Jeri Jacquin

Coming to theatres this Friday from director Josh Greenbaum, written by Dan Perrault and Universal Pictures is a dog’s world of STRAYS.

Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell) is a small and loveable Border Terrier who lives with Doug (Will Forte). Not realizing he is being treated badly by Doug, Reggie sees their almost daily game of ‘find your way home’ as fun. That is until one day Doug goes way out of his way to play the game leaving Reggie in a world he doesn’t know.

That’s when Reggie meets Bug (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a Boston Terrier who may be small but has a huge, well, attitude and view of the world. He almost immediately takes Reggie under his paw to show him the life of being a stray. Reggie tries to explain he is not a stray and Reggie realizes the very sheltered life his new friend has lived.

Bug introduces Reggie to his friends Maggie (Isla Fisher) is a lovely Australian Shepherd with a nose like no other and Hunter (Randall Park) a Great Dane who might be a therapy dog but needs a bit of therapy himself. When they all hear Reggie’s story, they group decides to return to Reggie’s home so that he can show Doug what he really thinks of him.

Along the way, they all experience some of the craziest things known to dog kind and their reaction is, well, howlingly perfect!

Ferrell as Terrier Reggie is adorable, accepting and just sees the world in a sweet way. That is until he realizes that perhaps his new friends are telling him the truth. He is torn between wanting to be accepted by Doug and seeing the world in a whole new light. Ferrell lends his voice giving Reggie such sweetness but even sweet will talk a dog only so far.

Foxx as Boston Terrier Bug may be small but he makes his presence larger than life. Not about to take anything from anyone, man nor beast, he makes his stray rules clear and lives by them completely. Bug is inappropriate and hilarious all at the same time and Foxx lends his voice in such a way that I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with him, well, most of the time anyway.

Fisher as Maggie is a gorgeous Australian Shepherd who is almost the mother figure of the bunch but knows what she is good at and that’s sniffing! She has a bit of the feels for one of the pack but isn’t quite sure how to handle it. Fisher gives us charming, loveable, protective and one-of-the-boys without giving up being one-of-the-girls!

Park as Hunter the Great Dane is just a hot mess of issues. Insecure about his failures and hiding behind what our family calls ‘the cone of shame’, Hunter has a bit of the feels for a member of the pack as well. He wants so badly to be as brave as the others and sometimes questions it all but man, I just love Parks voice as a big dog with a small voice.

Forte as Doug soon realizes that perhaps revenge against an ex-girlfriend has the huge potential of being the worst thing he could have done. That being said, he is a manipulating, lying, using bit of an a-hole who really deserves everything he gets from both human and beast. When a dog adores you, don’t abuse that or else, well, Doug knows what the what else is!

More cast include Josh Gad as Gus, Havey Guillen as Sh%*stain, Jack De Sanz as Munchkin,Phil Morris as Bubsy, David Herman as Underbite, Charity Cervantes as Jenna, Rob Riggle as Rolf, Brett Gelman as Willy, Jamie Demetriou as Chester, Sofia Vegara as Deliliah the Couch, Greta Lee as Bella, Jimmy Tatro as Finn, and Dennis Quaid as Dennis Quaid.

Universal Pictures brings amazing film to theatres and their home entertainment library and making it available for us to all experience and re-experience in our own home theaters. There are films of every genre available from scary to drama to family films. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.uphe.com.

STRAYS is a cute dog movie, yes, but it is not, I repeat, is not meant for children at all. Okay, now that that’s out of the way lets get down and dirty because that’s what STRAYS is. It is a raunchy, dirty, pushing the limits and then jumping off the cliff comedy about what the hounds may be thinking, saying and doing when humans aren’t paying attention.

The jokes are good, the dogs are awesome, but man oh man be prepared to see things you never thought to see on the screen done by dogs. Is this raunchy humor, absolutely, did I laugh a lot, absofrakkenlootely. Mixed in with the laughter were moans, groans, ewwwwwww’s and every other human emotion regarding the things our four-legged furry friends might be thinking.

This is the kind of film that lets you know up front it isn’t about to play the cutsie game (even though there are cutsie moments) and its every dawg for themselves. No bones about it, when the big dog comes out, stand back because the poop is going to fly.

In the end – listen to their bark or face the bite! 

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