Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. continues to explore his comical side in "Snow Dogs," a serviceable and crowd-pleasing seasonal offering from the Walt Disney Co. that opens wide Jan. Judging from the audience reaction at a Saturday night sneak preview in Hollywood, the Brian Levant-directed project should have a few good weekends and mush its way to post-theatrical glory. Levant ("Beethoven," both "Flintstones" movies) and five credited screenwriters (Jim Kouf, Tommy Swerdlow, Michael Goldberg, Mark Gibson, Philip Halprin) can't help the movie -- "suggested" by the book "Winterdance" by Gary Paulsen -- from getting off to a clunky, unpromising start.

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