Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021)

Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021)

 

5/10

Starring

Jack Whitehall

Darby Camp

Tony Hale

Sienna Guillory

 

 

Directed by Walt Becker

 

First thing to note: this is a children’s movie, and it doesn’t try at any point to be more than that. I’ve never seen any animation or read the source material, so this was my first introduction to Clifford the Big Red Dog. The movie works well for younger audiences, but for more mature viewers, there may be some reservations about how the story develops.

For me, I enjoyed how this comedy-adventure film shifted gears and became a chase movie. We had Clifford, Emily, and Casey running around town, trying to avoid being caught by the bad guy. Like all villains in children’s films, his motivation is simple: he wants Clifford for himself to experiment on him.

Children don’t need depth to enjoy this, but adults might notice the lack of depth in the characters and may not be entirely sold on the transition from comedy to chase.

The acting wasn’t anything spectacular, and there’s no flashy showcase for the CGI used to create Clifford. At times, you can tell not much was invested in the effects, but that’s understandable for this type of film.

The movie introduces some magical elements, guided by John Cleese as Mr. Bridwell. The magic begins when Bridwell gives Emily a small red puppy. Emily lives with her single mom, who has to leave town for work and calls on her jobless brother, Casey, to babysit Emily while she’s away. Casey isn’t just jobless; he’s clueless and appears lazy. Their dynamic feels like leaving a 12-year-old in the care of a 13-year-old.

One day, while walking around, Emily and Casey stumble upon Mr. Bridwell’s animal sanctuary, where all the animals are looking for homes. We eventually learn that Bridwell has a knack for matching the right pet with the right person, and for Emily, the perfect match is Clifford.

How Clifford ends up in Emily’s backpack is one of those unexplained touches of Bridwell’s magic. After meeting Clifford, Casey immediately turns down the idea of keeping him as a pet since Emily’s apartment doesn’t allow animals.

Despite this, Clifford ends up in the house, and they decide to return him the next day. But when morning comes, Emily discovers Clifford has grown more than 10 feet tall overnight. Their problems seem to have grown just as much. Now they have to track down Mr. Bridwell to see if he can shrink Clifford back to normal size.

Their adventure around town turns them into an internet sensation, and a company that has been trying for years to create giant food becomes determined to capture Clifford for their experiments—by any means necessary.

In the end, it’s a children’s movie and nothing more than that.