Clifford The Big Red Dog Review: Family Film Is A Big Red Dud

[Night hunter]

Clifford will entertain the youngest movie-goers, but most audiences will be bored by its stale jokes, stereotypical characters, and lazy writing.
As a movie aimed at young children, Clifford The Big Red Dog is at least appropriate for its intended audience. Unfortunately, this dog-as-big-as-a-pony show is not very appealing to anyone else. Despite a star-studded ensemble cast of comedians — and almost 60 years' worth of source material to draw from — not even toddlers will be howling with laughter at the movie's flimsy attempts at humor, which often resort to outdated stereotypes, overused gags, and potty humor. Clifford will entertain the youngest viewers, and is destined to be the kind of film preschoolers want to watch again and again, but most audiences will be bored by its stale jokes, two-dimensional characters, and lazy writing.

Clifford The Big Red Dog is a Walt Becker film with several writers receiving credit (never a good sign): Jay Scherick, David Ronn, and Blaise Hemingway wrote the screenplay, while Justin Malen and Ellen Rapoport are credited for the story. Norman Bridwell, of course, wrote the beloved book series that the movie is based on. Like the source material, Clifford The Big Red Dog is about a young girl named Emily Elizabeth who has a massive red dog as a pet. Despite the animal's giant size, he is a lovable, gentle, and kind companion. The 2021 movie takes significant liberty with the source material though, inventing two somewhat contradictory origin stories and making Clifford into a big red puppy (rather than a dog).