The hairy adventures begin as unbeatable Deputy D.A. Dave Douglas (Allen) takes on his latest legal case—this time involving a criminal animal laboratory. It’s yet another ambitious assignment that will whisk workaholic Dave away from his wife (Kristin Davis) and kids who yearn for his attention. But when Dave is accidentally infected with a top-secret genetic-mutation serum that morphs his body into that of the family’s new pet Bearded Collie, everything he thought he knew about being himself and a part of his family changes.

Now, with his perked-up ears, and his front-row seat on the household carpet, Dave is able to gain an entirely different perspective into his family’s secrets and dreams. Inspired by what he discovers, Dave wants nothing more than to stop fetching and return to fathering—only first he’ll have to stop the evil genius (Robert Downey Jr.) behind the serum… in a literally wild chase that will finally give him a chance to become man’s—and his family’s—best friend.

In his career as one of America’s favorite family comedians, Tim Allen has taken on a wide variety of memorable comical characters, from the accident-prone handyman of "Home Improvement" to the reluctant Santa of the "Santa Clause" series to the delightfully deluded Buzz Lightyear action figure in the runaway hit "Toy Story." But nothing could have prepared him for "The Shaggy Dog."

For Allen, playing Dave Douglas meant more than just looking at the funny side of human life—it also meant exploring life as a dog. "From the start, I wanted to play the role as real as possible, to really try to imagine what it would feel like and look like to be a guy who’s turned into a dog," Allen explains. "That turns out to be pretty hard—but it also led to some of the funniest and most unexpected stuff that happens in the film. I especially love the scenes where Dave is trying to go through his normal day—as a lawyer and as a father—but he simply can’t ignore the smells, sights, sounds and instinctive drives of his new animal persona!"

A dog lover himself, Allen began by analyzing what exactly makes them so amusing, so lovable, so downright…doggy. "I’ve had dogs all my life, and I’ve always watched their behavior and wondered about what they might be thinking," he admits. "So for this role, I personally tried out all their behaviors—sniffing people, licking people’s faces, running on all fours, jumping on tables, chasing a cat all over town. It was pretty interesting. My main goal with the dog imitations was simply to make people laugh as hard as they can, which means never playing it safe. I want kids to laugh, but I also want adults to come out laughing, too."

Opening soon across the Philippines, "The Shaggy Dog" is a Walt Disney Picture distributed by Buena Vista International through Columbia Pictures.