An Exercise In Nonsense

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

An animated adventure about a gigantic red dog named Clifford who joins a circus troupe after he mistakenly thinks his owners cannot afford his upkeep. Together with his animal and human friends he participates in a talent show, but the result is not what they had wished for.Basically the characters are cute and likable, even if the animation is nothing spectacular. The story never gets very ambitious either: all the problems Clifford and Co. encounter just dissolve away without much effort. Not surprisingly, the importance of friendship is one of the main themes. Not much to see for adults, but young kids may be entertained.

After Norman Bridwell's books and the PBS TV series came this movie about a huge red canine. As in the TV series, animals communicate with each other but humans can't understand them (though the animals can understand human speech, as when Clifford overhears the next door neighbor asking Emily Elizabeth's family why they were spending so much money on dog food). Here, Clifford and his dog pals T-Bone and Cleo decide to join a traveling carnival show of "Larry's Amazing Animals". Clifford feels bad that his family does have to spend so much money on food for him, so he runs away from home.First when Clifford and pals arrive in the big city, they cause a panic as he strides down the streets. But he finds the carnival and they go across country to compete in a contest for a lifetime supply of food; as it turns out, a dogfood bigwig really wants Clifford to be a big pet for his daughter.As the film moves on, Clifford is torn between continuing with the Amazing Animals or returning to Emily Elizabeth. Other than a jealous ferret named Shackleford, the animals take a liking to the huge pooch. He has to decide whether to seek fame and food, or return to the family that loves him. But Larry's Amazing Animals are a bit of a family, too.The characters here seem more rounded and real than their flat TV counterparts. Bright colors, good use of light and shadow, and fun characters. Even an adult like me (admittedly a fan of cartoons and "giant and tiny" animals) appreciated this film. Young kids should enjoy it mostly, and it has some good positive messages.

I took my two boys 4 and 7 to see it and I thought it was so sweet. The same kindness that is protrayed in the television show was just as loving and thoughtful. It was a nice reminder of John Ritter and that his voice lives on.....The characters were the same as the tv show and it is very believable for the kids to see the movie and relate it to the show. The Man that took care of the animals was equally fair and kind to the animals which made the kids believe the animals matter. In all from beginning to end the movie was entertaining and creative story line and held my two small boys attention.

I took my 4 year old daughter to see Clifford. She loved it. I would recommend the film to anyone with pre-school children. No scary parts, kept her attention, nothing offensive. When we got home all she wanted to do was play her Clifford game on the computer.Older children would be bored (obviously). I take my kids to see movies about once a month, and there are times that I am uncomfortable with the content of the film. So often any more the movies are marketed towards kids of all age groups and contain bathroom humor and suggestive material. Clifford's Really Big Movie was marketed properly and the delivered product was predictable. I felt it was well worth the money and will purchase the DVD when it is released.I got a lump in my throat after the last scene. The words "For John".