15 dog movies ranked by how much you’ll cry

13. Air Bud (1997)

“Ain’t no rule says the dog can’t play basketball!” Air Bud launched a whole series of subpar sequel dog movies, but the original still mostly stands the test of time. Actor Kevin DiCicco found Air Buddy in the Sierra Mountains in 1988, took him home to San Diego, and trained him to play a bunch of sports including basketball. That’s sort of the plot of Air Bud, but with a lot of extra humor (and an abusive clown — who trusts a clown?) thrown in.

When Buddy’s owner leaves him on the side of the road because of his poor performance at a birthday party, he wanders until he ends up finding Josh (Kevin Zegers) playing basketball. The two bond over the ball — of course — and Buddy’s innate sports talents are revealed. He joins the school basketball team with Josh and gets a whole lot of media attention, which brings that slimey clown sniffing around for Buddy again.

There are, admittedly, a lot of moments in Air Bud that are likely to make you cry. Whatever you do, don’t look up Kevin DiCicco’s book Go Buddy!, published in 2012, because then you’ll never be able to watch Air Bud with any kind of joy ever again. There’s horrendous dog abuse in this film, and a genuine fear that there won’t be a happy ending, but ultimately — as proven by the film’s myriad sequels — everything is okay in the end.

Likelihood of making you cry: 3/10