Life Is Ruff

**Life Is Ruff** is a 2005 American live-action film directed by Charles Haid. It is a Disney Channel Original Movie.

It focuses on Calvin Wheeler, a scheming 13-year-old boy with everything going for him, except for an original issue of his precious comic book collection. When a prized show-dog chases him down while skateboarding one day, his owner inadvertently convinces him to adopt and train a dog of his own.

The film was released on July 15, 2005.

## Plot

The movie begins when a box of free puppies are by a grocery store. There are five black ones and one golden one. Soon, children come and each one is adopted. Pretty soon, there are only two left. When a little boy and his mother come, they take the last black one leaving the golden one in the box. Left alone in the rain that night, it flees and grows up a stray. A year later, it is finally captured by the animal control and is taken to the shelter.

13-year-old Calvin Wheeler is the most popular kid at school who collects comic books in his spare time. Calvin's best friend is Raymond Figg, who prefers to be called Figg. He saved Figg's life in the second grade when Figg had an asthma attack, and Figg, very devoted, manages his schedule and occasionally does his homework.

Gotham Man is the name of Calvin's favourite comic. His collection is complete, except for one issue that's ever-so-rare, the first one, it's worth $3,000. When a show-dog runs after Calvin while skateboarding, he finds out that when one wins a dog show, they earn major cash. The cash prize is $5,000 which Calvin needs to buy the first issue of Gotham Man.

Calvin goes to a dog rescue shelter and adopts a dog named Tyco. A girl from school and a volunteer at a run down animal shelter, Emily Watson, believes that this had to be another one of the crazy schemes or plans that Calvin has in mind. So, she interviews Calvin and judges him a good owner for Tyco, and she says yes when Calvin asks her to the upcoming school dance, until she realizes that he's entering Tyco in a dog show. But there's someone else who wants to make sure Calvin and Tyco lose and that's Preston Price, the stuck-up rich kid whom he and his dog have won two of the past dog shows. He hires people to pretend that they are Tyco's real family, but when the three main characters realize that this is not Tyco's family, Figg and Calvin come up with a plan. He convinces Figg to pretend he is selling magazines and to fake an asthma attack. When this happens, Calvin runs into the basement and rescues Tyco while Figg is still acting. Emily forgives Calvin. This is the day of the dog show and they decide to go. Calvin's dad drives them there. Of course, they are not prepared so they come up with a last minute routine of Tyco pulling Calvin on his skateboard. They beat Preston by one point. Along with using that reward money to buy the last comic book, Calvin uses the money for good. He gives the money to the shelter so that the dogs can have better homes. In the end, the shelter is saved, and Figg, along with many other people, adopts a new pet.

## Cast and Characters

* Kyle Massey as Calvin Wheeler
* Kay Panabaker as Emily Watson
* Mitchel Musso as Raymond Figg
* Carter Jenkins as Preston Price
* Judith Moreland as Calvin's Mom
* Mark Christopher Lawrence as Calvin's Dad
* Sean Sekino as Simon Gimple
* Kelly Coombs as Julie
* Yolanda Wood as Rondel's Mother
* Ibrahim Abdel-Baaith as Rondel