Space Buddies is the third film in the Air Buddies series. Like its predecessors Air Buddies and Snow Buddies, this movie was released directly on DVD and Blu-ray. Space Buddies finds Buddha (Field Cate), Mudbud (Henry Hodges ), B-Dawg (Skyler Gisondo), Budderball (Josh Flitter) and Rosebud (Liana Mumy) taken on an unexpected adventure into space. All the pups intended to do was explore a new spaceship before its first launch. Imagine their shock and surprise, when they learm the craft is locked and their headed to the moon!
At mission control, the humans are in total panic. It becomes a race against time as as Space Scientist Pi (Bill Fagerbakke) engages in a battle of wits with a disgruntled employee, Dr. Finkel (Kevin Weisman), to try to return the buddies safely back to Earth. Finkle wants to sabotage the entire project. Because of his actions, the crew of puppies is forced to overcome several obstacles before reaching the moon and returning home safely–flying asteroids and the like.
I can safely say there isn’t much about Space Buddies that’s likely to appeal to individuals over the age of eight. The plot is thin and the dialogue purely amateur. The CGI trick of making household pets talk has become a seriously overused commodity in the last decade or so. However, for a preschooler new to the concept, it’s likely comedy gold.
So while I found Space Buddies hard to sit through, for parents of children up to the age of eight, this little puppy adventure might be just the ticket. The puppies are cute and the film is wholly inoffensive; just don’t expect to be very entertained yourself.
Space Buddies is presented in 1.78:1, full 1080p and has been encoded with the AVC Mpeg-4 codec. This is certainly not the sharpest video encode I’ve ever seen. In fact, the entire movie has a slightly soft look to it. There are no noticeable instances of edge enhancement or any other picture anomalies. Space Buddies is an above average, colorful transfer.
Space Buddies is an action themed kids flick, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that it features a pretty rockin’ soundtrack. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio surround track is solid. The audio was definitely above average with nicely reproduced dialogue and active surround usage.
There’s not much in the way of extras. Aside from the main feature, “DisneyPedia: The Buddies’ Guide to Space Travel,” there’s just a blooper reel, an Alyson Stoner music video (“Dancing in the Moonlight”), a “Buddy Facts” pop-up trivia mode that offers basic info about space, space travel, and the making of “Space Buddies.” The in-character DisneyPedia feature should amuse young viewers as the pups (20 were actually used to film the five) take turns sharing their favorite movie moments and telling what it was like to travel in space.
But an added incentive for consumers to go Blu with this release is a “Buddy Finder” bonus feature, which takes viewers on a scavenger hunt to locate 100 items within the movie.
If you’re into BD-Live, there’s a Movie Chat function that allows you to communicate using laptops, desktops, or hand-held media, and Movie Mall, which allows viewers to record a personalized video message and superimpose it on a clip of the movie and send it off to a friend or relative. There’s also a Movie Challenge trivia game online that you can take while watching the film online with others, with a game always in progress.
