The typical snowball format of plot, where one event leads to another of greater proportion, may seem a little bit aged at this time of movie-making. However, it works very well for this movie directed by Walt Becker, and whose characters are based on a popular and well-liked Scholastic series of children books.
When the mother of middle-schooler Emily Elizabeth (Darby Camp) must leave town on a business trip, she would ask her younger brother Casey (Jack Whitehall) to take care of the girl. For Casey, this request was a welcome break in his unsuccessful search for a job as an illustrator, which would also allow him a better home than the truck where he was sleeping.
For Emily, Casey is her uncle and someone she can relate to, almost as if they were of the same age. On the occasion of returning from school, uncle and niece find themselves at the tent of a mysterious Mr. Bridwell (John Cleese) who keeps several animals he has rescued. The man shows Emily a small dog of an unusual red colour.
To anybody’s big surprise, the dog –the girl named him Clifford– and who that night appeared in the girl’s backpack the next day grew to reach a considerable size. The extraordinary creature would cause havoc, not only in the apartment where they live but in the whole city.
Clifford would also attract the attention of the story’s villain, Tieran (Tony Hale), who leads a big corporation trying to make some kind of super-animals. So far, all his efforts have failed, but the emergence of the big puppy gives him new ideas on how he can profit from the giant puppy.
Facing new threats, Emily, her uncle Casey, and her classmate, Owen Yu (Izaak Wang), would try other ways to hide the dog from the authorities –not an easy task given his size– and save him from Tieran’s designs.
“Clifford, the Big Red Dog” is an entertaining film, primarily for kids, although adults may like it too. It has a conventional but well-articulated narrative with a good dose of comic scenes. However, it also makes people think about the importance of being different—the way Emily is. Recommendable to all, you can take your kids or grandkids to see this movie knowing that you will enjoy it too.
Available in movie theatres. Duration: 1 h. 37 min.
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