The dust has settled for the biggest night in sports entertainment today, and what better way to experience this is to see John Morrison get his ass kicked by a dog with his monkey manager? While the big boys can play and the nines ninety nine, only here on the Dissection will you see some madness that makes any era of the Macho Man proud.
The Story
A big-hearted terrier named Russell gets taken in by a family with a pro wrestling arena. That’s when they discover their new pet has incredible wrestling skills. With help from a monkey friend, Russell rockets to the top of the sports world and discovers that the strongest tag team is family.
The Cast
Sean Giambrone as the voice of Russell. He also played Adam Goldberg on the series THE GOLDBERGS and voices Jeff Randall in the CN series CLARENCE.
Will Sasso as the voice of Hunk the monkey. A MAD TV veteran, Sasso is no stranger to the wrestling world, as he is a big fan and was even involved in a storyline that featured him feuding with the legendary Bret Hart. He’s also acted in movies like THE THREE STOOGES and THE LEGEND OF AWESOMEST MAXIMUS.
John Hennigan as The Hammer. Also known as John (Insert Last Name Here) on the wrestling scene, Hennigan has wrestled in WWE and it’s relaunch of ECW and currently wrestles in Lucha Underground. He was also in other movies like HERCULES REBORN.
John Ratzenberger as Mick Vaughn. Whether it’s as Cliff from CHEERS, Hamm from Toy Story, and any of his various other characters that span his nearly 40 year career, Ratzenberger is a prolific actor in any view.
The Dissection
Remember the discussion last time during the SCORPION KING 4 review, over how the series started off as a sequel to the remake of THE MUMMY and turned into a strange DEATHSTALKER style series on DVD? Well, it seems like that movie really has nothing on this one. This is a spin off from AIR BUD. Yes, the 1997(!) movie that was about a kid who discovers a dog who can ply basketball, which spawned sequels of the dog playing other sports, and spun off on puppies going into space and helping Santa and going into space(!!) has now spawned a studio that ended up releasing this movie.
So, RUSSELL MADNESS follows that pedigree with a terrier who has the uncanny ability to choreograph an entire match and plan spots and stunts. Or wrestle. Brought onto the scene with a family who just inherited their late uncle’s wrestling business. The dog’s knack of wrestling gets the federation some exposure on the net, and the attention of the big wrestling promoter Mick “Not Titus Sinclair” Vaughn and his league of wrestlers in the World United Federation.
All you can tell from this photo, is that one of them is getting RKOed by the end of this.
The movie itself is pretty much what you expect in a direct to video family film with animal characters. You have a lot of jokes with the animals talking puns to each other, you have the family drama on there to give the characters a reason to succeed, and you got a lot of jokes that revolve around the animals peeing or pooping on characters. It’s not bad, but it feels a bit dull if you aren’t enjoying it for some of the liberties it takes with the source material. It’s always fun to see an outsider’s look at what the wrestling world is suppose to be like, in the same way that EXPOSED! PRO WRESTLING’S GREATEST SECRET special has some charm to it with it’s stunt grandmas.
The extras on the movie are slim. You have a gag reel that is mostly trying too hard to be a gag reel, a short sing along video, and a five minute feature on the movie. Basic.
The Verdict
RUSSELL MADNESS is something that you should not be in a rush to see. Wait for it on tv or see if you can rent it for a night along when it’s buy one get one or on sale. It’s got a bit of charm, but it’s not enough to keep it with any lasting impact.