Clifford The Big Red Dog (2021)

By: Mike Ward on Sunday, November 28

PG Running Time: 96 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • At some point, most kids brush up against the stories of Clifford the Big Red Dog, and to have a cinematic version of the lovable, fluffy monster of a pet will be exciting for kids (and families).

  • Plays about the same on the TV screen as it does the big screen, so families can feel like they won’t miss a whole lot watching it at home on Paramount+ vs. dropping lots of money to see it at the multiplex.

  • Plans are in place for a sequel, so the film is a success financially. If you do like the film, more are coming!

NO

  • Instead of following a lazy blueprint of a kids/family movie we have seen 1,000 times before, perhaps someone involved here might have come up with something inventive and creative.

  • Kids will like this better than most grown-ups. However, will they care about any of this once the credits pop up on the screen?

  • Clifford is animated poorly and fails to integrate into the scenes effectively enough to allow us to escape into the story being told. And everything is just odd and weird and why is John Cleese playing a Wonka-like omniscient narrator?


OUR REVIEW

Something of a rite of passage for kids, or many I know anyway, is the period of childhood where you read books about Clifford the Big Red Dog. Impossibly large, because of the love he absorbs, Clifford is the giant, friendly dog who gets into pesky trouble but always resolves every conflict with scritches, treats, some “Atta-Boys” and a nice, warm bed provided by a family who loves him.

Life is much, much simpler in the two-dimensional world of Clifford. This was made all the more obvious when the initial trailers for the cinematic adaptation of Norman Bridwell’s book series was first released to the public. Clifford the Big Red Dog, in similar fashion to Sonic the Hedgehog and a few other recent films, saw the internet’s reaction to the trailer kill any goodwill and buzz the film hoped to create with audiences. Instead, the film was torn to shreds on social media largely for how Clifford looked. 

Life is much, much simpler in two dimensions.

And perhaps, all things equal, Clifford should have stayed housed within those pages because in his cinematic, live-action/animated hybrid film, the Big Red Dog is not given a movie worthy of his legacy. Instead, we get a lazy, rudimentary kids movie that struggles to piece together an original thought or storyline across nearly 100 minutes of screen time.

Clifford, completely CGI, is cute enough I suppose, but he’s also scorched skin red - a rather unappealing presentation, despite his kindly demeanor. There’s also no discernable aging between Clifford as a typical size puppy and when he becomes his massive self. He looks the exact same throughout the movie, presenting as something an intern right-clicked, downsized, drank a 4-pack of Monster, and then expanded Clifford to giant size for the remainder of the movie.

I dunno. Whatever.

Look, Clifford the Big Red Dog is relatively harmless, while also embracing juvenile bathroom humor and off-the-cuff one liners and facile action sequences. By focusing more on Emily Elizabeth (Darby Camp), and her struggles with middle school bullying and fitting in, the film tries to speak to a potentially larger audience than the previous books and series have done. 

Raised by a single mother (Sienna Guillory), work takes mom away for a few days, so the immature Uncle Casey (Jack Whitehall) arrives to babysit Emily Elizabeth. They take a trip to the townsquare, have a chance meeting with a Wonka-like mysterioso named Mr. Bridwell (John Cleese, who also serves as  narrator), and Casey caves and Emily brings home the little red dog. 

Clifford grows based on love apparently and so overnight, Emily’s love for this new puppy, that Uncle Casey says needs to be returned so he doesn’t make his sister angry, becomes so big that Clifford is at least 10x his puppy size. Of course, he immediately breaks furniture, passes horrible gas, potentially murders someone with a vigorous wagging of his tail, and leads everyone through wacky misadventures.

Then, ostensibly, we get the villainous CEO of a biotech company looking to create genetically-modified food (Tony Hale). He stumbles and bumbles his way into trying to kidnap Clifford and the back half of all of this plays like a bad sitcom that forgot to add a laugh track.

Whitehall, though talented in other projects, plays Uncle Casey like a combination of Ryan Reynolds’ trademark snark and John Krasinski’s character “Jim” from “The Office.” You halfway wonder if Whitehall will just break the fourth wall and react directly into the camera. (Ed. Note: He doesn’t). Sadly, his entire demeanor feels inauthentic and empty.

Directed by Walt Becker, who last directed Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, this film is as predictable as they come and as forgettable and unremarkable as one can imagine. Debuting both in theaters and on streaming platform Paramount+, Clifford the Big Red Dog occupies time I guess, and may play better with young viewers than anyone else.

Very quickly though, the novelty of a big red dog running through New York City wears off, leaving Clifford the Big Red Dog to be a harmless, annoying cinematic babysitter you likely will never want to consider hiring again.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Darby Camp, Jack Whitehall, Izaac Wang, John Cleese, Sienna Guillory, Tony Hale, David Alan Grier, Horatio Sanz, Paul Rodriguez, Russell Peters, Keith Ewell, Bear Allen-Blaine, Tovah Feldshuh, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Ty Young, Kenan Thompson, Rosie Perez, Alex Moffat

Director: Walt Becker
Written by: Jay Scherick, David Ronn, Blaise Hemingway (screenplay); Justin Malen, Ellen Rapoport (screen story)
Based on the book series “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” created by Norman Bridwell
Release Date: November 10, 2021
Paramount Pictures | Paramount+