The China Mail - Who's a good boy? AI can't replace doggie actors, director says

"He's curious to what's going on," Vince told AFP. "This is real."

Having done more than a dozen productions featuring dogs, Vince says he is still impressed by the authenticity that animal actors bring to film sets.

For him, the magic of a canine performer cannot ever be replicated by artificial intelligence.

"You look at how much joy this dog, and human actors, give you, right?" he says, gesturing to Roscoe the golden retriever star of "Air Bud Returns," who is wearing a T-shirt and basketball shoes, still boundlessly enthusiastic despite greeting fans for hours.

Vince, 64, says that every technological innovation initially causes a stir and sparks curiosity among audiences.

But wizardry can only wow for so long before audiences see through it and start looking to the fundamentals again.

"I remember when visual effects really (appeared), everybody was like: 'Oh, those are so cool. We're gonna do a million superhero movies.'

"After a while, it's like: 'Oh, I’ve seen that before,'" he said. "It's really about your emotional connection to the characters. There's an authenticity to this type of filmmaking that does not go away."

- Sports bark -

"Air Bud Returns," slated for release in US theaters in 2027, is the latest chapter in a franchise that began in 1997 featuring a runaway circus dog who has an extraordinary ability to play basketball.

Subsequent installments took in other popular sports, including American football ("Air Bud: Golden Receiver,") soccer ("Air Bud: World Pup") and baseball ("Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch.")

For Vince, who spoke with AFP at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas, the audience reception to news of the latest production, which sees the canine hero back on the basketball court, has been "overwhelming."

"But I can't say I'm surprised," he added.

"We know from social media... that this movie was basically being begged to be made."

He says that's because "Air Bud" is a quintessential family film, one that a whole generation remembers from childhood.

"People that grew up with ("Air Bud")...are millennials that were 10 years old when they saw the original one.

"They are now parents, and they have kids of their own."

And, of course, a cute-as-a-button golden retriever who can shoot hoops as well as he can act is always going to hit the mark, he said.

"It's all dog, all the time," he said of Roscoe's balling talents.

"We have an audience that grew up with the original "Air Bud" movie where there was no CGI," Vince said.

"And so we kept that promise in this movie as well."

At a time that Hollywood is grappling with the job-killing effects of AI -- and as the organisers of the Oscars and the Golden Globes have said avatars can't win prizes -- Vince says he's confident the new technology will never displace the warmth of a real-life performer, human or animal.

"Despite what everybody wants you to believe, I don't really believe it's happening," he said.

"You don't get any emotion out of that."

W.Cheng--ThChM