Beethoven: Critic Reviews

Beethoven is no classic, but it's a sunny, energetic children's film with a good notion of what young audiences like.

A waggish tale of canine chicanery, an uproarious if impawsible symphony of drool, doggy fidelity and chewed shoes.

It's the kind of clever, innocuous family entertainment that's always in short supply.

Rallies at the end to prevent chaperoning adults from feeling their time was completely wasted.

A sloppy but lovable pooch of a movie.

A safely banal concoction in the tradition of the bland live-action Disney features cranked out during the Magic Kingdom's dispirited years after Walt's death.

Kids will 'ooh' and 'aah' over the shaggy, doe-eyed doggy as it demolishes the family home, but grown-ups should stay on the sofa and enjoy the acerbic asides which distinguish this offering from the glut of cute mongrel movies.

Elevated from the doldrums of Digby-esque sentimentality by a surprisingly bouncy script, the film is also redeemed by regular interludes of acerbic dialogue and a brace of fine supporting performances.

I love dogs, but still had trouble getting through this.

Overbearing (actually overdogging) family comedy.

Anti-working mom bias gives a sour feeling to an otherwise innocuous dog movie.

You'll laugh, You'll cry, You'll Howl?

Family gets dog. Dog is large. Insert laugh track here. Still, it's a whole lot better than the wretched (and endless) series of sequels.

The first half of the film is amusing, but when it turns to a distasteful subplot that has an evil veterinarian/scientist stealing pets for nasty experiments, it goes sour.

[Grodin's] acting is so detached and lifeless that it is close to an out of body experience.

Unless you are taking a child, there is absolutely no reason you should put yourself through this almost perfectly mindless exercise in canine celebration (exception: if your favorite comic strip is Marmaduke, this may be the movie for you).