Ping! Reviews

This family-friendly action comedy recycles HOME ALONE gags but replaces child actor Macaulay Culkin with a neurasthenic Chihuahua. Bakery heiress Ethel Jeffries (Shirley Jones) in trouble with the IRS, but continues to sock away all her earnings at home. The eccentric Ethel is raising her orphaned granddaughter, Haley (Brooke Winn), whom she entrusts to a Goth babysitter named Lucretia (Megan A. Oberle) on nights when she plays jazz saxophone with a local band. Ethel decides that a pet might cheer up the depressed Haley and visits an animal pound intending to get a cat; thanks to her severe near-sightedness, Ethel instead picks a Chihuahua. A watchdog — even a tiny one — proves a wise choice, since Lucretia is so often occupied with the serious business of making out with her boyfriend. Haley slowly bonds with the spunky little dog, whom she names Ping (voice of Brian Donovan). Two bungling burglars, Stu (Clint Howard) and Louie (Judge Reinhold), break into the Jeffries' mansion, thinking that they'll be able to scoop up Ethel's unguarded cash while Lucretia is busy necking. But Ping proves a formidable opponent and flummoxes the crooks, dropping a bowling ball on one crook and using a throw rug to send the pair sailing out the door. Since Ping is tapped into the informal canine distress network, he also puts out a call to two Dobermans who owe him a favor. Stu and Louie return fail to learn their lesson and return again, this time tying up Haley and Lucretia and kidnapping Ping. Naturally, the dog frees himself and races back to rescue Haley — will the burglars ever get their hands on the bakery dough? If you think it's just adorable to be able to hear a pooches every smart-alecky thought, then you may enjoy this celebration of man's yappiest friend. Otherwise it's best left to the smallest and most undemanding of small viewers.