Air Buddies

Plot

Through a voiceover, Sniffer (voiced by Don Knotts) introduces the five Air Buddies, describes their personalities and recaps how the puppies' father, Air Bud, made the town of Fernfeild famous through his love of sport. When their families leave home for a basketball game, the puppies get into trouble with their sitter, Mrs Niggles. This prompts their owners to finally put the puppies up for adoption.

Meanwhile, Selkirk Tander (Holmes Osborne) tries to impress Mr. Livingston's (Steve Makaj) son, Bartleby Livingston by showing him a female tiger for his birthday, but Bartleby wanted an animal he can play with. He wants Air Bud (Buddy) because Buddy can play sports. Mr. Livingston offers $500,000 if Selkirk can get Buddy. Selkirk then sends his nephew Grim and assistant Denning to capture Buddy.

At school, Noah and Henry collect every boy and girl's profile sheets and photos, and after looking at girls and boys who would make good owners, the family decides to call their new owners the next day. Grim and Denning arrive at Buddy's home, only to see Buddy and Molly at the same time, thinking there are two air buds or they are mates. The next morning, the pups decide to run away. Grim and Denning follow them, and manage to catch Budderball by luring him with a doughnut. The other Buddies go and find Budderball but they are captured as well and used as bait to catch Buddy and Molly. Buddy manages to free the Buddies but Denning traps him with a net. Molly attempts to save Buddy but is captured too. Denning and Grim put Buddy and Molly in the truck, while the buddies chase after them.

In wine country, Selkirk is pleased that Denning and Grim captured both Buddy and Molly so he can have them breed puppies and sell them for money. When Grim explain that Buddy and Molly already had puppies and Denning let them get away, Selkirk tells them to lock the dogs in the wine cellar and go and capture the puppies and threatens that if they don't catch the puppies, they will be fed to the tiger. Selkirk also replaces Grim as the leader of the mission to capture the Buddies. Grim and Denning go back to Buddy's home to capture the Buddies but no luck. The Buddies have sniffed their way to the outside cinema, where Grim and Denning are watching 101 Dalmatians. The Buddies find their way to the projection room and walk right in front of the projector, their shadows attracting Denning and Grim's attention.

Grim and Denning catch up to the Buddies, chasing them to a farm. The Buddies meet Billy the Goat and Belinda the Pig, who help the Buddies escape from Grim and Denning. The Buddies lure Grim and Denning into a stable and escape through a small hole as Billy locks Grim and Denning in. The Buddies go through the forest then meet the Wolf who leads them to wine country. A skunk's spray enables Sniffer to smell again, so he calls Noah and Henry and they go off to find the Buddies. Buddy and Molly manage to escape to find the Buddies. Budderball falls into a hole, which Buddy and Molly dug, forcing the Buddies to help. Noah and Henry are led by Sniffer through the same farm that the Buddies went through. Noah and Henry are ecstatic and overjoyed at finding Grim and Denning being held prisoners by Billy the goat, and immediately depart to report them and turn them in to the authorities over Grim and Denning's protests. Bartleby and his father come to collect the dogs but instead finds the Buddies. Bartleby and his father then put the Buddies in a limousine, when Noah, Henry, Buddy and Molly come to rescue the Buddies. Budderball falls into one of the wine containers and gets drunk. Bartleby catches Budderball but is caught by Sniffer.

Noah, Henry, and the dogs release barrels towards Selkirk and Mr. Livingston; the barrels break the wine container. Selkirk and Mr. Livingston fall in, as the container cracks open. Washing out of the container, Sheriff Bob arrives to arrest Selkirk, Denning, and Grim. The Buddies apologize to Buddy and Molly; they understand and say they're ready for their new owners. Budderball decides to stay with Bartleby because he needs a friend. The puppies are introduced to their new families and end up enjoying their new lives.The film ends with Buddy, Molly, Buddha, Budderball, Rosebud, B-Dawg, Mudbud, Sniffer and The Wolf howling to show how they are still family, despite their separation from each other.

Live-action actors

Voice actors (alphabetical order)

B-Dawg is the pup who can play basketball, while Budderball plays football, Rosebud plays soccer, Buddha plays baseball, and Mudbud plays volleyball. All the animals can speak in this film. This was the first time speaking animals have appeared in the Air Bud series.

Miscellaneous

Patrick Cranshaw died on December 28, 2005, but he had already finished filming all of his scenes for the movie. Don Knotts died on February 24, 2006, but he finished all his voice work on this, his final film. The movie is dedicated to them both.

The next movie of the series is Snow Buddies.