German Currents Presents Sergeant Pepper
A dog gone astray in an American family adventure film generally portends a running time consumed by the pup’s struggle to make its way back home. Not Sergeant Pepper! He’s thrilled to be rid of the two adult children of his dearly departed master, who bequeathed a fortune to his four-legged companion. Best of all, the eponymous pooch gets to pick his replacement household, and he selects the madcap abode of an artistically inclined clan. Mom is with the symphony, while dad’s an inveterate tinkerer — his gadget-fraught “kitchen of tomorrow’ is infused with a zestful kind of inventiveness that brings to mind Frank Tashlin. Their youngest, the boy in the tiger suit, telepathically communicates with the stray while the character of his older sis is underdeveloped to the point of irrelevance. If your kids can read, this is the other movie currently playing that borrows its title from a Beatles tune that deserves your attention. Sandra Nettelbeck wrote and directed. 2004. — Scott Marks