It’s Miss Congeniality, but for dogs, and apparently constructed via a hastily-coded Robert McKee-meets-MadLibs algorithm—the cinematic equivalent of stepping in dog shit. You know, for kids! NYPD Rottweiler Max (the voice of Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) teams up with FBI agent Frank Mosley (Will Arnett) to hunt down an exotic-animal trafficking ring at a prestigious dog show in Las Vegas. They can successfully go undercover as competitors at the most elite dog show on the planet with no preparation, no experience, no knowledge and no enthusiasm because such things are no longer required in 2018, when experts are suspect and truth is dead and everything is awful. What is necessary in 2018, according to this movie: embarrassingly bad CGI; pratfalls; a dog biting FBI butt; dog farts; testicle humor; a giant movie-long promo for a major hotel on the Vegas Strip that shall remain unnamed because they didn’t pay this publication to promote them; denigration of cat ladies; multiple references to Turner & Hooch; horrible clichés and stereotypes. You know—sob—for kids! By MaryAnn Johanson