Whenever Owen Wilson has done voice roles over the years — whether it be Coach Skip from his longtime collaborator Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated hit Fantastic Mr. Fox or Lightning McQueen from Pixar’s classic Cars movie series — the characters feel real no matter what shape they take, mechanical or animal.
Not surprisingly, Wilson’s voice turn as the title character in the new animated adventure, Charlie the Wonderdog, instantly makes you believe again that his canine character can walk, talk, emote and yes, even fly with the best of them.
“People will ask me, ‘What’s the difference between acting in a movie or a show and when you do an animated thing?’ There isn’t really a difference,” Wilson said in a recent phone conversation. “It’s always sort of the same goal. You’re just trying to make it sound real and breathe some life into the character, and make it funny and hopefully moving. So, it’s always the same goal and challenge.”
In fact, I told Wilson, he brings so much heart and emotion to Charlie the Wonderdog that the canine superhero has a leg up — make that four legs up — on Krypto the Superdog in James Gunn’s Superman.
“Well, I’m going to have to let James know that Krypto needs to move over,” Wilson replied, laughing.
Opening in theaters nationwide on Friday, Charlie the Wonderdog follows the adventures of Wilson’s Charlie, a lovable Golden Retriever who, after a long and happy life with a young boy, Danny (Dawson Littman), is starting to show his age.
However, when aliens abduct Charlie, the neighbor’s cat, Puddy (voice of Ruairi MacDonald) and other animals and give them all voices and extraordinary capabilities, Charlie uses his newfound strength, agility and power of flight to help out humans in dire circumstances.
Being a superhero requires a lot of time away from Danny, though, and Charlie knows he needs to find time to maintain the bond his favorite human. So, when Puddy uses his powers to become an evil supervillain and concocts a plan to use his enhanced DNA to transform other cats, Charlie knows Danny may be the key in helping him thwart it.
Charlie the Wonderdog is the creation of ICON Creative Studio, which is Canada’s largest independently owned CG animation studio. The film is directed and produced by Shea Wageman (Young Jedi Adventures, Monsters at Work) and co-written by Wageman and Steve Ball.
Owen Wilson Has Always Been A Dog Lover
Having starred in the heartfelt 2008 canine classic Marley & Me, as well as voicing the title character of the Great Dane in the 2010 live-action animal adventure Marmaduke, Owen Wilson is certainly no stranger to being a central character in dog movies.
Of course, the choice to do movies like Marley & Me, Marmaduke and now, Charlie the Wonderdog, has always been an easy one for Wilson because of his love for dogs in real life. In fact, Wilson said dogs have qualities that all humans should aspire to have.
“They’re non-judgmental and that’s a very nice quality when you meet it in a human being. It’s another way of saying ‘acceptance,’” Wilson observed. “When you get that from someone, you relax because you’re like, ‘Oh God, I’m just accepted here.’ That is the great thing about dogs — the acceptance and the feeling that you get from them is, ‘I’m in your corner.’”
Wilson, luckily, has had the benefit of having dogs in his corner his whole life. including a very special Australian Cattle Dog.
“Our family dog was a Dalmatian, and then we had a few Chocolate Labs that were great dogs — I always loved those dogs,” Wilson said. “Then, I had a friend who had an Australian Cattle Dog and my only point of reference for those types of dogs at the time was from The Road Warrior with Mad Max. They’re a little bit more like cats than a Lab. You sort of have to prove yourself to them. They’re a little bit suspicious of people outside of their little unit.”
After getting to know his friend’s four-legged companion, Wilson knew he had to have an Australian Cattle Dog of his own.
“He was named Garcia, after the surfer Sonny Garcia,” Wilson explained. “Garcia was an unbelievable dog and my friend. I was just in Maui for Christmas, and my friend there got a little Australian Cattle Dog because of Garcia. It seems people around these dogs end up liking them because they are so interesting and have so many great qualities.”
One of those qualities, Wilson noted, was how Garcia was his great protector.
“With Garcia, you couldn’t just come into my house and start picking up stuff. Garcia would nip at you a little bit,” Wilson recalled. “[Australian Cattle Dogs] are working dogs, so they’re not content to just sort of lie around in the yard all day. They like to feel useful. “
Sadly, Garcia passed away, but the imprints the pup made on the souls who worked with Wilson on his screen projects over the years still very much remain.
“It’s funny how much people associate me with Garcia so much because he was always on film sets with me,” Wilson said. “Now, when I show up to do something, somebody from a crew or someone else will say, ‘How’s Garcia?’ When I tell them he passed away, they say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I feel awkward,’ and I say, ‘Don’t. I like thinking about him. I like that you’re asking about him because it gives me a chance to talk about it.’”
Given the tremendous impact he had on his favorite human, it’s not a stretch to think that Garcia is not only forever in Wilson’s heart, but in his soulful voice performance as Charlie the Wonderdog every step of the way.
Rated PG, Charlie the Wonderdog, starring Owen Wilson as the voice of Charlie, is new in theaters nationwide on Friday.