CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG
Starring: Darby Camp, Jack Whitehall, Izaac Wang, John Cleese, Sienna Guillory, Tony Hale, and David Alan Grier
Director: Walt Becker
JACOB
Were it not for the notion of entertaining small children, I cannot think of a single reason to recommend the latest iteration of Clifford the Big Red Dog. The underwritten narrative rushes around from theme to theme with no sense of direction, and the giant CGI canine makes less and less sense (looks-wise) every few frames. Its main characters are hollowed out caricatures of actual people, with its side characters just plain old hollow shells fueled by laughably bad dialogue. I will give the movie partial credit for making me laugh twice (and emotional once), but that’s about it.
JOSEPH
Clifford the Big Red Dog is exactly what you’d expect it to be. There are hijinks akin to animal-buddy movies from the 90s and mid-brow humor, but nothing too special. You’d think with a giant dog there’d be more unique visual gags, but nope. Still, as children’s movies go, it could be worse, and the themes on the importance of community are nice. There’s much this film could have improved upon, but for its target audience, it should be enjoyable enough. As for adults, it’s not a total waste of time, but you might be better off skipping it.