Grade: B-

Verdict: Think "Northern Exposure" with sled dogs and kid-scaled jokes.

Details: Starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and James Coburn. Directed by Brian Levant. Rated PG for some scary wilderness scenes. 1 hour, 39 minutes.

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Review: "Snow Dogs" is a flyweight bit of dog-friendly doggerel aimed at kids and at folks who get mushy over puppies (literally).

Miami dentist Ted Brooks (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is living the good life by the beach when he learns he was adopted. His real mother, who lived in Tolketna, Alaska, has just died and left him all her earthly possessions. Which mostly consist of a bad lamp, a few quilts and a gung-ho pack of Siberian Huskies with names like Demon and Diesel. There's also a sweet (and suspiciously laid back) border collie named Nana, so Ted can have someone to talk to.

Ted's plan is to take inventory, sell the stuff and head home. But before you can say "mush," he finds himself wanting to learn more about his real parents. He knows his mother was a champion dog sledder. But who's his father?

As long as he's staying around to do some genealogical research, Ted decides to honor his mother's memory by entering her dog team in the Arctic Challenge. This leads to lots and lots and lots of pratfalls as he undertakes Mushing 101 (translation: the stunt double has almost as much screen time as the star).

Gooding gives a broad likable performance. Sort of Dean Jones (who would have played the part in the '70s) ratcheted up a few energy levels. Plus, there's a colorful supporting cast that includes "Star Trek's" Nichelle Nichols, M. Emmet Walsh, R&B singer Sisqo and James Coburn. Former model Joanna Bacalso is fresh-faced and relaxed in the formulaic love-interest role.

If it didn't have some relatively big names, "Snow Dogs" would probably be relegated to the Disney Channel (where I'm sure it will be shortly). But the huskies are beautiful, the border collie is funny and the overall feeling is genial and decent. And these days, that can be a big plus.

Parental warning: There's a fairly scary Lassie-get-help sequence when a sled goes off a cliff and Gooding Jr. and Coburn are left dangling thousands of feet in the air.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution