“This film is a unique blend of narrative and documentary and the filmmaker's expertise at blending the two forms is brilliant....For anyone with a pulse, this film is an incredibly enjoyable experience and for the dog lovers an absolute must see.”
“... a charming and educational tail-wagger…. good-sized (Toronto) audiences, most of whom were apparently dog lovers, laughed in all the right places and oohed and awed as the dog stars did their thing…. (Sniff ) is a happy, family-oriented film.”

“... the human characters are engaging, too, as they take in the delights of the Bay Area while suffering the stresses of low budget filmmaking.”

“The film trots around the City (San Francisco) capturing pets and “masters” in a sweet and funny film for dog owners, children and canine afficionados alike.... Equal parts silly and scientific, Sniff , www.sniffthemovie.com, will leave … viewers itching, as it were, for more.”

Labels: reviews

From Steffan Shulz, Festival Director October 2010

In choosing the primary feature for our inaugural film festival, I was tasked to find a film that met with the high standards that we sought for our audience, something that touched on many emotional levels, as well as left the viewer with a positive feeling at the end of the screening. To add to that, we had a charitable benefactor in the Contra Costa Animal Shelter. So we ultimately wanted something that met that criteria thematically. An extremely tall order, but along came Sniff, the Dog Movie.

From the quirky opening scene (a man wearing a dog mask riding a bicycle down the streets of London) to the equally odd scenario of a dog hotel in downtown San Francisco, Sniff guides you through a wonderful journey of the canine world. This film is a unique blend of narrative and documentary and the filmmaker's expertise at blending the two forms is brilliant. Utilizing various production techniques such as mixed media (the blend of combining film and video) to highlight/separate the narrative and the documentary parts give the whole feature a higher production quality. And for the non-film professional, a heightened sense of quality (perhaps unconsciously).

Sniff, the Dog Movie takes you through a pleasing array of emotions and you can't help but fall for the main characters and their "Odd Couple" relationship. The dogs featured in the film range from the playful & nonsensical (surfing, skateboarding canines) to the more profound guide dogs and rescue dogs. For anyone with a pulse, this film is an incredibly enjoyable experience and for the dog lovers an absolute must see.

Steffan Schulz
Festival Director
Diablo Valley Film Festival

Labels: reviews

By Maria Goodavage, July 2010 on Dogster

Sniff, director Barry Stone’s second film about dogs, is like a Snausage: It’s one delicious morsel wrapped inside another very different but equally tasty and intriguing one. Dog lovers are sure to devour it with gusto and lick their chops waiting for the next course.

Sniff is a dog documentary that’s swathed in the cozy blanket of an odd but appealing fictional comedic storyline. Two somewhat beleaguered British actors, Neil (British star Neil Morrissey: Bob the Builder, Men Behaving Badly) and Richard (Richard Huw: The Four Minute Mile, Splitting Heirs) travel to San Francisco for what would be humiliating roles for actors who weren’t so down on their luck: They’re to be dressed as dogs and act as concierges to well-heeled dogs and their people in the new Infinite Paws dog hotel. (I hope Stone has trademarked that name.)

The leap across the pond isn’t as far-fetched as it seems. They’ve been hired by Neil’s former girlfriend, Juliette (Amanda Plummer: Pulp Fiction, The Fisher King), who owns the high-end boutique pooch hotel with her somewhat jealous husband, Derek (Maurice Godin: House, Monk, Working). The company Stone assembled pulls off the fictional part of the movie with aplomb. Plummer — Christopher Plummer’s daughter — really shines in her role as the quirky, dynamic entrepreneur who still isn’t quite over Neil.

Neil and Richard decide that on their days off, they’re going to put together a documentary on dogs in San Francisco and other parts of the West Coast. You can almost hear echoes of a young Mickey Rooney chiming, “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!”

This is where the hot dog meets the bun, and the fiction becomes the holder for the documentary —the meat of Sniff.

Since Neil and Richard have different days off, they don’t really collaborate much while filming their various segments about dogs. But this setup allows us to see them interacting with each other, describing their projects, kvetching, and still working like dogs on their days at the hotel.

The dogs they follow are treasures, and Stone’s background in cinematography makes most scenes visual gems. As good as the humans are in the movie, the canines steal the show. Here’s how the director’s synopsis describes some of Sniff’s real-life canine stars.

* Meet Mikey, a yellow Labrador retriever, who completes his training to become a working guide dog.

* Meet Gabby, a black Lab who is socialized at Guide Dogs but switches careers mid-stream to become a Search and Rescue Dog.

* Take a romp in the ocean with Zoe, a Jack Russell, at the Coronado Bay Surf Dog Competition.

* Run on the beach with Gus, a McNab herd-dog, who has taken to rounding up seagulls for want of a good sheep.

* Marvel at Retriever Harley as he and water-shy Rover tag-team ball retrieval from the Klamath River.

All the dogs are ridiculously appealing, and their stories are riveting. The parts about the search-and-rescue dogs are eye-opening and fascinating. It’s enlightening watching these dogs – some of whom didn’t make the cut as guide dogs – train to rescue people in disasters. We think of them as heroes, living to save lives. But to them, it’s just one great big joyous game. These dogs work hard, and they love their work so much that they don’t even know they’re working. We humans could learn a lesson from them.

You’ll want to have a Kleenex handy for some of the segments, particularly the guide dog graduation, and the poignant look at the man whose elderly dog is not long for this world.

One segment – with the bird-chasing dog – is wince-worthy, though, at least to me. I live two blocks from the beach in San Francisco, and my leash-free dog-walking has been severely curtailed by the presence of the snowy plover, a threatened bird species. Dogs are no longer allowed off leash on the beach for most of the year, when the birds are here, because they’re seen as potentially dangerous to the delicate plover population. I’m not sure what species of birds cute Gus is chasing – I’m no bird watcher – but some look kind of plover-ish to me. The people who would like to ban dogs from the beach entirely would love to get hold of this if plovers really are in the mix. Even if the birds are gulls, dogs shouldn’t be chasing them. It’s pretty stressful to the birds, and makes for bad PR in the “dogs vs nature” realm.

Other than these chase scenes and some scene transitions that could have benefited from someone who wasn’t quite so enamored with “special effects,” the film is a walk in the park. Any dog lover worth his or her spots will enjoy it. It’s great for families, too.

Labels: reviews

From Joanne Ritter, Director of Marketing

Guide Dogs for the Blind is thrilled to be a part of this playful and informative film. We'd especially like to thank Barry and Kim for their commitment to making the film accessible to people who are blind; they've gone the extra mile and created a descriptive version. The two of them are now part of our Guide Dog family, and we sincerely hope this film will inspire others to get involved with us -- as puppy raisers, volunteers, and clients, and to help spread the word about our services that are offered free-of-charge. Our sincere thanks to everyone who was involved in this film. Congratulations and "Woof!" (November 5, 2009)

Labels: reviews

"A Buddy Movie Goes to the Dogs"

Barry Stone's first film was a short called "Dog," four minutes of doggies wandering around doing doggie things as a voice-over puts words in their mouths. At the Grand Lake Theater on November 5, lucky viewers got to see it, followed by Stone's latest effort, a dog lover's dream of a movie called Sniff...

Over the course of 87 minutes, we meet Labrador Retrievers Gabby and Mikey, two pupils at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael; Zoe a Jack Russell Terrier who happens to be a champion surfer; and numerous other cute, courageous and thoroughly captivating dogs.

They all play themselves to perfection and threaten to steal the show, but the human characters are engaging too, as they take in the delights of the Bay Area while suffering the stresses of low-budget film making. We find ourselves rooting for all the dogs and most of the people, even ditsy Juliette (played by film veteran Amanda Plummer) and her stuffy jealous husband Derek (dittto Maurice Godin).

The film is not all fun and games. Serious segments include a touching monologue by a man contemplating the the death of his long-time furry friend and blow-by-blow training sessions with real working dogs.

Sniff manages to entertain and educate at the same time ...

Sniff is alternately funny, amazing, moving and just plain silly. It all adds up to a must-see for dog devotees...

Labels: reviews