Paws is an Australian family film from 1997, written and directed by Karl Zwicky
PC is a Jack Russell terrier with a past. After the evil Anja (Sandy Gore) kills his master, Alex (Norman Kaye), for the clues to a hidden fortune, PC flees unwittingly into the arms of computer genius Zac (Nathan Cavaleri) and his family. Zac, however, has problems of his own. He doesn't like his new stepfather (Joe Petruzzi), his little sister drives him crazy and the girl next door, Samantha (Emilie Francois), wants him to participate in her bold retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
When Zac wires PC with a computer vocal unit, giving him the ability to speak (with the voice of Billy Connolly, no less), the two form an unlikely bond and set about unravelling the mystery of Alex's death. Along the way, they are shadowed by Anja, who will stop at nothing to beat them to the prize.
Heath Ledger makes an early appearance as the actor playing Oberon.
Paws provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: Subverted when Zac and Samantha have to rely on Stephen and Susie's help to rescue PC in the climax.
- And This Is for...: Susie punches out Anja in the climax, saying, "This one's for Alex, you old bag."
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Zac's sister Binky.
- Bald of Evil: Anja, whose wig comes flying off when she's riding on the mechanical rabbit at the racetrack.
- Based on a True Story: Stated at the start of the end credits, followed by "Not".
- Cannot Spit It Out: After PC starts talking to Zac, he puts off telling him anything about what happened to Alex, his history with Anja or what's important about the disc he confiscated from him, even as it becomes apparent that Anja is getting closer.
- Celebrity Paradox:PC: I've always wanted to sound like Billy Connolly!
- Evil Counterpart: Anja's dog Sibelius.
- Faint in Shock: Zac, when he notices PC using his computer to talk to him. Samantha does the same later.
- Gold Digger: In the past, Anja married Alex to steal his programs and sell them. When Alex found out, he took the million dollars back and fled to Australia.
- Gratuitous French: Alex's message to Samantha ends with "Bonne Chance (Good Luck)", which unintentionally throws her off when she assumes the clue was meant to be the French word lapin (rabbit).
- "Hey, You!" Haymaker: When Susie punches out Anja. The racing commentator remarks that it was a beautiful right hook.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: Anja kidnaps PC in the climax to force Zac to hand over Alex's fortune.
- I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: When Alex realises Anja has tracked him down, he gives PC a computer disc and tells him to take it to Susie.
- Mama Bear: Susie has little trouble standing up to Anja's threats against Samantha and the punch she gives her in the climax seems to have been as because of this as for Alex's murder.
- Motor Mouth: When Zac launches into an overly technical explanation for how he fit the translation program into something PC can carry with him, his voice speeds up before skipping to the next morning.
- My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: When Zac makes growling noises near the computer, the translation software interprets it as "I'm Fido, sniff my bum."
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Zac mentions taking PC for a walk in front of Anja, allowing her to track them down.
- Parent with New Paramour: Zac doesn't get on with his stepfather Stephen: partly because he's not over the death of his father, partly because he's forced them to move to Sydney and partly because he's not much of a provider and seems to be forcing Amy to pick up the slack. Things start to improve after Zac finds the case Stephen built for his floppy discs and CDs, which was supposed to be his birthday present. And it's shown that he is genuinely trying to get a business of the ground.
- Precision F-Strike: After Samantha deduces from Alex's clues that the money is at the racetrack, she says, "Merde!", French for "shit!".
- R-Rated Opening: The cute animated opening credit sequence is followed soon after by the rather chilling sequence where Anja tracks Alex down and murders him.
- Red Herring:
- Zac treats Stephen with suspicion for most of the film, especially when he appears to be working with Anja, but there's no indication that he did anything worse than take out a loan from her.
- Alex's last clue, "lapin", leads Samantha to assume the fortune is hidden in the rabbit at the greyhound racing track he used to visit. It was meant to be read as "LA pin", referring to Samantha's Hollywood brooch.
- Shame If Something Happened: Anja visits Susie and implicitly threatens to hurt Samantha if she doesn't get Alex's disc.
- Spanner in the Works: PC is hit by Zac's parents' car before he can get to Susie, which saves him from being found when Anja tries to follow him to Susie's address.
- Talking Animal: PC can talk by modifying the translation software on Zac's computer. At first he has a robotic voice until Zac reprograms it to sound like Billy Connolly, and he makes him a Translator Collar with a power pack on his back.
