MOVIE REVIEW – The narrative invites us all the way from the age of colouring pictures to New York City, where anyone can become a big dog, as Clifford the big red dog does, without any super-spoilers. With a little digging, you can even find the pet’s digital footprint (paw paw) in the form of colouring books you can order. I suppose red will do in the hands of any small child, but the film doesn’t attempt to explain this understatement of colour temperature. Apparently, the radioactive spider would not have fit into the multiverse of manufacturing companies.

In the case of this family-friendly film, everything was put on red, but the result thankfully continued to fade on 0 and even black. However, after the surreal basic concept, don’t expect a bloody logical sequence of events, that’s not the message of the film. We’ve previously written about Wolf and the Lion, after which it was truly liberating to see family bonding and school ostracism take place in the film. It’s individual, but there’s a lot of situational comedy in this adventurous feature film, there are some tasty jokes, but a couple of less tasty bits are thrown in for good measure. Personally, I’ve always liked films that deal with conflicts of deviation from the norm, especially in the ring of a malevolent, aristocratic epicentre. Back in the day, the adventures of Little Stuart ran along a similar hide-and-seek field (as it turns out, Stuart Little was his title, just as the Monopoly guy never wore half-glasses…)

Dogworld is unfolding…

Darby Camp does a great job of bringing Emily’s character: the good-natured, likable, slightly naive but nakedly heartfelt persona of the sixth-grade girl. She’s a good actor, and we don’t have to wonder if they shot the scenes with the dog’s cool seat. The ‘lapdog’s’ natural movements seem to limp along with the CGI, though we usually see a range of movements that we rarely experience in real life – so we don’t really have a basis for comparison. Perhaps the shadows could have played better on the fur if it had been given that red hot chilli pepper colour. It might also have been easier to hide the elephant-sized ‘little’ pet.

Clifford, the non-red-nosed one…was a very strange cougar…

He’s the one who grows up easy, and here he literally grows up ‘easy’, with tears of love. Playful, mischievous, but not devilish (even if she ‘looks’ like him). The funny scenes promised in the trailer are back: funny for everyone, of course, but you won’t be sad during the film, but you will be cheerful. Emily’s family is being harassed by the caretaker on the one hand, and by the multinational LiveGrow on the other, which is developing and capturing just such well-bred species. It is not my habit to mention the Hungarian dubbing, as I usually praise them in an almost clichéd way at the end of my saga. Here, however, I’ll stop to dwell a little on this: one of the classmates comes to Emily’s aid, but Asian mimicry is not known for being overplayed, and they managed to put an even worse dub on top of the mediocre facial acting. Yikes! Usually you have to ask for a younger voice from a more experienced voice actor, 5-6 years older. Calm down dubbing studios, give or take 10 years, but 5-6 could be achieved in voice by almost any actor. Remember that next time. The rest of the sound was fine. They should invite me to audition soon anyway:)

He’s not an even-keeled new boyfriend

This screening can be attended by Mom, Dad, Puppy, without the dog of course. Clifford, the big red dog‘s story is coloured by twists of bad luck and good fortune, keeping the arc of the drama intact. The film doesn’t bog us down with boring scenes, though some of the subplots hang a little transparently in the air, only to then connect to the plot. It couldn’t have been done very differently, so we won’t hold it against it, but we’ll mention it anyway. Perhaps main villains could have been deepened from the beginning to the end of the film (not just fur-free), though this is more of a useful construction for sci-fi titles. Apart from that, the plot is fine.

It’s not red blood…

This Paramount Pictures film oozes goodwill and situational comedy. I could not and would not really want to bother with Titles like this. Finally, a story where people love each other and the animal as well. The characters that fit this role are the ones who want to fit in socially, and they do. Our director is now in his element Walt Becker, who also directed Alvin and the Chipmunks 3. Otherwise, the story is less slapstick and more hyperbolic, though not musical. It’s a bit like Sonic the Hedgehog in terms of fitting in, but I could say Pikachu if I’d seen it 🙂 It’s nice to see that pet-keeping and fitting in, as well as foster-fall situation comedy, is still an inexhaustible reservoir of inspiration for a new film. Greenpeace is beautiful, but it should not be done in isolation from the human community in principle, but within it, as this film does.

Humour is a universal spice for serving messages that would otherwise be too salty. In this respect, Clifford the Big Red Dog is a much bigger leap than ‘The Wolf and the Lion’. The film uses a final chase to draw attention to the recklessness of animal husbandry, as the main message is not one of mindless acceptance but of suspending an exclusionary attitude. We can expect this from any fur-hearted environment, but let’s pass on a good example. No bites for the Dogzilla!