Clifford's Really Big Movie [18]

Worried that he costs too much to feed, Clifford runs away to join a carnival act and help win a lifetime supply of Tummy Yummies. This movie is based off the Scholastic/PBS TV Series, Clifford the Big Red Dog. All the star voices from the TV show characters are in the movie.

This was the final movie work for John Ritter (as the voice of Clifford the big red dog.) It was released several months after his death. The children who love Clifford may not realize this for years. John’s death pretty much ended the TV show run, but paved the way for Clifford’s Puppy days.

The TV show animation is much more colorful and detailed compared to the original watercolor book illustrations by Norman Bridwell, the author of the Clifford series. In the movie, the animation goes a step farther to lend the characters a three-dimensional appearance. A running time of 73 minutes is probably the shortest feature film you could produce, but is still much longer than the 25-27 minute TV episodes. Very young children start squirming in their seats after an hour.

As an adult, I did enjoy the longer plot development, as well as the addition of some great characters. Wayne Brady as Shackelford and Judge Reinhold as Larry the animal trainer were great. Although, Shackelford looks VERY much like Timon the meercat from Lion King, only colored blue.

This is probably a good rainy afternoon time killer on DVD. In the theater it was too big and too loud for young children. It would have made a great Saturday evening TV movie for families. {BB}

Added: October 7th 2004
Reviewer: BB
29 Point Scale Score:    [18]

Related Link (IMDB): IMDB
Hits: 1998
Language: english