance from the local authorities; so, he decides to run for District Attorney. Complicating his run is the reemergence of a magical ring from his teenage years - which turns him into an on again/off again shaggy dog.This movie is the first sequel to Walt Disney's "The Shaggy Dog" (1959). Wilby Daniels, the teenager from the first film (Tommy Kirk), has grown up, and has a family of his own: Suzanne Pleshette (as wife Betty) and Shane Sinutko (as son Brian). None of the original film's leading actors appear in either flashback or cameo. "The Shaggy D.A." attempts to explain more about the reasons for the change, raising more questions than it answers.This movie has a few funny moments, helped immensely by Tim Conway - there are a lot of other 1970s TV performers to pick out, which can be fun. But the film is a dog, compared to the original. The "special effects" from the first Shaggy progress surprisingly little, and look worse in color. The charming interacting performances of Mr. Kirk and the original's young characters is gone. *** The Shaggy D.A. (1976) Robert Stevenson ~ Dean Jones, Tim Conway, Suzanne Pleshette
mobile707
Just kidding (As if anyone could not figure out-- whether they've seen the movie or not-- how it will turn out).Like one of the other people who commented above, I was a kid (6) when this movie came out, and for some reason this is one of the movies that sticks in my mind along with Gus, Boatniks, and the '66 Batman, when I think back on the movies I saw at that age. So Shaggy DA has a built-in nostalgia factor as far as I'm concerned, and maybe for others my age, but anyone else would probably be bored to tears. The pie-fight had a little spark of energy, but watching this now mainly just serves to remind what low standards "family entertainment" had in the 70s. It's really amazing, today, to look back on this kind of stuff-- Shaggy DA, Pete's Dragon, that "Goin Cocoanuts" thing the Osmonds put out-- and think: Good Lord, was that really the best they could do?
