Clifford The Big Red Dog [Blu-Ray]

Director: Walt Becker

Cast: Jack Whitehall, Darby Camp, Tony Hale

Release Date: February 1, 2022

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 6.5/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis:

When Emily discovers her little red puppy named Clifford has grown ten feet overnight, she turns to her eccentric Uncle Casey for help. But when a mad scientist tries to capture the larger-than-life playful pup, it takes the entire neighborhood to hide Clifford as they race across the city. Get ready for the incredible, laugh-out-loud comedy adventure that is BIG fun for the entire family!

Please Note: Paramount Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

When young and lonely Emily is introduced to an odd red puppy that she later discovers in her book bag, she quickly falls in love and names him Clifford. But when she awakens the next day to discover that her new puppy has grown ten feet overnight, she turns to her irresponsible and childlike Uncle Casey for help. As the two set out to find answers and hopefully locate the magical stranger who introduced Emily to the dog, they quickly discover that even in New York it can be difficult to get a giant-sized dog around. Unfortunately for all of them, when a rich mad scientist finds out about the dog, he sets out to capture Clifford for himself in any way possible leading to another mess of troubles for Emily and her uncle.

Directed by Walt Becker (Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, Wild Hogs) from a screenplay by Jay Scherick (Zookeeper) & David Ronn (The Smurfs 2) and Blaise Hemingway (Vampires vs. the Bronx), and a screen story by Justin Malen and Ellen Rapoport which was based on the Scholastic Book Series “Clifford the Big Red Dog” by Norman Bridwell respectively, Becker does a nice job at the helm of the ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’ movie guiding along the fun and excitement with a fast pace and welcoming style. The film’s cast includes Jack Whitehall (Jungle Cruise), Darby Camp (The Christmas Chronicles), Tony Hale (Being the Ricardos), Sienna Guillory (High-Rise), David Alan Grier (Coffee & Kareem), Russell Wong (Escape Plan: The Extractors), Kenan Thompson (TV’s Kenan) and John Cleese (The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee) along with more, the majority of which offer capable and fitting performances for the most part in each of their respective roles.

‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’ is a humorous, kind hearted and thoroughly entertaining ride for the whole family that may not be an amazing film per say, but definitely delivers enough rewarding fun and laughs to keep viewers of all ages thoroughly entertained throughout. It may generally keep the subject matter in the realm of a kid focused film (as it should) without any substantial threat directly shown and doesn’t try to craft something real unique or original with the tale, but it stays true enough to the source while serving up plenty of fun and grin-inducing moments throughout to make it a consistently entertaining film worth giving a chance. I would definitely encourage fans of the Clifford stories, along with anyone who appreciates an easygoing and heartwarming family adventure with plenty of laughs sprinkled throughout to try and give ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’ a chance whenever it might be convenient. It may not be a fantastic film by awards standards and can get a bit ridiculous at times, but it still provides more than enough touching fun for people of all ages to make it well worthwhile. If you’re seeking a humorous and light-hearted good time for the entire family one relaxing day at home, then ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’ should make for a solid selection.

Overall, ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’ is a sweet, funny and just altogether enjoyable family film that offers something for people of all ages. Always keeping the subject matter relatively light and the threat largely reigned in, while providing plenty of touching and rewarding moments balanced with frequent laughs along the way. The end result may not be an amazing film, but it sure is an awful lot of fun. ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’ is recommended, especially for fans of the beloved Scholastic stories that it’s based on and really anyone or everyone that enjoys a simple and warmhearted family adventure that’s worth taking. While those who haven’t yet seen the film and don’t have little ones at home may not want to drop the money on a blind purchase, a rental option definitely couldn’t hurt, and Paramount+ subscribers can also still watch it on the streaming service for no additional charge as of this writing.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.00:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks great altogether and delivers a sharp, colorful and nicely detailed presentation from start to finish with no unexpected issues arising along the way. It holds up wonderfully even during the various fast moving and heavily populated moments throughout and never allows anything occurring onscreen to become negatively affected or problematic along the way. Overall, this is a pretty wonderful high definition video presentation from Paramount that should easily satisfy the fans as well as first time viewers.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack makes a great complement to the onscreen fun and excitement, providing a crisp, clean and fairly immersive audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly takes advantage of all seven available channels in order to send music, along with crowd chatter, nature effects, plus some vehicle and chase activity whipping throughout the various speakers at every reasonable opportunity, while always making sure that any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously remain clean and fully audible every step of the way. Overall, this is a great Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that sounds solid throughout and shouldn’t disappoint in the slightest.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’ includes a handful of enjoyable extras for the whole family. Included on the release are a few ‘Deleted Scenes’ from the movie (running approximately 3 minutes in length altogether), along with some Behind the Scenes Featurettes that include interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘Part of the Pack’ (running approximately 6 minutes), ‘Acting is for the Dogs’ (approximately 3 minutes) and ‘The Magic of Bridwell’ (7 minutes). Also included is the fun video ‘Tricks and Tips for Taking Care of a 10 Foot Dog’ (approximately 2 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 6.5/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

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‘Clifford The Big Red Dog’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Paramount Home Entertainment

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