AIR BUD: WORLD PUP
DVD release date: June 15, 2010

In 1997, Air Bud leapt into theaters, telling the story of a dog with an uncanny ability to shoot baskets, and launching a lineup of sequels covering a wide array of popular sports. The direct-to-video Air Bud: World Pup was released in 2000 and this time focused on soccer.

In this DVD release of World Pup, Buddy’s owner, Josh, falls in love with his sister’s new soccer coach, who also happens to be the only female on his high school soccer team, prompting Josh and Buddy join the team. Soccer, kidnapped puppies, and some cameos by U.S. women soccer players all come into “play” in this film, along with some BUDding romances, both human and canine.

This film also marks the first appearance of the “buddies,” the offspring of Buddy, who went on to appear in a series of Air Buddies films, and the buddies are also found in the bonus feature on this disc, THE BUDDIES SPORTS CHANNEL (5:14). This featurette takes paws for a spoof on television sports channels. With new footage of the pups, the canine quintet gives a play-by-play sports commentary using clips of the game in the film.

There’s also a PRODUCTION FEATURETTE (5:03) which gives a fun glance behind-the-scenes. It’s not so much the “making of” the film as getting a feel for what it was like on the set of the soccer sequence, with the actors, producer and director, animal trainer and soccer pros. I like this kind of stuff and was surprised to find it on this DVD.

So that’s what kicking around on the Air Bud: World Cup DVD.